H.R. 4240 — Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act

This section states the sense of Congress that (1) U.S. national security is affected by the telecommunications security of U.S. allies, partners, and other countries; (2) mobile and internet services are tempting tools for malign influence and economic coercion; (3) Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE Corporation (and subsidiaries or affiliates) should not serve as vendors of telecommunications equipment or services due to ties to and control by the People's Republic of China; and (4) it is in U.S. economic and national security interests to ensure global use of trusted telecommunications equipment or services.

This section requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, to submit to the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Commerce, Science, and Transportation a report on untrusted telecommunications equipment or services in the networks of U.S. allies and partners with collective defense agreements—not later than 180 days after enactment and annually thereafter for two years. For each such country, the report must include (1) a description of the presence or absence of such equipment or services in any 5G network; (2) if present, an enumeration of mobile carriers using or not using it, a determination of whether it is in the core or periphery of the network, and any rip-and-replace plans; and (3) a description of any plans by network operators to use such equipment or services in Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technology or successors or future 6G networks.

This section requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with relevant agency heads, to submit to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, an unclassified report (with a possible classified annex) assessing the use of covered telecommunications equipment or services in U.S. embassies and by embassy staff and personnel. The report must include (1) the status of the Secretary's implementation of the prohibition on such equipment, systems, and services under sec. 889(a)(1) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019—including embassies where implemented or not, implementation difficulties (e.g., supply chain visibility, replacement costs, remediation plans), any waivers granted with justifications and phase-out plan statuses; (2) the extent to which embassy staff digital devices are serviced by Huawei Technologies Company, ZTE Corporation (or subsidiaries/affiliates), or other entities headquartered in the People's Republic of China, plus an assessment of the risk of Chinese intelligence access to device contents and data; and (3) other ongoing efforts to safeguard embassy communications security.

This section directs the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, to select telecommunications infrastructure projects that promote U.S. national security for support under the section. The section requires the Secretary to provide diplomatic and political support to selected projects, including using Department of State influence to help countries resolve development impediments. The section further directs the Director of the United States Trade and Development Agency to provide early-stage project support, as appropriate, to selected projects.

This section provides definitions for purposes of this Act, including (1) “covered telecommunications equipment or service” and “untrusted telecommunications equipment or service,” which have the meaning given “covered communications equipment or service” in section 9 of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1608)—i.e., communications equipment or services on the FCC list published under section 1601(a) of that Act (47 U.S.C. 1601(a)); and (2) “trusted telecommunications equipment or service,” meaning any telecommunications equipment or service that is not covered telecommunications equipment or service.