Federal Register Vol 85 No 68 Wednesday April 8 2020 Presidential Documents 19643 Presidential Documents Executive Order 13913 of April 4 2020 Establishing the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America including section 301 of title 3 United States Code it is hereby ordered as follows Section 1 Policy The security integrity and availability of United States telecommunications networks are vital to United States national security and law enforcement interests Sec 2 Definitions For purposes of this order a ‘‘License’’ means any license certificate of public interest or other authorization issued or granted by the Federal Communications Commission FCC after referral of an application by the FCC to the Committee established by subsection 3 a of this order or if referred before the date of this order to the group of executive departments and agencies involved in the review process that was previously in place b ‘‘Application’’ means any application petition or other request for a license or authorization or the transfer of a license or authorization that is referred by the FCC to the Committee established in subsection 3 a of this order or that was referred by the FCC before the date of this order to the group of executive departments and agencies involved in the review process that was previously in place c ‘‘Intelligence Community’’ shall have the meaning assigned to it in subsection 3 5 h of Executive Order 12333 of December 4 1981 United States Intelligence Activities as amended d ‘‘Mitigation measures’’ shall mean both standard and non-standard mitigation measures lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with FR_PRESDOCS1 e ‘‘Standard mitigation measures’’ shall be those measures agreed upon by the Committee Members as defined in subsection 3 b of this order and Committee Advisors as defined in subsection 3 d of this order Sec 3 Establishment a There is hereby established the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector Committee the primary objective of which shall be to assist the FCC in its public interest review of national security and law enforcement concerns that may be raised by foreign participation in the United States telecommunications services sector The function of the Committee shall be i to review applications and licenses for risks to national security and law enforcement interests posed by such applications or licenses and ii to respond to any risks presented by applications or licenses by recommending to the FCC as appropriate and consistent with the provisions of this order that it dismiss an application deny an application condition the grant of an application upon compliance with mitigation measures modify a license with a condition of compliance with mitigation measures or revoke a license b The Committee shall be composed of the following members Committee Members i the Secretary of Defense VerDate Sep 11 2014 16 15 Apr 07 2020 Jkt 250001 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4790 Sfmt 4790 E FR FM 08APE0 SGM 08APE0 19644 Federal Register Vol 85 No 68 Wednesday April 8 2020 Presidential Documents ii the Attorney General iii the Secretary of Homeland Security and iv the head of any other executive department or agency or any Assistant to the President as the President determines appropriate c The Attorney General shall serve as Chair of the Committee Chair d The following officials shall be advisors to the Committee Committee Advisors with no role in the duties set forth in sections 4 through 11 of this order except as provided in subsections 6 c 9 f 9 g 10 g and 11 d of this order i the Secretary of State ii the Secretary of the Treasury iii the Secretary of Commerce iv the Director of the Office of Management and Budget v the United States Trade Representative vi the Director of National Intelligence vii the Administrator of General Services viii the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs ix the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy x the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy xi the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and xii any other Assistant to the President as the President determines appropriate e The Committee Members and Committee Advisors may subject to the limitations in this order designate a senior executive from their entity to perform the functions described in this order on their behalf Sec 4 Duties of Committee Chair and Members a The Chair shall designate one or more Committee Members to serve as the lead for executing any function of the Committee Lead Member The Chair may assign to a Lead Member any or all of the following responsibilities as appropriate and consistent with their statutory authorities i submitting to applicants or licensees any questions or requests for information to establish facts about an application or license necessary to conduct the reviews and assessments described in sections 5 and 6 of this order ii identifying risks to national security or law enforcement interests of the United States raised by an application or license in consultation as appropriate with other Committee Members iii coordinating with other Committee Members on the reviews and assessments described in sections 5 and 6 of this order lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with FR_PRESDOCS1 iv proposing in coordination with the Chair any mitigation measures necessary to address any risk to national security or law enforcement interests of the United States identified through the risk-based analysis described in subsection 9 c of this order v coordinating with other Committee Members and communicating with applicants or licensees regarding any mitigation measures necessary to address risks to national security and law enforcement interests of the United States vi monitoring compliance with and coordinating with the Committee regarding any mitigation measure the Committee recommends be imposed by the FCC as a condition on a license or vii any related responsibilities as specified by the Chair b Except as otherwise provided in this order the Chair shall have the exclusive authority to act or to authorize other Committee Members to VerDate Sep 11 2014 16 15 Apr 07 2020 Jkt 250001 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4790 Sfmt 4790 E FR FM 08APE0 SGM 08APE0 Federal Register Vol 85 No 68 Wednesday April 8 2020 Presidential Documents 19645 act on behalf of the Committee including communicating with the FCC and with applicants or licensees on behalf of the Committee c In acting on behalf of the Committee the Chair or a Lead Member as applicable shall keep the Committee fully informed of the Chair’s or Lead Member’s respective activities taken under this order and shall consult with the Committee before taking any material actions under this order Sec 5 Committee Application Review Process a The Committee shall review and assess applications to determine whether granting a license or the transfer of a license poses a risk to national security or law enforcement interests of the United States b Upon referral by the FCC of an application the Committee shall conduct an initial review of the application to evaluate whether granting the requested license or transfer of license may pose a risk to national security or law enforcement interests of the United States i During the initial review the Committee may determine A that granting an application for a license or the transfer of a license raises no current risk to national security or law enforcement interests B that any identified risk to national security or law enforcement interests raised by an application may be addressed through standard mitigation measures recommended by the Committee or C that a secondary assessment of an application is warranted because risk to national security or law enforcement interests cannot be mitigated by standard mitigation measures ii If the Committee determines that granting the application does not raise a current risk to national security or law enforcement interests or that standard mitigation measures would mitigate any risk to national security or law enforcement interests such a determination and any recommendations shall be communicated to the FCC in a manner consistent with sections 9 and 10 of this order lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with FR_PRESDOCS1 iii Except as provided in subsection 5 d of this order any initial review shall be completed before the end of the 120-day period beginning on the date the Chair determines that the applicant’s responses to any questions and information requests from the Committee are complete c When the Committee has determined that a secondary assessment of an application is warranted it shall conduct such an assessment to further evaluate the risk posed to national security and law enforcement interests of the United States and to determine whether to make any recommendations pursuant to section 9 of this order Any secondary assessment of an application shall be completed no more than 90 days after the Committee’s determination that a secondary assessment is warranted The Chair shall notify the FCC of a determination that a secondary assessment is warranted d During an initial review under subsection 5 b of this order or a secondary assessment under subsection 5 c of this order if an applicant fails to respond to any additional requests for information after the Chair determines the responses are complete the Committee may either extend the initial review or secondary assessment period or make a recommendation to the FCC to dismiss the application without prejudice The Chair shall notify the FCC of a determination that the applicant’s responses are complete of any extensions of the initial review period or when the Committee recommends dismissal under this subsection Sec 6 Committee License Review Process a The Committee may review existing licenses to identify any additional or new risks to national security or law enforcement interests of the United States b The Committee shall determine whether to review an existing license by majority vote of the Committee Members c If the Committee conducts such a review it shall promptly notify the Committee Advisors VerDate Sep 11 2014 16 15 Apr 07 2020 Jkt 250001 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 4790 Sfmt 4790 E FR FM 08APE0 SGM 08APE0 19646 Federal Register Vol 85 No 68 Wednesday April 8 2020 Presidential Documents Sec 7 Threat Analysis by the Director of National Intelligence a For each license or application reviewed by the Committee the Director of National Intelligence shall produce a written assessment of any threat to national security interests of the United States posed by granting the application or maintaining the license The Director of National Intelligence shall solicit and incorporate the views of the Intelligence Community as appropriate b The analysis required under subsection a of this section shall be provided to the Committee within the earlier of 30 days from the date on which the Chair determines that an applicant’s or licensee’s responses to any questions and requests for information from the Committee are complete or 30 days from the date on which the Chair requests such an analysis Such an analysis may be supplemented or amended as appropriate or upon a request for additional information by the Chair c The Director of National Intelligence shall ensure that the Intelligence Community continues to analyze and disseminate to the Committee any additional relevant information that may become available during the course of a review or assessment conducted with respect to an application or license Sec 8 Requests for Information In furtherance of its reviews and assessments of applications and licenses as described in this section the Committee may seek information from applicants licensees and any other entity as needed Information submitted to the Committee pursuant to this subsection and analysis concerning such information shall not be disclosed beyond Committee Member entities and Committee Advisor entities except as appropriate and consistent with procedures governing the handling of classified or otherwise privileged or protected information under the following circumstances a to the extent required by law or for any administrative or judicial action or proceeding or for law enforcement purposes b to other governmental entities at the discretion of the Chair provided that such entities make adequate assurances to the Chair that they will not further disclose the shared