119-hr4240

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4240 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4240

 To establish certain reporting and other requirements relating to 
 telecommunications equipment and services produced or provided by 
 certain entities, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 June 27, 2025

Mr. Moskowitz (for himself and Mrs. Radewagen) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To establish certain reporting and other requirements relating to 
 telecommunications equipment and services produced or provided by 
 certain entities, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Countering Untrusted 
Telecommunications Abroad Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

 It is the sense of Congress that--

    (1) the national security of the United States is affected 
 by the telecommunications security of United States allies, 
 partners, and other countries around the globe;

    (2) the importance of mobile and internet services makes 
 such services tempting and effective tools for malign influence 
 and economic coercion;

    (3) Huawei Technologies Company and ZTE Corporation (and 
 any subsidiary or affiliate of either such entity) should not 
 serve as a vendor of telecommunications equipment or services 
 given the close ties to, and control over, such entities by the 
 People's Republic of China; and

    (4) it is in the economic and national security interests 
 of the United States to ensure that countries around the globe 
 use trusted telecommunications equipment or services.

SEC. 3. REPORT ON UNTRUSTED TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT OR SERVICES IN 
 COUNTRIES WITH COLLECTIVE DEFENSE AGREEMENT WITH UNITED 
 STATES.

    (a) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for two years, the 
Secretary of State, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary of 
Commerce for Communications and Information, shall submit to the 
Committees on Foreign Affairs and Energy and Commerce of the House of 
Representatives and the Committees on Foreign Relations and Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report on the prevalence of 
untrusted telecommunications equipment or services in the networks of 
United States allies and partners.

    (b) Matters.--The report under subsection

    (a) shall enumerate each 
United States ally or partner with respect to which the United States 
has entered into a collective defense agreement and include, for each 
such country, the following:

    (1) A description of the presence, or lack thereof, of 
 untrusted telecommunications equipment or services in any 5G 
 network of the country.

    (2) If any untrusted telecommunications equipment or 
 service is present in such a network--
        (A) an enumeration of any mobile carriers that are 
 using the untrusted telecommunications equipment or 
 service present, and any mobile carriers that are not;
        (B) a determination of whether the untrusted 
 telecommunications equipment or service present is in 
 the core or periphery of the network; and
            (C) any plans by the United States ally or partner, 
 or the individual mobile carrier, to rip and replace 
 the untrusted telecommunications equipment or service 
 present with a trusted telecommunications equipment or 
 service.

    (3) A description of any plans by network operators to use 
 untrusted communications equipment or services in the 
 deployment of Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technology, 
 or any successor to such technology, or in future 6G networks.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON COVERED TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT OR SERVICES IN 
 UNITED STATES EMBASSIES.

    (a) 

=== Findings ===
-Congress finds the following:

    (1) The Comptroller General of the United States has 
 reported that 23 percent of all telecommunications device 
 manufacturers of the Department of State have at least one 
 supplier reported to be headquartered in the People's Republic 
 of China or the Russian Federation.

    (2) The Comptroller General has reported that four percent 
 of all telecommunications contractors of the Department of 
 State have at least one supplier reported to be headquartered 
 in the People's Republic of China.

    (b) Report.--

    (1) In general.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in 
 consultation with the heads of such other departments and 
 agencies as the Secretary determines necessary, shall submit to 
 the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
 Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
 Senate a report containing an assessment of the use of covered 
 telecommunications equipment or services in United States 
 embassies and by United States embassy staff and personnel.

    (2) Matters.--The report under paragraph

    (1) shall include 
 information on the following:
        (A) The status of the implementation by the 
 Secretary of State of the prohibition under subsection

    (a)

    (1) of 

section 889 of the John S. McCain National 
 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public 
 Law 115-232; 132 Stat. 1917; 41 U.S.C. 3901 note prec.) 
 with respect to equipment, systems, and services used 
 at United States embassies, including--
            (i) an identification of the United States 
 embassies with respect to which the Secretary 
 has implemented such prohibition, and an 
 identification of those with respect to which 
 the Secretary has not implemented such 
 prohibition, if any;
            (ii) an identification of any difficulties 
 that have delayed the implementation of such 
 prohibition by the Secretary with respect to 
 United States embassies, such as visibility 
 into supply chains, costs of equipment 
 replacement, and plans for timely remediation;
            (iii) information on any waivers that have 
 been granted to an entity under subsection
            (d) of such 

section 889 for equipment, systems, or 
 services used at United States embassies, 
 including a justification of why each waiver 
 was granted and any other information required 
 pursuant to paragraph

    (1)
        (B) of such 
 subsection; and
            (iv) for any entity that has sought a 
 waiver specified in clause
            (iii) , the 
 implementation status of the phase-out plan of 
 the entity submitted by the entity pursuant to 
 subsection
            (d) of such 

section 889.
        (B) Information regarding the extent to which the 
 digital devices of United States embassy staff and 
 personnel are serviced by Huawei Technologies Company 
 or ZTE Corporation (or any subsidiary or affiliate of 
 either such entity), or any other entity headquartered 
 in the People's Republic of China, and an assessment of 
 the likelihood of the intelligence services of the 
 People's Republic of China gaining access to the 
 contents and data of the digital devices used by United 
 States embassy personnel as a result of any such 
 servicing.
            (C) Any other information regarding ongoing efforts 
 to safeguard the communications security of United 
 States embassies.

    (3) Form.--The report under paragraph

    (1) shall be 
 submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified 
 annex.

SEC. 5. SUPPORTING TRUSTED TELECOMMUNICATIONS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State, in consultation with the 
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, 
shall select for the provision of support under this section 
telecommunications infrastructure projects that have the potential, as 
determined by the Secretary, to promote the national security of the 
United States and meet such other requirements as the Secretary may 
prescribe.

    (b) Diplomatic and Political Support.--The Secretary of State shall 
provide to each project selected under subsection

    (a) , as appropriate, 
diplomatic and political support, including by using the diplomatic and 
political influence and expertise of the Department of State to build 
the capacity of countries to resolve any impediments to the development 
of the project.
            (c) Early Stage Project Support.--The Director of the United States 
Trade and Development Agency should provide, as appropriate, early-
stage project support with respect to projects selected under 
subsection

    (a) .

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

 In this Act:

    (1) Covered telecommunications equipment or service; 
 untrusted telecommunications equipment or service.--The terms 
 ``covered telecommunications equipment or service'' and 
 ``untrusted telecommunications equipment or service'' have the 
 meaning given to the term ``covered communications equipment or 
 service'' in 

section 9 of the Secure and Trusted Communications 
 Network Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1608).

    (2) Trusted telecommunications equipment or service.--The 
 term ``trusted telecommunications equipment or service'' means 
 any telecommunications equipment or service that is not a 
 covered telecommunications equipment or service.
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