Assessment of Trans-Atlantic Submarine Fiber Optic Cable

Floor Speech

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Ms. PLASKETT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Pallone, this body, and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for recognizing the national security interest of this legislation, H.R. 1737, to direct the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to submit to Congress a report containing an assessment of the value, cost, and feasibility of developing this transatlantic submarine fiber optic cable that has been discussed.

Today, hundreds of undersea fiber optic cables connect North America to Europe, South America, and Asia, but not a single cable directly links North America to the African Continent. This represents both a strategic vulnerability and a missed economic opportunity.

The diaspora link act represents an opportunity to establish a high- speed, secure telecommunications data connection to Africa from American soil to facilitate deepened economic connections and aid American regional security assistance. This link will allow America to establish a direct digital presence on the African Continent, both to capitalize on emerging economic opportunities and to protect our Nation against cyber and military threats.

The study will examine Lagos, Nigeria, and Accra, Ghana, as potential African landing points. Both cities serve as established telecommunications hubs with existing undersea cable infrastructure linking West Africa to Europe and South America. The presence of American embassies in both locations offers critical security benefits for cable operations.

Our adversarial nations are rapidly expanding their influence across the African Continent, and a direct American telecommunications link to the continent is a strategic necessity.

China has systematically expanded its telecommunications and military presence across Africa. The Chinese multinational Huawei has constructed roughly 70 percent of Africa's information technology infrastructure. China is pursuing the same strategy in the Caribbean, where at least 10 nations have signed Belt and Road agreements that open their nations to Chinese investment and influence.

China's expansion into Africa and the Caribbean makes establishing our own direct telecommunications link to these regions a strategic necessity.

Russia, as well, has destabilized Africa through disinformation campaigns and mercenary operations, positioning itself as an alternative to Western partnerships while fueling antidemocratic sentiment. This strategy has made Africa a flash point in the global strategic competition between Russia and the West. Moscow's support for authoritarian governments includes backing multiple coups in Nigeria, Mali, Sudan, Guinea, and Burkina Faso that directly threaten democratic progress.

Our adversaries are systematically exploiting Africa's vast mineral wealth while we lack direct access. Russia and China are extracting critical resources across the continent: uranium from Niger, the world's seventh largest producer; gold and lithium from Mali's extensive deposits; cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and bauxite and phosphate from Burkina Faso. These materials are essential to technology as well as defense industries. We cannot afford to remain on the sidelines.

Additionally, there are many African countries that want to engage with us, that want to do business with us. Burkina Faso and Angola have reached out to our country to engage more, and this is an additional way for us to do that.

Additionally, let's look at the populations. Africa has almost a billion individuals under the age of 30. The United States has only 100 million. The entire European Union has 140 million. These young people represent a growing economic as well as potential allyship for the United States, and we all know that social media and internet commerce is the mechanism by which we are able to engage them.

An undersea cable linking the American East Coast to Africa via the United States Virgin Islands would create both a critical national security asset and a digital commerce expressway to strengthen America's global political, economic, and military positions. Such undersea cable development would leverage the Virgin Islands' already existing telecommunications infrastructure, which already connects the territory to South America and the mainland in the United States and facilitates additional regional links.

The diaspora link act enables the United States to counter Chinese influence and global telecommunications while leveraging our existing strategic assets. The U.S. Virgin Islands not only hosts established cable infrastructure but maintains a National Guard installation on St. Croix with an adjacent military support airport, assets that could directly support and secure these telecommunications operations.

The Virgin Islands, the most southern point of the United States, sits at the crossroads of centuries-old transit routes, and we now have a chance to transform this strategic location into a cornerstone of American telecommunications infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Energy and Commerce Committee for its unanimous support of this legislation through regular order. This bill passed the House in the 118th Congress with bipartisan support and identical text.

I thank my colleague, Congressman Fulcher, for his continued partnership to advance America's telecommunications as well as military and national security.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this critical measure. Congress must protect American security interests in the Caribbean and strengthen our partnership across the Atlantic with our African partners.

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