Communications Security Act

The bill would direct the Federal Communications Commission to formally establish a council — or designate an already-operating FCC advisory committee for that role — to advise the agency on the security, reliability, and interoperability of communications networks. The FCC Chair would appoint all members and would be required to include, to the extent practicable, representatives from the communications industry, public interest organizations or academic institutions, and federal, state, local, and tribal governments (with at least one member from each tier of government). Entities owned, controlled, or influenced by a foreign adversary, or otherwise deemed a national security threat, would be barred from membership. The council would submit biennial reports to the FCC Chair, and the FCC would post those reports publicly on its website.

The bill would not itself create a new substantive regulatory program; it codifies and stabilizes an advisory function the FCC already performs through the Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council. Critically, it would exempt the council from the provision of federal law that automatically terminates advisory committees after two years, allowing it to operate indefinitely without repeated renewals.

The FCC and its Chair, who would bear new statutory obligations to establish the council and vet members. Communications industry companies, public interest organizations, academic institutions, and representatives of federal, state, local, and tribal governments who would be eligible for — or barred from — council membership. Entities tied to foreign adversaries would be explicitly excluded from participation.

Without this statutory footing, the FCC's advisory council could lapse under the two-year automatic-termination rule each time its charter expires. Codifying its existence — and permanently banning foreign-adversary-linked entities from membership — would give the council more stable authority and a cleaner process for keeping national-security risks off a body that advises on critical communications infrastructure.

Within 90 days of enactment, the FCC Chair would establish a new council or formally designate an existing advisory committee, adjusting membership as needed to meet the bill's composition requirements. The Chair would appoint members on two-year terms, screening out entities deemed "not trusted" using criteria from the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act. Every two years, the council would submit to the Chair all reports and working-group outputs from the preceding period; the FCC would then post those reports on its public website. The council would have no automatic expiration date.