FCC Commissioner Starks Report of the Find It, Fix It, Fund It Workshop

On June 27, 2019, I convened a workshop at the Federal Communications Commission to consider security threats that stem from the presence of certain Chinese communications equipment in US networks and from the related services these companies provide. This workshop gathered the views of many stakeholders, particularly in the wireless communications ecosystem, including carriers, trade associations, manufacturers, and academics. Workshop participants shared their perspectives on network security issues and evaluated my proposal that we need to find untrustworthy and insecure communications equipment currently located in U.S. communications networks, fix the problems posed by this equipment, and help fund the process. Find it. Fix it. Fund it. 

Thanks to participation of a wide variety of industry experts, this workshop helped to define the nature of threats to our communications networks posed by China and Chinese-manufactured communications equipment. They also point the way forward: finding and replacing untrustworthy equipment is a national problem that requires a national solution. I look forward to working with these stakeholders, leaders in government, and the communications industry as whole toward a comprehensive solution.