Cybersecurity Policy Report, Bill Would Empower Commerce Dept. to Block Technology Threats, (Jul 1, 2026)
Organizations Mentioned:Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.
The Commerce Department would gain new powers to police technology supply chains for national security threats from foreign adversaries under legislation introduced by Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.).
The ICTS Supply Chain Security Act (S.B. 4882, 119th Cong. (2026)) would codify much of Commerce’s existing work to secure U.S. information and communications technology and services (ICTS) supply chains from foreign threats. It would give new legal powers to the department’s Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services and require the office to be overseen by a Senate-confirmed assistant secretary.
The bill would amend the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 by giving Commerce new authority to block or impose conditions on the use or importation of ICTS if the department determined that a transaction posed “an undue risk of sabotage to or subversion of the design, integrity, manufacturing, production, distribution, installation, operation, or maintenance of information and communications technology or services in the United States,” according to the bill’s text.
It would impose criminal penalties for violations that include fines of as much as $1 million and imprisonment for 20 years and civil penalties of $1.5 million or five times the value of the transaction, whichever is greater, according to a fact sheet.
The foreign adversaries identified in the bill include China, Hong Kong, Macau, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. The bill aims to avoid overlapping ICTS security reviews by requiring Commerce to terminate reviews that are already being conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.).
“Americans should not have to worry that China or Russia can use the technology in our cars, phones, or networks against us,” Sen. Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, said in a news release. “Our bill gives the Commerce Department the tools to keep dangerous foreign technology out of our supply chains while protecting free speech and stopping government overreach.”
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