Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare

President Donald Trump has signed the Secure and Trusted Communications Act (HR 4998) into law, which "prohibits certain Federal subsidies from being used to purchase communications equipment or services posing national security risks; and establishes a reimbursement program for the replacement of communications equipment of services posing such risks." Specifically, the law:

The House has passed the Secure 5G and Beyond Act of 2020 (S 893). The legislation passed on unanimous consent, which is a way to pass noncontroversial bills, but only if there are no "no" votes. The bill directs the President to develop a "Secure Next Generation Mobile Communications Strategy” in consultation with the heads of the Federal Communications Commission, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Director of National Intelligence and Secretary of Defense. The bill is the Senate version of an already-passed

A Q&A with Sen Mark Warner (D-VA). 

Government oversight of tech companies is one thing, but in the 2020 election year, Sen Warner is also thinking about the various ways technology is being used to threaten democracy itself. The interview covers election interference, misinformation, cybersecurity threats, and the government’s ability and willingness to deal with such problems.

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr, addressing allegations of conservative bias on online platforms, said he did not think the answer was "to do nothing." He cited what he said was a leaked document from Twitter "that it would soon be able to allow political ideologues to stamp tweets as misinformation based on their perspective," saying: "I don't think that's the right thing." "If you don't want MSNBC fact-checking the information you see on Twitter," he said, "I think you should be empowered to make that decision and turn those types of bias filters off." Asked to weigh in o

The Federal Communications Commission began collecting information from telecommunications carriers on the use of Huawei and ZTE equipment and services in their networks. This follows the FCC’s adoption of a rule barring the use of Universal Service funds to purchase equipment and services from companies posing a national security threat. The FCC has proposed requiring carriers receiving Universal Service funds to remove and replace existing equipment and services from such companies.

The Justice Department has essentially given up hope that tech companies will voluntarily build into their products a special way for law enforcement to access encrypted communications to help track terrorists and criminals. Instead, the department is focusing on getting legislation that forces companies to cooperate –  and is hoping encryption-limiting laws in Australia and the United Kingdom will ease the path for a similar law in the US, said John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security. “If there were a proposal from tech companies or a desire to talk about this issue t

President Donald Trump says he wants America to win the race to the fast new wireless future. He took it seriously enough to sign a presidential memorandum setting a deadline of July 2019 for a new national strategy on allocating the airwaves. That deadline came and went with no strategy in sight. In September, a Commerce Department undersecretary promised that the strategy was still on the way, telling a gathering of government officials that it would be released in the fall. A Commerce official said that the department did indeed deliver a draft to the White House.

A Q&A with Robert Blair, senior advisor to the White House Chief of Staff. His new challenge: help further Trump’s global aims on 5G, including an ongoing campaign to prevent America’s allies from relying on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. “One of the messages that I want to bring to people is: Take a breath,” Blair says. “The Chinese are not winning this race.”