The Department of State is seeking information from industry vendors on how they would implement a 5G Clean Path plan, which would guide 5G network traffic in and out of U.S. diplomatic facilities at home and abroad while ensuring it does not traverse untrustworthy equipment from vendors such as Huawei Technologies or ZTE Corporation.
“A 5G Clean Path embodies the highest standards of security against untrusted, high-risk vendors’ ability to disrupt, deny, or tamper with telecommunications traffic and services to private citizens, financial institutions, businesses, government, or critical infrastructure,” a request for information said. “It is important that countries and telecommunications operators understand the United States is not just talking about secure 5G networks, but is also requiring and implementing them.”
State defines the 5G Clear Path plan as an end-to-end communication path that doesn’t use 5G transmission, control, computing, or storage equipment from untrusted vendors and embodies high cybersecurity standards “against untrusted, high-risk vendors’ ability to disrupt or deny services to private citizens, financial institutions, or critical infrastructure.”
Interested parties should include in their responses what technical capabilities their organization could deploy for fulfilling requirements.
5G has the potential to deliver the infrastructure and services necessary to truly revolutionize mobile computing and services,” State said. “These are the next generation capabilities required to build a world class network the can be the foundation for technologies such as edge computing, Internet of Things, machine learning, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence.”
Responses are due no later than 3:00 p.m. EST on July 3, 2020.
