The US Has A New 5G Security Strategy

The US has released its National Strategy with the aim to: Secure 5G for the US. The brief report explains how America will protect fifth-generation wireless infrastructure at home and overseas. The 7-page policy document sets out the president’s “vision for America to lead the development, deployment, and management of secure and reliable 5G communications infrastructure globally.

President Trump has written an introduction to the document in which he makes some key statements.

“Fifth generation wireless technology, or 5G, will be a primary driver of our Nation’s prosperity and security in the 21st century".

"This new technology will provide consumers, businesses, and governments with remarkably fast network connections that will enable tens of billions of new devices to harness the power of the Internet, transforming the way we live, work, learn, and communicate.” he goes on to write.

“This is a target-rich environment for those with nefarious motives due to the number and types of devices it will connect and the large volume of data that those devices will transmit.” 

“The United States will work with like-minded countries to lead the responsible international development and deployment of 5G technology and will work to promote the availability of secure and reliable equipment and services in the market.”

This is President Trump’s first steps to meet the requirements laid out by the US Congress' Secure 5G and Beyond Act, which he recently signed into law. 

The Document Outlines Four Distinct Lines Of Activity 

They each briefly lay out the administration’s approaches and aims to:

• Facilitate the domestic rollout of 5G
• Assess the risks and identify the core security principles of 5G infrastructure 
• Assess the risks to United States economic and national security during development and deployment of 5G infrastructure worldwide 
• Promote responsible global development and deployment of 5G. 

Development of the new 5G strategy was an interagency effort, led by the National Security Council and National Economic Council.

The security of 5G has been at the top of the Trump Administariont’s priority list for a long time, principally because 5G wireless technology enables unprecedented levels of connectivity between millions of new internet of things devices and there are already a range of releases across America and in some federal agencies. 

This report lays our this 5G strategy as America is considering the potential threats from China and elsewhere from the 5G supply chain at the same time as the US is asking other nations, particularly the UK, not to use products from foreign companies, such as Huawei, which it believes might pose a serious risk to national security.

The United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to “further” reduce Huawei’s presence in telecom infrastructure, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at a Pentagon press conference on the 26th March when he highlighted the importance of the intelligence-sharing agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, and the other Five Eyes intelliegnec sharing nations. 

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