Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act

The bill would direct the Federal Communications Commission to compile and publish online a list of entities holding FCC licenses or authorizations that have ties — through equity, voting interests, or national-security-agency determinations of control — to governments or entities organized in covered foreign-adversary countries. It operates on two tracks. Within 120 days of enactment, the FCC would publish a list covering holders of cable landing licenses (for submarine communications cables) and licenses issued through competitive spectrum auctions. For all other FCC authorizations, the FCC would first conduct a rulemaking within 18 months to gather ownership information, then add qualifying entities to the list within one year of finalizing those rules. The FCC would update the list at least annually.

The bill does not itself revoke licenses, impose fines, or prohibit foreign ownership. It is a transparency measure; inclusion on the list carries no explicit penalty under the bill's own text. Information collections the FCC undertakes to implement the bill are exempted from the Paperwork Reduction Act's standard approval process.

The Federal Communications Commission, which would bear the rulemaking and publication obligations. All entities currently holding FCC licenses — including submarine cable operators, wireless spectrum licensees, broadcast stations, and holders of other FCC authorizations — that have ownership or control ties to covered foreign-adversary countries. National security agencies whose control determinations feed into the list would also play a role.

Journalists, policymakers, and national security officials would gain a single, regularly updated public record of which companies operating on U.S. communications networks have financial or governance links to foreign adversary states. For FCC licensees with foreign-adversary ties, appearing on the list could attract regulatory scrutiny or reputational consequences even though the bill itself imposes no direct sanctions.

The FCC would first identify, using existing ownership filings, all cable-landing and competitive-auction licensees with covered-entity ties and publish that list within 120 days. The agency would then launch a rulemaking — due within 18 months — to design new reporting rules capturing ownership data for every other class of FCC authorization. Within one year of finalizing those rules, the FCC would add qualifying licensees to the same published list. Appropriate national security agencies may refer entities for inclusion based on control findings. The FCC must refresh the list at least once per year. Information collections for this purpose bypass standard Paperwork Reduction Act review.