Establishing the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector
Establishes a formal interagency committee — chaired by the Attorney General — to review foreign participation in U.S. telecommunications services for national security and law enforcement risks, and to recommend to the FCC whether to grant, condition, modify, or revoke licenses.
Creates a structured process replacing an informal executive-branch review group, giving the new committee defined timelines, voting rules, and authority to push FCC license decisions based on threat assessments from the Intelligence Community.
What this order does
What it orders
The order establishes the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector, composed of the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security and the Attorney General (who serves as Chair), with a broader set of Cabinet officials serving as non-voting advisors. The Committee reviews FCC license applications and existing licenses involving foreign participation, conducts initial reviews and, when necessary, secondary assessments, and can recommend that the FCC dismiss, deny, condition, modify, or revoke licenses based on national security and law enforcement risk. The Director of National Intelligence must supply written threat assessments for each application or license reviewed. Recommendations involving denial or non-standard mitigation must be reported to the President before the FCC receives them.
The order does not give the Committee direct authority to grant or revoke licenses — all operative decisions remain with the FCC, which acts on the Committee's recommendations. It does not change the FCC's independent statutory authority, and it includes a standard severability clause and a provision that it creates no enforceable legal rights for outside parties.
Who it affects
Foreign-linked entities applying for or holding FCC telecommunications licenses, the FCC itself, and federal agencies on the Committee or advisory panel — including the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security, the Intelligence Community, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Why it matters
Telecom companies with foreign ownership or investment seeking U.S. operating licenses now face a formal, time-bound interagency security review with defined criteria and escalation paths. Licenses already granted can be revisited, and licensees who fail to comply with imposed mitigation measures can have their licenses recommended for revocation.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
Upon FCC referral, the Committee conducts an initial review within 120 days; if risks cannot be addressed by standard measures, a secondary assessment follows within 90 days. The Director of National Intelligence supplies threat analyses within 30 days of each referral. Recommendations are transmitted to the FCC through the NTIA Administrator. Major recommendations — denial, revocation, non-standard mitigation — must first be shared with advisors for 21 days and then reported to the President, with the FCC notified no sooner than 15 days after presidential notification. Committee Members must sign a Memorandum of Understanding within 90 days to formalize the process. The Chair reports annually to the President on implementation.
Actions and deadlines
- Committee Members enter into a Memorandum of Understanding outlining implementation plans, standard mitigation measures, and Lead Member designation process
- Director of National Intelligence delivers written threat assessment for each reviewed application or license to the Committee
- Complete initial review of each referred application
- Complete secondary assessment of application when warranted by initial review
- Chair reports to the President on implementation and identifies policy, administrative, or legislative recommendations