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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 229 / Thursday, December 2, 2021 / Rules and Regulations Committee staffs views on this matter and decline to accept USTelecoms recommendations.

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G. Provision of Personally Identifiable Information PII by Applicants 36. We modify the Standard Questions in Attachment E/Broadcast Section 310b PDR to clarify the set of individuals for whom broadcasters must provide PII, as requested by NAB. Each set of Standard Questions requires applicants to provide PII for several categories of individuals involved in the ownership and management of the applicant as well as non-U.S.
individuals with access to the applicants facilities. This PII will be required to be submitted in a separate attachment, Attachment G. This PII is required so that the Committee can conduct investigations of individuals involved in the ownership and operations of the applicant and those non-U.S. individuals with access to facilities.30 NAB contends that Question 19 in Attachment E/Broadcast Section 310b PDR, which seeks information concerning any non-U.S. Individual, owners, or management, including independent or third-party Individuals/
Entities of the Relevant Party or Foreign Party that has access to physical facilities or equipment under the Relevant Partys or Foreign Partys control, is overly broad, unduly burdensome and intrusive. NAB argues that Question 19 appears to sweep in virtually any non-U.S. employee, all of whom presumably have access to physical facilities of the Relevant Parties. . . . NAB suggests that we modify Question 19 to describe specific types of facilities or equipment that would give rise to potential Committee concerns and to focus on U.S. facilities only.
37. We agree with NAB that, as proposed, Question 19 is overly inclusive and could be viewed as applying to any non-U.S. employee with access to any facility of the broadcaster, including production facilities located outside of the United States.
Additionally, Committee staff has clarified that it is only concerned with facilities outside of the United States that store, process, or provide access to U.S. person data including data on current, past, and potential customers or that are used to broadcast into the United States. Based on this, we believe 30 Pursuant to the process set out in the Executive Order, for each application reviewed by the Committee, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence shall produce a written assessment of any threat to national security interests of the United States posed by granting the application or maintaining the license.

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that narrowing the scope of this question is therefore warranted.
Accordingly, we clarify that broadcasters must provide the information listed in Question 19 for non-U.S. Individuals with access to 1
all facilities and equipment in the United States, 2 facilities outside the United States that are used to broadcast into the United States, and 3 facilities both inside and outside the United States that store, process, or provide access to U.S. person data including data on current, past, and potential U.S.
customers.
38. We decline USTelecoms request that we change the PII reporting requirements for individuals with access to submarine cable facilities.
USTelecom argues that Question 34 in Attachment Cwhich seeks information on Non-U.S. Individuals access to submarine cable facilities, equipment, communications content, and customer records, among other things, including PII concerning those Non-U.S.
Individuals with such accessshould be confined to the Domestic Communications Infrastructure except for the NOC, as it has been in practice in past proceedings. USTelecom also argues that because this question applies to specific individuals, this will be a constantly changing list given normal personnel activity over time and in certain foreign jurisdictions, some of the required information may not be legally obtainable from individuals or may be very difficult to provide to the U.S government given the countrys own limitations and privacy laws. USTelecom urges the Commission to eliminate Question 34 or revise the question to ask generally if non-U.S. individuals will have such access without any requirement to identify specific individuals.
39. We reject USTelecoms suggestion.
The Committee staff oppose the modification of this question, stating that submarine cables are U.S. critical infrastructure and that applicants should provide PII and other details about non-U.S. individuals with access to either U.S. or foreign facilities e.g., cable landing stations, Network Operations Centers, etc. related to the submarine cable as it is necessary for the Committees national security and law enforcement analysis. We agree. We also agree with Committee staff that submarine cable operators should have in place access control policies for these critical facilities that will enable them to provide details concerning the individuals with access to their facilities, whether they are located in the United States or in a foreign country. With regard to USTelecoms
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contention that it would be difficult to answer this question given the changes in personnel activity and limitations imposed by foreign laws, the Standard Questions can only be answered with information known at the time of submission. If there are future changes, we anticipate that a mitigation agreement between the applicant and the Committee could address how the applicant should update the Committee with any necessary information.31
40. We agree with USTelecom that questions that require the applicant to identify an Individual to be the Licensees authorized law enforcement point of contact should be limited to the U.S. cable landing party. This is consistent with the Commissions statement in the Executive Branch Review Order that for consortium cables, the consortium must identify one U.S. citizen or lawful permanent U.S. resident as a point of contact for lawful requests and an agent for legal service of process for each licensee of the consortium cable.
H. Information About the Applicants Services 1. Critical Infrastructure 41. Based on C&Bs request, we will update the list of U.S. critical infrastructure sectors outlined in the Standard Questions to track Presidential Policy Directive 21 PPD21. Each set of Standard Questions excluding Attachment E/Broadcast Section 310b PDR asks if the applicant will serve any sectors of U.S. critical infrastructure and includes a checklist of various sectors.
C&B notes that the listed sectors do not align with the current list of critical infrastructure sectors identified under Presidential Policy Directive 21 PPD
21. PPD21 establishes a national policy on critical infrastructure security and resilience, and identifies 16 critical infrastructure sectors, not all of which overlap with the sectors listed in the proposed Standard Questions checklist.
Upon closer review and consultation with Committee staff, we agree with C&B that the list of critical infrastructure sectors provided in the Standard Questions should be revised to be consistent with PPD21.
Accordingly, we have modified the Standard Questions to reflect the list of sectors contained in PPD21.
42. We agree with C&B that additional clarity is needed with regards to the meaning of the word serve in questions pertaining to serving sectors of U.S. critical infrastructure. C&B
31 Committee staff also state that if an applicant is unable to provide this information, it can explain such limitations in its response.

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