Kean Introduces Legislation to Secure America’s Leadership in Undersea Cable Infrastructure

(April 1, 2025) WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Congressman Tom Kean, Jr. (NJ-07) introduced the Undersea Cable Control Act, a bill designed to secure America’s leadership in undersea cable infrastructure. This legislation aims to prevent China and other foreign adversaries from acquiring goods and technologies that support the construction, maintenance, and operation of undersea cables. 

“Undersea cables are critical infrastructure for the fast and secure transmission of global data and communications,” said Congressman Kean. “We cannot stand by as China seeks to expand its influence over one of the world’s most powerful communications networks. It is essential that we take steps to protect undersea cables from foreign interference, sabotage, or control.”

Background: 

Undersea cables are a vital part of global communication infrastructures, with 99 percent of all transoceanic digital communications transporting data like the internet through these fiber optics cables. This technology has added $649 billion to the U.S. economy in 2019 alone and enables transactions worth more than $10 trillion every day within the American financial sector.

In the past few years, as China continues to finance its state-run companies and their infrastructure projects globally as a part of the Belt and Road Initiatives, Chinese companies like Huawei and China Telecom have built undersea cables on every continent except for Antarctica. While the United States still has fiber optic technology that’s more advanced than China does, the prolific installments of undersea cables by the Chinese companies have raised economic and security concerns globally. 

During the 118th Congress, the Undersea Cable Control Act, originally led by Rep. Brian Mast (FL-21), successfully passed the House of Representatives. 

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