Senate Homeland Security 'at Work' on Team Telecom Bill, Portman Says

Senate Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee members are "at work" on legislation on issues it identified earlier this month in a report that urged lawmakers to better define the role of the “Team Telecom” federal agencies to strengthen their ability to assist the FCC in reviewing foreign takeovers of U.S. communications assets (see 2006090057), Chairman Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said Wednesday. Those agencies are DOD, the Department of Homeland Security and DOJ. “Team Telecom was an informal arrangement and has lacked formal authority to operate, making it overall an ineffective solution to assessing these risks,” Portman said on the Senate floor. “The informality has resulted in protracted review periods and a process FCC commissioners have described as broken and an inextricable black hole.” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly later tweeted it’s “great news to see new, more formal structure and responsibilities of Team Telecom are contemplated for law. I made this push years ago and pleased to see it getting necessary attention in Congress. We must have both modern foreign ownership treatment & strong national security.” Portman noted the coming legislation in a speech to preview the Safeguarding American Innovation Act, which is aimed at stopping China and other foreign governments from using research and IP developed at U.S. colleges. Portman and subcommittee ranking member Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., filed the bill Thursday. The measure would punish people who intentionally fail to disclose foreign support on federal grant applications, with penalties up to a five-year jail sentence and a five-year ban on receiving federal grants. It would increase State Department authority to deny visas to certain foreign nationals seeking access to sensitive technologies when it’s counter to U.S. national security and economic security interests.