information including to members of the public or c to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States with respect to transactions reviewed by that Committee pursuant to 50 U S C 4565 in which case this information and analysis shall be treated consistent with the disclosure protections of 50 U S C 4565 c Sec 9 Recommendations by the Committee Pursuant to the Committee Review Process a With respect to applications that are reviewed or assessed pursuant to section 5 of this order the Committee shall i advise the FCC that the Committee has no recommendation for the FCC on the application and no objection to the FCC granting the license or transfer of the license lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with FR_PRESDOCS1 ii recommend that the FCC deny the application due to the risk to the national security or law enforcement interests of the United States or iii recommend that the FCC only grant the license or transfer of the license contingent on the applicant’s compliance with mitigation measures consistent with section 10 of this order b With respect to a license reviewed pursuant to section 6 of this order the Committee may when appropriate i recommend that the FCC modify the license to include a condition of compliance with mitigation measures negotiated by the Committee ii recommend that the FCC revoke the license due to the risk to national security or law enforcement interests of the United States or iii take no action with respect to the license VerDate Sep 11 2014 16 15 Apr 07 2020 Jkt 250001 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 4790 Sfmt 4790 E FR FM 08APE0 SGM 08APE0 Federal Register Vol 85 No 68 Wednesday April 8 2020 Presidential Documents 19647 c Any recommendation made by the Committee pursuant to subsections a and b of this section shall be based on a written risk-based analysis conducted by the Committee Member entity or entities proposing the denial mitigation measures modification revocation or no action d The Committee shall make the recommendations described in subsections a ii a iii b i and b ii of this section if it determines that there is credible evidence that the application or license poses a risk to the national security or law enforcement interests of the United States e The Committee shall attempt to reach consensus on any recommendation authorized by this order If senior executive Committee officials designated pursuant to subsection 3 e of this order cannot reach consensus on a recommendation the Chair shall present the issue to the Committee Members who shall determine the Committee recommendation by majority vote If the vote results in a tie the Chair shall determine the recommendation f If the Committee’s determination is a recommendation to deny an application to grant an application contingent on compliance with nonstandard mitigation measures to modify a license to condition it upon compliance with non-standard mitigation measures or to revoke a license the Chair shall notify the Committee Advisors and to the extent consistent with applicable law provide them all available assessments evaluations or other analyses regarding such determination Within 21 days of the notification the Committee Advisors shall advise the Chair whether they oppose the recommendation i If one or more of the Committee Advisors opposes the recommendation the senior executives designated by the Committee Members and Committee Advisors shall promptly confer in an effort to reach consensus on a recommendation If consensus is reached the recommendation shall be provided to the FCC consistent with subsection 9 h of this order lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with FR_PRESDOCS1 ii If the senior executives designated by the Committee Members and Committee Advisors do not reach consensus the Chair shall present the issue to the Committee Members and the Committee Advisors to seek to resolve any objections within 30 days of the notification by the Chair of a recommendation to deny or to grant an application contingent on compliance with non-standard mitigation or within 60 days in the case of a recommendation to modify a license to condition it upon compliance with non-standard mitigation measures or to revoke a license Committee Members and Committee Advisors may consider any submissions by the Committee Advisors e g a countervailing risk assessment as appropriate iii If the Committee Members and Committee Advisors are unable to reach consensus through the foregoing process the Committee Members identified in subsection 3 b of this order shall determine a recommendation by majority vote If the vote results in a tie the Chair shall determine the recommendation g The Chair shall notify the President of any intended recommendation and any opposition thereto by a Committee Member or Committee Advisor within 7 days of a majority or tie vote held under subsection 9 e or 9 f iii of this order if either the recommendation or any opposition thereto by a Committee Member or Committee Advisor involves the denial of an application granting an application contingent on non-standard mitigation measures modifying a license to condition it upon compliance with non-standard mitigation measures or revoking a license The FCC will receive notice of the recommendation consistent with subsection 9 h of this order not earlier than 15 days after the date on which the President is notified of the intended action h Except as provided in subsection b iii of this section the Chair on behalf of the Committee shall notify the FCC through the Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration NTIA of a final recommendation made pursuant to this section The Administrator VerDate Sep 11 2014 16 15 Apr 07 2020 Jkt 250001 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 4790 Sfmt 4790 E FR FM 08APE0 SGM 08APE0 19648 Federal Register Vol 85 No 68 Wednesday April 8 2020 Presidential Documents of NTIA shall notify the FCC of the recommendation within 7 days of the notification from the Chair i As necessary and in accordance with applicable law and policy including procedures governing the handling of classified or otherwise privileged or protected information the Committee may consider classified information and otherwise privileged or protected information in