The RESTRICT Act is a new bipartisan bill introduced by US Senator John Thune to establish a comprehensive process for identifying and mitigating foreign threats to information and communications technology products and services. The legislation applies to six foreign-adversary countries and would provide the Department of Commerce with the authority to review any information and communications technology product from these countries that is deemed to pose a security threat, with emphasis on products used in critical telecommunications infrastructure or with serious national security implications. The commerce secretary would develop a range of measures to mitigate the danger posed by these products, up to and including a complete ban on the product in question. The RESTRICT Act provides a framework for confronting national security risks posed by foreign-adversary-owned digital technology and ensuring quick action to mitigate undue risk from technology of a foreign-adversary nation.
U.S. Senator Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Combat National Security Risks Posed by Foreign-Adversary Technologies
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) recently introduced a new bipartisan bill that aims to identify and mitigate foreign-adversary threats to American information and communications technology. Thune discussed the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act on the Senate floor, emphasizing the importance of updating laws to combat national security threats posed by foreign-adversary technology such as TikTok.
TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, are Chinese-owned entities that have raised concerns about their ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Following a recent Chinese spy balloon incident, Thune stressed the need to address serious national security concerns posed by TikTok. Thune argued that apps like TikTok, which are used by over 100 million Americans, could be exploited to spy on American citizens and manipulate public opinion.
In contrast to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects Americans’ data from being seized by the government, there is no such protection in China. Chinese law requires social media and technology companies to provide information, including individually identifiable personal information, to the Chinese government when requested. Consequently, there is no legal framework in China to effectively safeguard TikTok users’ personal information, or users of any China-based app, from being turned over to the Chinese Communist Party.
Thune also raised concerns about TikTok users’ data security. Despite TikTok’s claim to the contrary, China-based ByteDance employees reportedly accessed private data from TikTok users in the U.S. last year. To combat these and other risks posed by foreign-adversary technologies, the RESTRICT Act would establish a risk-based process to identify and mitigate these threats to American information and communications technology.
Thune’s bipartisan effort has gained support from other Senators, including Mark Warner (D-Va.). Together, they recently penned an op-ed in FoxNews.com discussing the RESTRICT Act and the importance of securing American technology from foreign adversaries. The RESTRICT Act has yet to be enacted, but it is one of the many ways lawmakers are working to ensure national security in an increasingly complex digital age.
ByteDance Employees Used TikTok to Obtain Journalists’ Locations in 2022
In December 2022, it was discovered that ByteDance employees in China used TikTok to track the locations of journalists who wrote stories about the app’s national security risks. This poses a significant threat to Americans’ personal security and privacy, and raises troubling questions about how the Chinese Communist Party could use TikTok for its own agenda.
TikTok is not the first time that technology from a hostile nation has posed a serious security concern. The US had to remove technology from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from its telecommunications networks after security officials raised concerns about built-in backdoors that gave the Chinese Communist Party access to global communications networks.
As more foreign companies in the information and communications technology space gain significant market share, the US government needs a comprehensive framework for responding to national security risks posed by foreign-adversary-owned digital technology. The current authorities were fashioned in a pre-digital age and are not designed to address the specific threats of digital technology controlled by hostile nations.
Current law provides some remedies for confronting the dangers these companies present. For instance, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) can block attempted investments from foreign companies if they are determined to pose a national security risk. However, the federal government is limited in what it can do in situations like the one we currently face with TikTok.
CFIUS has the ability to address some risks, but the mere presence of technology from a foreign adversary in the US does not trigger CFIUS review. For a tech platform that does not acquire, merge with, or invest in a US company, CFIUS review does not apply. Thus, WeChat, the other Chinese-controlled app that President Trump sought to ban in 2020, is not subject to CFIUS review.
The digital age has brought enormous benefits, but it has also come with substantial new threats, including the threat of a hostile foreign government exploiting communications technology for nefarious purposes. This threat increases significantly when it comes to technology produced by companies in hostile nations affiliated with hostile governments.
Therefore, a comprehensive framework is needed to combat national security risks posed by foreign-adversary-owned digital technology, including mobile phone technology, internet hardware, and social media apps like TikTok. The RESTRICT Act, introduced by Senator John Thune, aims to establish a risk-based process to identify and mitigate foreign-adversary threats to American information and communications technology.
RESTRICT Act to Mitigate Foreign Threats to Information and Communications Technology
U.S. Senator John Thune has introduced a new bipartisan bill, the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (RESTRICT) Act. This act aims to establish a comprehensive process, based at the US Department of Commerce, for identifying and mitigating foreign threats to information and communications technology products and services.
The RESTRICT Act applies to six foreign-adversary countries, namely China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba. If passed, the Department of Commerce would review any information and communications technology product from these countries that is deemed to pose a security threat, with emphasis on products used in critical telecommunications infrastructure or with serious national security implications. The commerce secretary would then develop a range of measures to mitigate the danger posed by these products, up to and including a complete ban on the product in question.
The RESTRICT Act would also ensure transparency by requiring the commerce secretary to coordinate with the director of national intelligence to provide declassified information on why any measures taken against foreign-adversary-owned technology products were necessary. Moreover, the secretary of commerce would be required to act within 180 days after initiating a review, ensuring quick action to mitigate an undue risk from technology of a foreign-adversary nation.
Senator Thune stresses the need to update laws to confront the national security threats posed by foreign-adversary technology. The RESTRICT Act provides a framework for confronting both current and future risks. The bill has bipartisan support, with 18 senators from both parties endorsing the legislation.
In conclusion, the RESTRICT Act would fill an important gap in authority by establishing a risk-based process to identify and mitigate foreign-adversary threats to American information and communications technology. It provides a comprehensive framework to combat national security risks posed by foreign-adversary-owned digital technology, and ensures that the US government can take necessary steps to mitigate undue risks from technology of a foreign-adversary nation.
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