ut' the ll-titan gl l k i mitaliingtuu EOE 20515 April 5 2018 The Honorable Ajit V Pai Chairman Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street SW Washington DC 20554 Dear Chairman Pai We ask that the Federal Communications Commission FCC take immediate action under federal law to address the prevalence of what could be hostile foreign cell site simulators 0r stingrays surveilling Americans in the nation s Capital Cell-site simulators function essentially as fake cellphone towers allowing their operators to trick nearby consumers cell phones into giving up con dential information that would normally be protected by consumers cell phone providers l Press reports surfaced earlier this week that the Department of Homeland Security had identi ed suspected unauthorized cell site simulators operating throughout Washington 2 More troubling it appears that these cell-site simulators could be gathering intelligence on unwitting Amen'cans on behalf of foreign governments 3 If these reports are true it marks an incredible security vulnerability in the seat of the Federal government Critical federal agencies including those involved in national defense and intelligence operate in the Washington DC area and these cell site simulators could be surreptitiously intercepting the sensitive data of federal government employees at these agencies Just as troubling these foreign actors could be intercepting communications from American citizens The FCC however has the ability to take action to protect Americans from this type of foreign government surveillance 4 1See 47 U S C 222 t 2 DHS Con rms It has Detected Evidence of Mobile Snooping Devices Around DC CNN Apr 3 2018U S C 301 PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER The Honorable Ajit V Pai April 5 2018 Page 2 As the agency in charge of managing the commercial airwaves the FCC has the statutory power to stop the illicit use of cell-site simulators 5 Speci cally the Communications Act prohibits the very type of unauthorized transmissions that non-licensed cell site simulators rely on to conduct surveillance 6 With no apparent evidence that these recently revealed unauthorized cell-site simulators are operating with an FCC license it would seem the FCC need only to enforce the law to stop this foreign intelligence gathering When prompted in the past to address the use of cell-site simulators by domestic governments the FCC has only created a task force to develop concrete solutions to protect the cellular network systemically from similar unlawful intrusions and interceptions 7 Consumer advocates have even filed legal complaints with the FCC asking them to take immediate action to address the use of such cell-site simulators 8 Nevertheless no action has been taken to date to actually address this problem With foreign actors now potentially taking advantage of the Commission s inaction the FCC should act consistent with applicable law and regulations to investigate these allegations and address any unlawful use of cell-site simulators in the Capital and anywhere else they are used in US soil We appreciate your assistance with this important matter and respectfully request a response to this letter forthwith Sincerely a PM Frank Pallone Jr Eliot L En gel Bennie G Thomp Ranking Member Ranking Member Ranking Member Foreign Affairs Committee Energy Commerce Committee Homeland Security Committee 5 Id 6 Id No person shall use or operate any apparatus for the transmission of energy or communications or signals by radio except under an in accordance with this Act and with a license in that behalf granted under the provisions of this Letter from Christopher Krebs Senior Of cial Performing the Duties of the Undersecretary National Protection and Programs Directorate Department of Homeland Security to Senator Ron Wyden Mar 26 2018 3 Complaint for Relief Against Unauthorized Radio Operation and Willful Interference with Cellular Communications Center for Media Justice et a1 Aug 16 2016 The Honorable Ajit V Pai April 5 2018 Page 3 cc The Honorable Kristjen M Nielsen Secretary Department of Homeland Security The Honorable John J Sullivan Acting Secretary Department of State The Honorable Brendan Carr Commissioner Federal Communications Commission The Honorable Mignon Clyhurn Commissioner Federal Communications Commission The Honorable Michael O Rielly Commissioner Federal Communications Commission The Honorable Jessica Rosenworcel Commissioner Federal Communications Commission This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu