The FCC and other agencies utterly failed to monitor Chinese telecoms in the US for years, according to a scathing new report released the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In fact, the bipartisan subcommittee reportedly says that failure was ongoing for around 20 years. And that assertion has been backed up by at least one of the three Chinese telecoms in question.
According to China Unicom Americas (CUA), the telecoms have not been “engaged” with the group responsible for monitoring in nearly 20 years. That’s a group the report dubs Team Telecom, comprised of segments of the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Defense.
CTA seems to be at the center of the report
Of the three telecoms mentioned in the report, including China Telecom Americas (CTA) and ComNet USA, CTA appears to garner the most attention. That’s because, of the Chinese telecoms, CTA “is ultimately owned by the Chinese government.” But also because China Telecom has been operating in the US for nearly 20 years through CTA. And according to the report, that’s been without any real oversight.
Team Telecom, in 2001, didn’t object to CTA operating in the US. The FCC fast-tracked the application. Initially, CTA was limited to providing international services between the US and other regions but not China. That was later changed to include China. In 2007, ownership of CTA was changed and that resulted in an FCC review. Ultimately, Team Telecom, the FCC, and CTA negotiated a three-page security agreement.
Team Telecom did not follow up. Instead, only two site visits were conducted in addition to a few “intermittent” emails.
Allegations of “China Telecom hijacking” of communications data can be traced back to 2010, according to the bipartisan report. But it wasn’t until 2017 that Team Telecom began providing “substantive” oversight. And the team didn’t begin asking questions about the reports until last year. CTA is said to have denied any allegations and the team reportedly took them at their word.
It wasn’t until April 2020 when Team Telecom recommended that the FCC revoke CTA’s operating approval. The recommendation came with a warning that “CTA’s facilities-based authorizations allow it to request interconnections with US carriers.”
Team Telecom further informed the FCC that CTA had “already established relationships with major US carriers.” That included carriers such as “Verizon, CenturyLink, and AT&T.”
Those companies do maintain security applicable to “external traffic,” the report notes. But they do not have any measures in place that deal with unique issues presented by CTA or its parent company.
No oversight for Chinese telecoms is still a major area of concern for the Senate and US governing bodies
Now, CTA disputes allegations filed by the FCC and Team Telecom. Summarily, the company insists that the inquiry “unfairly” and “improperly” shifts the burden onto CTA. The company claims that it is being asked to “prove a negative” as it pertains to “unspecified national security concerns.”
CTA goes on to claim that the concerns are left vague, behind terms such as “exploitation” and “influence” from the Chinese government. But it goes further still to note that any decision to revoke its operating status will negatively impact Americans. The company says it not only serves many US customers. But also that it employees US citizens and permanent residents — although exact figures were not specified.
According to the bipartisan report, the Chinese government engages in cyber and economic espionage efforts against the United States. And “telecommunications carriers operating in the United States could be used to further these efforts.”
The most recent recommendations from the FCC and Team Telecom seem to corroborate those assertions. But Team Telecom — now formalized as the “EO Telecom Committee” under President Donald Trump — does not, according to senators on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, have the authority to respond to threats.
As a result, the Senate report not only calls on the FCC to finish its review of the CTA and other Chinese telecoms quickly. Lead senators on the subcommittee, Rob Portman and Tom Carter, are calling for action to provide the EO Telecom Committee with the authority to provide better “oversight and enforcement” in the future.