The Department of Homeland Security is tasked with conducting an extensive vulnerability assessment of the nation's telecommunications system within the next few months, under a recent Trump executive order seen as targeting China and tech giant Huawei for exclusion from the build-out of next-generation 5G networks.
“The Secretary of Homeland Security shall continue to assess and identify entities, hardware, software, and services that present vulnerabilities in the United States and that pose the greatest potential consequences to the national security of the United States,” according to the order signed May 15, with a written report due to the White House within 80 days.
The order draws on the so-called “section 9” list of critical infrastructure developed under an Obama cybersecurity order, and comes amid a number of other DHS initiatives for securing the supply chain and addressing strategic foreign threats to crucial industries, including a recently issued list of critical functions. How the new assessment -- to be led by DHS with industry input -- will be coordinated with these other ongoing efforts remains to be seen.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment on implementation of the EO.
“The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with sector-specific agencies and coordinating councils as appropriate, shall produce a written assessment within 80 days of the date of this order, and annually thereafter,” according to section 5(d) of the order. “This assessment shall include an evaluation of hardware, software, or services that are relied upon by multiple information and communications technology or service providers, including the communication services relied upon by critical infrastructure entities identified pursuant to section 9 of Executive Order 13636 of February 12, 2013.”
Overall, the order calls on the Department of Commerce to develop rules within 150 days to “determine that particular countries or persons are foreign adversaries” and to prohibit purchasing information and communications technology services “designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied, by persons owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of a foreign adversary,” according to the document.
DHS and the heads of the departments of Defense, State and Treasury, the Attorney General, the Director of National Intelligence, the General Services Administration, and the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will be consulted in the rulemaking process, according the order.
The rulemaking will also lay out the conditions to “license transactions” otherwise banned by the order.
The order does not explicitly mention China or Huawei, but President Trump signed the document which had been in the works for about a year amid the collapse of trade talks with Beijing and heightened concerns on Capitol Hill and elsewhere about Huawei's growing dominance in the global 5G market, prompting widespread speculation about the intended target of the presidential action.
To underscore that point, the Department of Commerce issued a notice that Huawei will be added to an “entity list” which forbids U.S. companies from selling tech and other products to the China-based company.
The Commerce Department says “Huawei’s affiliates present a significant risk of acting on Huawei’s behalf to engage” in activities that threaten U.S. national security, according to a Federal Register notice slated for publication on May 21, which lays out the findings of the department's End-User Review Committee for blacklisting Huawei.
“Because the ERC has determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that the affiliates pose a significant risk of becoming involved in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States due to their relationship with Huawei,” according to the Federal Register notice, adding: “this final rule also adds to the Entity List sixty-eight non-U.S. affiliates of Huawei located in twenty-six destinations: Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Madagascar, Netherlands, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.” -- Rick Weber (rweber@iwpnews.com)