Sponsors (2)
The bill strengthens U.S. protection, detection, and response for undersea cables and pipelines—improving national security and repair coordination—but does so by expanding federal roles, information‑sharing, and compliance requirements that raise costs, privacy risks, and implementation complexity for industry and taxpayers.
Americans who rely on internet and financial services (businesses and consumers) will get faster detection, attribution, and federal response to undersea cable sabotage, reducing the scope and duration of nationwide outages and economic disruption.
Owners and operators of non‑Federal subsea cables and pipelines receive clearer, standardized definitions, licensing/permit processes, and emergency coordination procedures, reducing repair delays and deployment uncertainty.
Federal policymakers and the public gain better transparency and faster federal responsiveness through required interagency coordination, mandated reporting to Congress, resource plans, and expedited funding mechanisms.
Subsea cable owners/operators and small businesses face new and standardized security requirements, assessments, and oversight that will raise compliance costs and could delay projects and repairs absent funding support.
Sharing classified or sensitive indicators and expanded operational data with private actors creates real risks of exposing intelligence sources and producing privacy or proprietary harms for companies that share data.
Sanctions, expanded export authorities, and other punitive tools intended to deter sabotage could disrupt international trade and financial services and, because of broad definitions, risk ensnaring legitimate commercial actors and complicating repair and cooperation.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates an interagency committee, requires State Dept staffing and reports, and directs a federal review and action plan to protect and streamline licensing for subsea telecommunications and energy infrastructure.
Introduced March 24, 2026 by Joe Wilson · Last progress March 24, 2026
Requires the President to create a senior-level interagency committee to lead U.S. efforts to protect and strengthen subsea telecommunications and energy infrastructure, and directs the Secretary of State to add dedicated personnel and deliver a report on diplomatic engagement and information sharing. Establishes definitions and congressional findings about rising threats and recent international actions, and orders an interagency review and action plan to streamline permitting, standardize risk-based security and resilience assessments, and define federal and private-sector roles for response, attribution, and repair.