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Congressional Daily Record
This section covers nominations, confirmations, or other executive branch business. It mentions committees such as Committee on Foreign Relations, members such as John A. Barrasso.
Official title: Strategic Subsea Cables Act (Executive Session)
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April 30, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today—and you certainly know this as a Navy SEAL, that life would be very different without the internet. It raises an important question: How does the internet get into our homes? For most users around the world, the internet travels to them from the ocean floor. More specifically, it travels through fragile, largely unprotected fiber optic cables that sit on the ocean floor. They are called undersea cables, and hundreds of these cables crisscross the world's seabed. On average, they rest about 8,000 feet below sea level. They are essential, and they are exposed.
miles. That is far greater than the distance the Artemis II traveled from the Earth to the Moon and back again.
reasons. They carry 99 percent of the world's internet traffic. They also support $10 trillion in financial transactions each and every day. Undersea cables are essential for our economy, our military, our communications, and our daily lives.
anatomy textbook when you look at this thing, Mr. President, and you see all of these cables all around the globe. A map of these undersea cables reminds me specifically of my time in medical school and the nervous system.
Here is how I see it: Imagine that the Earth is a human body and undersea cables are the nervous system of modern life. All of these connections make the world more prosperous, and it is especially true as America develops innovative, new technology.
Yet there is a serious problem. The world's undersea cable network is facing growing threats from our foes around the world. Specifically, the danger comes from Russia and China. Our adversaries seek to hold our connectivity hostage. They are trying to do so by mapping, by splicing, and by sabotaging our system of undersea cables. This can be done simply by dragging an anchor across the cables or having submarines attack them.
China has been especially aggressive, specifically regarding Taiwan. According to Taiwan's own National Security Bureau, over the last 4 years, there have been over 30 subsea cable incidents. In one, Chinese vessels allegedly cut cables to the Matsu Islands. They are controlled by Taiwan. The islands are connected to the rest of the world by two tiny undersea cables. Both of the cables were cut. It took months—yes, months—to repair them and to restore connectivity to the rest of the world. Such operations disconnect and disrupt communications, and they undermine national defense and global security.
Not every instance of cable cutting is deliberate. We do know that cable-cutting incidents are becoming more frequent and increasingly more suspicious.
So what can we do to prevent them? For the past several years, NATO has responded with military patrols. These ongoing missions have been successful. Still, more needs to be done, and the next step is to target bad actors and do it economically.
moment—holding a hearing on recent attacks against critical infrastructure, and this includes undersea cables. It also includes energy pipelines.
introduced legislation to address these vulnerabilities. It is called the