During Wednesday’s House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) questioned FCC Chair Brendan Carr about consumer privacy.
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00:00This is Mr. Edwards for his five minutes of questions.
00:04Thank you, Mr. Chair.
00:06Mr. Carr, thanks for being with us this morning.
00:09I went back and looked.
00:11There is an Inspector General's report that was published in March 2024,
00:16and it offers an in-depth analysis of whether the FCC had implemented effective privacy
00:23and data protection policies and procedures in accordance with federal laws, regulations,
00:29and policies, with a focus on the FCC's implementation of requirements identified
00:34in the U.S. Code section on privacy and data protection policies and procedures.
00:41The scope of this privacy and data protection inspection was from fiscal year 2021.
00:52The investigation found that the FCC had not implemented technologies to ensure
00:56that data privacy protections relating to the use collection
00:59and disclosure of information were sustained.
01:02These privacy data protections should have included activities related to cloud computing,
01:10wireless access, public key infrastructure, cryptography, mobile, and voiceover IP devices.
01:17Personnel from the FCC Office of the Chief Information Officer stated
01:21that they had not implemented the use of technologies specific to privacy protection
01:28due to higher priorities, higher priorities, imagine that,
01:31and new agency initiatives that have taken precedence and a lack of expertise in this area.
01:38And as a result of those findings, the FCC Inspector General made only two recommendations.
01:44One, retain knowledgeable expertise in the FCC IT and privacy staff
01:50that would assist in implementing and sustaining the usage of required privacy protections.
01:57And then secondly, to implement a baseline of technologies that sustain
02:01and do not erode privacy protections relating to the use collection and disclosure of information.
02:09I know the folks that I represent make it a very high priority
02:15that their information be protected, especially in the dangerous world that we live in right now,
02:22not only domestically but internationally.
02:24And so I'm just curious, would you even be aware of this study
02:31and what actions has or will the FCC take to deliver on these recommendations
02:37to improve data privacy as outlined in the IG's report?
02:41Yeah, thank you, Congressman, for the question.
02:43Two main points on that.
02:45One is a threshold matter.
02:47Doing a top-to-bottom review of the FCC's approach to IT has been one of the very first things
02:54that we've been doing at the agency.
02:55Part of it goes to the contract review.
02:57But more generally, we're looking to revamp the agency's approach there.
03:02Second, one of the things that we've done right off the bat is to take up some backlogged recommendations,
03:07including from the Inspector General's office, and start to knock out those.
03:11I know we've made significant progress on a number of them.
03:14I want to go back and make certain that one of the ones we've made progress on is the one that you've flagged.
03:20And if not, we're going to put the resources towards it to doing it expeditiously.
03:23And so I'm really disappointed to see that a previous FCC had said that there were higher priorities.
03:32Can you tell me what I can tell my folks back at home in terms of how the FCC is prioritizing their personal data today?
03:43Is this a higher priority today than it was back in this inspection?
03:51Yeah, I can assure you that this is a top priority for us, both in terms of the data privacy issues that you raised,
03:57but also in terms of the agency's own performance.
03:59We need to have the best IT systems.
04:03We need to make sure that they are looking to the future and not based on, you know, bespoke, siloed technologies.
04:08And this is a very, very important work stream for us at the agency right now.
04:12How many people does the FCC Office of the Chief Information Officer employ?
04:18I'll have to get back to you with the specific number on that.
04:21And would you know if that number has changed as a result of the Trump administration's workforce reduction program?
04:28I don't anticipate there's been any significant change in that particular office,
04:32but, again, we can get you more of the specifics on it.
04:36And in your written testimony, you mentioned that the FCC's mission to eliminate waste and improve efficiency.
04:42Many of the savings have come from reviewing and modifying bloated and duplicative IT contracts.
04:48What steps did the FCC take to ensure that such changes to IT systems would not result in the compromise of sensitive personal information?
04:57If we stood up an entire work group in the FCC that pulled from various technical experts,
05:05we've also worked in conjunction with the official Doge group on some of these efforts,
05:10and that's exactly our guide star is to look at where do we have two contracts that are duplicative,
05:14can we consolidate work under one, but there's obviously a baseline level of security and performance
05:19that we're not going to compromise on when we're making those types of decisions.
05:24Mr. Chairman, I'll yield.