determining what recommendation to make to the FCC through the Administrator of NTIA under this section and may provide such information to the FCC as necessary on an ex parte basis Sec 10 Mitigation of Risk and Monitoring a The Committee may recommend to the FCC consistent with section 9 of this order that the FCC condition the granting of a license or transfer of a license on compliance with any mitigation measures in order to mitigate a risk to the national security or law enforcement interests of the United States arising from the application b The Committee may recommend to the FCC consistent with section 9 of this order that the FCC modify a license to condition it upon compliance with any mitigation measures in order to mitigate a risk to national security or law enforcement interests of the United States arising from the license c Consistent with subsection 4 a v of this order the Chair or assigned Lead Member shall communicate any mitigation measures proposed by the Committee to the applicant or licensee d Any mitigation measures negotiated pursuant to this section shall be based on a written risk-based analysis e The Committee shall monitor any mitigation measures imposed by the FCC as a condition on a license i Committee Member entities as appropriate shall report to the Committee regarding any material noncompliance with any mitigation measures imposed by the FCC as a condition on a license as a result of the Committee’s recommendation under subsections a through d of this section ii The Committee in consultation with the FCC as appropriate and in a manner that does not unduly constrain Committee resources shall develop methods for monitoring compliance with any mitigation measures imposed by the FCC as a condition on a license as a result of the Committee’s recommendation under subsections a through d of this section f If the Committee determines that a licensee has not complied with a mitigation measure and has not cured any such noncompliance in a satisfactory manner the Committee may recommend actions consistent with subsection 9 b of this order g When requested by the Chair the Director of National Intelligence shall provide analyses assessing threats related to risk mitigation compliance monitoring and enforcement to Committee Member entities and Committee Advisor entities that are monitoring compliance with mitigation measures imposed by the FCC as conditions on licenses as a result of Committee recommendations under subsections a through d of this section lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with FR_PRESDOCS1 h This order does not constrain the discretion of executive departments or agencies pursuant to any relevant authority not described in this order to i conduct inquiries with respect to an application or license ii communicate with any applicant licensee or other necessary party or iii negotiate enter into impose or enforce contractual provisions with an applicant or licensee Sec 11 Implementation a Executive departments and agencies shall take all appropriate measures within their authority to implement the provisions of this order b The Department of Justice shall provide such funding and administrative support for the Committee as the Committee may require The heads VerDate Sep 11 2014 16 15 Apr 07 2020 Jkt 250001 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 4790 Sfmt 4790 E FR FM 08APE0 SGM 08APE0 Federal Register Vol 85 No 68 Wednesday April 8 2020 Presidential Documents 19649 of executive departments and agencies shall provide as appropriate and to the extent permitted by law such resources information and assistance as required to implement this order within their respective agencies including the assignment of staff to perform the duties described in this order An Intelligence Community liaison designated by the Director of National Intelligence shall support the Committee consistent with applicable law c Within 90 days from the date of this order the Committee Members shall enter into a Memorandum of Understanding among themselves and with the Director of National Intelligence or the Director’s designee describing their plan to implement and execute this order The Memorandum of Understanding shall among other things delineate questions and requests for applicants and licensees that may be needed to acquire information necessary to conduct the reviews and assessments described in sections 5 and 6 of this order define the standard mitigation measures developed in accordance with section 2 e of this order and outline the process for designating a Lead Member as described in section 4 of this order d The Chair in coordination with the Committee Members and the Committee Advisors shall review the implementation of this order and provide a report to the President on an annual basis that identifies recommendations for relevant policy administrative or legislative proposals Sec 12 General Provisions a Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect i the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency or the head thereof or ii the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary administrative or legislative proposals b This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with FR_PRESDOCS1 c This order is not intended to and does not create any right or benefit substantive or procedural enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States its departments agencies or entities its officers employees or agents or any other person VerDate Sep 11 2014 16 15 Apr 07 2020 Jkt 250001 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 4790 Sfmt 4790 E FR FM 08APE0 SGM 08APE0 19650 Federal Register Vol 85 No 68 Wednesday April 8 2020 Presidential Documents d If any provision of this order or the application of any provision to any person or circumstances is held to be invalid the remainder of this order and the application of any of its other provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby THE WHITE HOUSE April 4 2020 FR Doc 2020–07530 Filed 4–7–20 8 45 am VerDate Sep 11 2014 16 15 Apr 07 2020 Jkt 250001 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 4790 Sfmt 4790 E FR FM 08APE0 SGM 08APE0 Trump EPS GPH lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with FR_PRESDOCS1 Billing code 3295–F0–P