An afternoon Sherry Hour with light snacks accompany a discussion by Loyaan Egal, a Partner with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and former Special Advisor to the Chair of the US Federal Communications Commission who was responsible for overseeing US Privacy, Cyber Security, and Supply Chain Issues. Moderator Lyric Hughes Hale, a Geoeconomics Expert, will guide the discourse under Chatham House rule.

Most economists probably don’t think of the Federal Communications Commission when they think about national security, industrial policy, or global supply chains. But in a world in which almost everything is becoming connected, the FCC’s traditional authority over communications equipment has taken on a much broader economic and strategic significance.

Congress has given the Commission an explicit national-security role through the FCC Covered List, while the digitalization of the physical economy has brought an expanding range of products—from routers and drones to advanced robotics and power inverters—within the orbit of FCC equipment-authorization rules. 

The implications extend well beyond telecommunications. Recent actions increasingly look not simply at who made a product, but where it was made, what components are inside it, who controls the technology, and whether its supply chain can be trusted. Some restrictions can apply to foreign production even when the manufacturer itself is American. For economists and business leaders, this raises a new set of questions:

• What is the economic cost of security? If companies must conduct deeper due diligence, document component origins, maintain alternative suppliers, and shift production toward trusted locations, how much of that cost ultimately reaches consumers?

• How far down the supply chain must companies look?

• Is the burden of proof shifting to companies? Conditional approvals can require detailed disclosure of ownership, manufacturing locations, bills of materials, component countries of origin, software and IP ownership, and potential supply-chain choke points.

• Does national-security regulation become industrial policy?

• What does this mean for globalization and allied supply chains?

• Where does the FCC’s reach end when nearly every machine is connected? As communications capability becomes embedded in factories, vehicles, energy systems, etc., the traditional distinction between telecommunications and the broader industrial economy is increasingly difficult to maintain.