This week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the United Kingdom (U.K.)’s Department for Business and Trade of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Australia’s Department of Industry, Science, and Resources established the United States-United Kingdom-Australia Supply Chain Resilience Cooperation Group to enhance efforts to combat threats to critical supply chains.
The Supply Chain Resilience Cooperation Group will develop an early warning pilot focused on the telecommunications sector. This sector, including satellite and subsea communications, is critical to the shared economic security of the three participating nations. The pilot program will identify and monitor potential disruptions to supply chains in the telecommunications sector. It will also enhance global understanding of the vulnerabilities in the sector and develop communications channels for sharing this information and facilitating cooperative responses to disruptions.
Telecommunications infrastructure is vital to the distribution of public safety information, emergency services, and the day to day lives of many citizens. For example, undersea fiberoptic cables carry over 95% of transoceanic data traffic without which smartphones, financial networks, and communications systems would cease to function reliably.
Source: US Homeland Security