SE Nebraska News

The U.S. Senate has passed the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency (FACT) Act, a bill introduced by Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), aimed at strengthening the security of American telecommunications infrastructure against foreign adversaries.

“With the Senate passage of my FACT Act, we mark a crucial step in the mission to secure America’s tech and telecommunication markets from foreign adversaries. We cannot allow adversarial regimes like communist China and Russia to infiltrate our communication networks and undermine our people and country, which is why I introduced and shepherded this bill through the Senate. I’m grateful for the bipartisan support of my colleagues, and I look forward to getting this bill to the President’s desk to be signed into law,” Fischer said.

The FACT Act would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to publicly disclose which entities holding FCC licenses or authorizations are owned in whole or in part by governments considered foreign adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Prior to this legislation, there was no requirement for public disclosure regarding companies with links to such foreign governments operating within U.S. technology and telecommunications sectors.

Current regulations prohibit the FCC from granting licenses or authorizations that are deemed national security threats; however, some companies connected to foreign adversarial governments still maintain certain approvals. The new legislation seeks to increase transparency around these entities.

A full text of the bill can be found here.