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The Federal Communications Commission creates a national security council to strengthen American defenses against Chinese cyber attacks and help it stay ahead of China in critical technologies, such as artificial intelligence.
Brendan Carr, the new FCC The president, said that he created the Council to intensify the accent put by the agency on the “persistent and constant threat of foreign opponents, in particular the Chinese Communist Party”.
“These bad actors always explore means of violation of our networks, devices and technological ecosystem. It is more important than ever that the FCC remains vigilant and protects Americans and American companies from these threats, “he said.
He added that because the threats reduced the sectors that the Commission has regulated, “it is important that the national security efforts of the FCC draw resources from a variety of FCC organizations”.
Carr said that the Council would have a number of objectives, including the attenuation of American vulnerability to cyber attacks, spying and surveillance by hostile states and dependence on the supply chain towards adversaries.
He added that he would also try to ensure that the United States “win strategic competition with China On critical technologies ”, including 5G and 6G, AI, satellites and space, quantum IT and autonomous systems.
The Council will be led by Adam Chan, a lawyer who has already worked for the Chinese committee of the House of Representatives, which was created by the Congress in 2023 to focus on Beijing security threats.
Although the FCC traditionally focuses on the regulation of telecommunications suppliers, its role has developed as the battle between Washington and Beijing on technology has intensified.
The Commission is competent on issues as varied as drone certification to the regulation of critical underwater communication cables-only two areas where the United States has been alarmed by increasing national security threats from China.
We expect the early objective to be Typhon of salt, A Chinese attack of several months against the American telecommunications networks which allowed the hackers to target non -encrypted telephone calls that the former US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said “unique” in terms of its scale.
FCC is one of the many agencies involved in helping telecommunications companies to strengthen their networks and stop intrusions.
The creation of the Council is the last effort of the American government to adopt a more holistic approach and concentrated on a wide range of threats from China by providing resources from different agencies.
In 2021, the CIA created a “mission center in China” to increase the concentration of the agency on Beijing. The State Department has created a similar structure known as “China House”. In the Commerce Department, the Office of Industry and Security has intensified its efforts to make more difficult for China to obtain critical United States technology, especially in the fields of AI and flea.
The new advice should pay the attention of the FCC, from individual Chinese entities to a more sectoral approach. Certain criticisms of American efforts to fight against the threats of Beijing underlined gaps which allowed it to bypass punitive actions, such as a Chinese group which changes its name.
“This advice shows how President Carr wants to raise China’s agenda under his direction and envisages that FCC is a front line tool in Chinese competition similar to what BIS has become,” said Eric Sayers, a security expert in Asia to the reflection group on the American Enterprise Institute.
Sayers said that council counter China in less traditional areas, such as cloud, AI data centers, drones, connected vehicles, “Internet of Things” devices and consumer electronics.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington said it was not aware of the FCC move. But Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the embassy, said: “The American part, instead of playing the so-called” threat of China “, should adopt an objective and rational perception of China. He must work with China, under the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, for the stable, solid and lasting development of China-US relations. »»