FCC to propose first undersea cable security overhaul since 2001

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday is expected to approve a proposal that would seek public feedback on ways to tighten national security standards and streamline oversight of undersea internet cable systems that route nearly all of the world’s internet traffic.

The move, a first for the agency since it last reviewed underwater internet cable rules in 2001, comes as officials and lawmakers around the world have called for comprehensive reviews of the cables’ security posture.

At least 600 undersea cables stretch across the globe. Suspended thousands of kilometers underwater, they enable near-instantaneous global communications and data access across national borders. Even this article, published on a news website in the United States, has likely reached overseas readers via an undersea cable.

“They’re really important for modern life,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in an interview with Nextgov/FCW. “95% of global internet traffic, at some point, travels over these facilities. That’s trillions of dollars of financial transactions and all kinds of data associated with the rise of cloud computing and the expansion of data centers.”

Global maritime “hot spots” that have been getting attention — namely the Red Sea, South China Sea and Baltic Sea — motivated interest around the proposed rulemaking, which has been in the works for some time, she added.

Officials have been monitoring Russian naval movements near key undersea cable locations. In the Singapore Strait and the East China Sea — which links China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan — Chinese-affiliated cable repair ships have reportedly turned off their transponders during routine maintenance, raising suspicions of potential espionage or sabotage.

Just this week, U.S. and European officials said they are examining potential sabotage attempts against a pair of undersea cables crossing the Baltic Sea that link Lithuania, Sweden and Germany.

“In a lot of places, you’re seeing a growing consensus that these facilities are very important and vulnerable. We need to reassess what our framework is for overseeing them and make sure that we improve security and reliability of our processes that are associated with them,” Rosenworcel said.

The FCC’s authority over cables predates the landmark Communications Act of 1934 that created the agency itself. The federal telecom regulator manages the internet cables via the Cable Landing License Act of 1921, which, in essence, requires anyone seeking to land or operate submarine cables connecting the U.S. to foreign countries or within U.S. territories to obtain a government-issued license.

The proposal would notably require reviews of cable licensees every three years, a major time reduction compared to the current 25-year review period that asks owners and operators to provide the FCC with their cables’ technical data and outage history, as well as who invests in them. Of the 600 or so cables crisscrossing the ocean, 84 of those are licensed by the FCC, Rosenworcel said. 

The proposal also seeks that any equipment listed on the agency’s Covered List — a catalog of foreign internet and telecom providers deemed dangerous to U.S. national security that are barred from getting government support — should not be integrated into cable facilities.

Underwater cables have been in use since the 1850s, originally for relaying long-distance telegraph messages in Morse code. In the 1980s, fiber optics entered the global market, enhancing the transmission capabilities of transatlantic telephone networks. That advancement prompted a consortium of communications firms to invest billions in strengthening transcontinental communication lines, leading into the contemporary global nexus that underpins digital data transfers.

The vast amount of data transferred via these cables — notably among the U.S. and allied powers that find themselves pitted against an array of cyber adversaries out of Asia and the Middle East — makes them prime targets for espionage and sabotage, officials said in a recent joint statement.

Cable security has also drawn recent scrutiny from a group of senators who asked the White House to outline ways to better protect the cables from being tampered with or falling victim to other threats.

Security experts, as well as cable providers and major telecommunications firms, are expected to provide comments on the proposal, Rosenworcel said. 

“I think it is incumbent on this agency to make sure that we take steps to prevent security problems. And I think that this agency has to think about public safety front and center in everything we do,” she said.