The Federal Communications Commission is set this week to vote on reversing cybersecurity rules for telecommunications providers that were put forward following the sweeping “Salt Typhoon” hacks.

The FCC’s meeting on Thursday includes plans to consider an order to rescind a ruling and proposed rules published in the waning days of the Biden administration. The January ruling requires telecom operators to secure their networks under Section 105 of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.

But current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr argues that ruling “exceeded the agency’s authority and did not present an effective or agile response to the relevant cybersecurity threats.”

The proposed order would rescind the January ruling and withdraw proposed cybersecurity rules for telecom operators.

Instead, the FCC “should instead continue to pursue an agile and collaborative approach to cybersecurity through federal-private partnerships that protect and secure communications networks and more targeted, legally sound rulemaking and enforcement,” according to a factsheet on the order of reconsideration.

‘Worst’ hack ever

The Salt Typhoon campaign was revealed in 2024. It involved penetrating hacks into U.S. telecom networks and others across the globe. The hackers were reportedly able to target the communications of political figures and government officials, including then-candidate Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance.

U.S. officials have said Chinese-government sponsored hackers are behind the campaign. Senate Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Mark Warner (D-Va.) has described it as “the worst telecommunications hack in our nation’s history.”

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has since said the Salt Typhoon campaign overlapped with global threat activities targeting multiple sectors, including telecommunications, government, transportation, lodging, and military infrastructure networks.

“While these actors focus on large backbone routers of major telecommunications providers, as well as provider edge (PE) and customer edge (CE) routers, they also leverage compromised devices and trusted connections to pivot into other networks,” CISA wrote in a September advisory. “These actors often modify routers to maintain persistent, long-term access to networks.”

In rolling out the January rules, Biden administration officials argued they represented a “critical step to require U.S. telecoms to improve cybersecurity to meet today’s nation state threats, including those from China’s well-resourced and sophisticated offensive cyber program.”

However, the FCC’s current leadership says the rules misinterpreted the law and “unnecessarily raised and purported to resolve issues that were not appropriate for consideration in the absence of public input.” The FCC’s factsheet also references the commission’s “recent engagement with providers and their agreement to take extensive steps to protect national security interests.”

In an October letter to the FCC, lawyers representing several telecom associations argued that the January ruling “would significantly undermine” public-private partnerships. They argued that telecom providers had voluntarily collaborated with federal agencies to investigate Salt Typhoon and adopted stronger cybersecurity measures.

Warner and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are also pressing the Department of Homeland Security to release an unclassified 2022 report on security vulnerabilities in the U.S. telecom sector. They argue that by not releasing the report, DHS is undermining public debate over how to best secure telecom networks in the wake of Salt Typhoon.

“The Salt Typhoon compromise represents one of the most serious espionage campaigns against the communications of U.S. government leaders in history, and highlighted important gaps in our nation’s communications security – in some cases, with providers ignoring basic security precautions such as credential re-use across network appliances and failure to adopt multi-factor authentication for highly privileged network administrator accounts,” Warner and Wyden wrote in a recent letter to DHS and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Meanwhile, the House on Monday passed the “Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against State-Sponsored Threats Act.” The bill would establish a joint interagency task force to address China-linked cyber threats, including Salt Typhoon. The task force would be led by CISA, with involvement from the Justice Department, the FBI and several sector-risk management agencies.

The post FCC to vote on reversing cyber rules adopted after Salt Typhoon hack first appeared on Federal News Network.

Democrats in Congress are pressing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to restore oversight staff who were furloughed at the start of the government shutdown.

In a Nov. 6 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the lawmakers said that staff at the Office of Detention Oversight are crucial to ensuring safety at ICE detention centers. Staff at ODO were furloughed at the outset of the shutdown.

“Without ODO staff actively performing these duties, there is a heightened risk that detention facilities fail to meet required standards, compromising detainee safety, access to medical care, and legal protections,” the lawmakers wrote to Noem.

The lawmakers also point out that the Department of Homeland Security’s shutdown contingency plan includes exceptions for the safety of human life and protection of property.

“This is not hypothetical – ICE has publicly reported that at least twenty people have died in its custody since January,” they added.

The letter points to reports of overcrowding and other unsafe conditions at ICE detention facilities, as immigration enforcement operations have continued through the shutdown.

“Given these developments, we are deeply concerned about the health and safety of detainees and staff at ICE facilities during the ongoing lapse in appropriations,” the letter states. “The decision to furlough the entire ODO is a clear attempt to sabotage oversight into the conditions of ICE facilities and the wellbeing of detainees.”

The letter was led by Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) and also signed by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.).

In a separate Oct. 31 letter to Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) pointed out that ICE furloughed ODO staff despite receiving an influx of funding under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“I recognize that certain nonessential functions must pause during a lapse in appropriations,” Dexter wrote. “However, a lack of funding cannot be used as justification to strip away any measure of accountability. To safeguard the health, safety, and dignity of my constituents, I urge you to reinstate necessary staff for the Office of Detention Oversight, immediately restore communication channels between ICE and congressional offices, and ensure Members of Congress have access to all ICE facilities.”

In an Oct. 17 letter, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said DHS furloughing ODO employees while retaining all press and communications staffers raises “serious questions about the department’s priorities during this shutdown.”

“ODO’s inspectors are responsible for ensuring that facilities meet federal health, safety, and humane treatment standards,” Krishnamoorthi wrote. “With detention levels now among the highest in more than a decade, suspending this critical oversight function while enforcement operations proceed uninterrupted is indefensible and represents a profound failure of priorities.”

The ODO furloughs come as the number of ICE detainees reach record high levels. As of Sept. 21, there were nearly 60,000 people in ICE custody.

ODO was created in 2009 to inspect ICE detention facilities. The office conducts a separate set of inspections independent from inspections run by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations’ Custody Management Division.

The furloughs at ODO come after DHS also fired most staff at several oversight offices earlier this year.

The reductions-in-force at those offices – the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman – are now at issue in an ongoing lawsuit.

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