FCC Agrees to Work With 4 U.S. Allies on Telecom Security
The FCC signed an agreement Thursday to continue to work with regulators from traditional U.S. allies to strengthen cooperation “in response to evolving threats and challenges in the telecommunications sector." Regulators from the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand also signed the agreement. Industry experts told us that the pact shows that despite tariff fights and other disagreements with the nations under President Donald Trump, cooperation on security continues.
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“This partnership reflects our collective resolve to deter malicious actors, exchange and promote best practices, as well as safeguard the integrity of our communications infrastructure,” the agreement said.
These countries “are among our closest allies,” and “despite some headlines to the contrary, our alliances are still strong,” said Cooley’s Robert McDowell. Based on Trump's recent foreign travel and how he has been received, “it seems that our allies are eager to stay in the good graces” of the U.S. and “want to forge mutually beneficial relationships,” he said, calling the agreement “encouraging.”
HWG lawyer Tricia Paoletta noted in an email that the nations are called “the Five Eyes” by the intelligence community. “It’s positive that despite any trade frictions that may exist, our regulators recognize that continued cooperation and information sharing on network security and resilience is more important,” said Paoletta, a former chair of the FCC’s World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee.
It’s “significant that the FCC pursued this deal during the shutdown with the agency staff reduced,” said John Strand of Strand Consult. Such agreements are otherwise not unusual, he said. He also noted the importance of working with the Five Eyes, given the U.S.’s continuing support for Taiwan. During a recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump “held firm” and didn’t “walk back” any commitments to Taiwan, Strand said.
The countries agreed to meet at least once a year to encourage “ongoing information exchange regarding global security challenges, emerging threats, mitigation strategies, and regulatory developments, and to reinforce strategic relationships.” They also agreed to foster “enhanced cooperation on network reliability, integrity and security” and to share information “on emerging threats and fraud techniques, such as SMS blasters,” and the “risks and opportunities arising from the growing use” of AI in telecom.
The pact “recognizes the international nature of so many communications issues today,” emailed Joe Kane, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation's director of broadband and spectrum policy. A “unified approach,” both within the U.S. and among allies, “will be essential” going into the next World Radiocommunication Conference, he said. “It's good to see that relationship building underway now.”
Recon Analytics’ Roger Entner said that while presidents, rhetoric and tariffs “come and go,” the relationships between the five nations have endured for more than 100 years. This is about “strengthening the telecom networks of the Five Eyes countries against attacks from adversaries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, who are trying nonstop to penetrate our digital infrastructure.”