The Federal Communications Commission has banned the sale of any foreign-made WiFi routers, citing national security risks. China and other foreign adversaries pose a unique threat to the privacy and lives of millions of Americans. The FCC’s decision is not only the correct one, but it also keenly highlights the unprecedented dangers we now face.
On March 26, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced that his agency had taken steps to safeguard the “communications networks that we all rely on.” Following a determination by the executive branch, the FCC announced that foreign-made routers were being added to a “covered list” of telecommunication equipment considered a national security risk.
Effective immediately, all “consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries” are banned because they introduce “supply chain vulnerabilities.” Notably, previously purchased consumer-grade routers are not affected, and retailers may continue selling them. But new devices on the covered list are prohibited from being imported or sold.
The FCC’s move might seem mundane, but it is not. In fact, the agency has thereby protected millions of homes from intrusion by our foreign enemies, China foremost among them.
As Matt Pottinger and David Feith, former deputy national security adviser and U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, respectively, have noted, data is like oil was in the 20th century. Data drives economic growth and artificial intelligence development, and as such, is at the forefront of national security competition between the United States and its rivals.
China wants and is actively obtaining, often through illicit means, the personal data of Americans.
The Chinese Communist Party is the greatest thief in history, purloining billions of dollars’ worth of intellectual property. The American Enterprise Institute calculates that in the last decade alone, Beijing has carried out the largest illicit transfer of capital, innovation, data, and technology in history.
The CCP will seemingly stop at nothing to steal what it can’t create or buy legitimately. With the Salt Typhoon hack, the largest cyberattack ever, China has filched the personal and confidential information of millions of Americans, including that of current and former high-ranking U.S. government officials.
Some, such as former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, have speculated that China might want “first strike” nuclear capabilities in the event of war. That risk extends to us all. The CCP wants all our info.
According to the House select committee on China, DeepSeek, China’s AI, has already funneled the data of millions of Americans through back-end infrastructure.
Unfortunately, the U.S. is too often an easy victim. Americans and their policymakers have been slow to wake up to the threat posed by buying what we need from the very adversary that seeks to supplant us and become the sole superpower. China has made nefarious use of its manufacturing prowess, sneaking spyware into everything from cars to software services.
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By making WiFi routers, the CCP could reach into the homes of millions of Americans. That is the unacceptable risk of allowing the U.S. to be reliant on its enemy, the largest police state that the world has ever known.
The FCC is correct to identify the threat and take action to protect all Americans. Americans don’t need to buy routers from enemy thieves who turn them into spy machines.