[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3454-S3455]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 6327. Ms. ROSEN (for herself, Mr. McCormick, Mr. Blumenthal, and 
Mr. Cornyn) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to 
the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for 
military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle B of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 1218. REPORT ON INTERNET FREEDOM IN IRAN.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
     the enactment of the Act, the Secretary of State, in 
     consultation with the Federal Communications Commission and 
     the Department of the Treasury, shall prepare and submit to 
     the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the 
     Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 
     a report that updates and supplements the report required 
     under section 5124 of the National Defense Authorization Act 
     for Fiscal Year 2025 (22 U.S.C. 8754a).
       (b) Additional Matters To Be Included.--Updates to the 
     strategy required in section 5124 of the National Defense 
     Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (22 U.S.C. 8754a), 
     shall also include the following:
       (1) An assessment of the feasibility of using direct-to-
     cell wireless communications technologies to expand internet 
     access for the people of Iran, including technical, 
     regulatory, and security considerations.
       (2) An analysis of how drone-based platforms, signal 
     jamming technologies, and related countermeasures could 
     impact the feasibility, security, economics, and resilience 
     of such direct-to-cell wireless communications.
       (3) A survey of terrestrial and non-terrestrial 
     telecommunications service providers currently active in 
     Iran, including--
       (A) whether such providers are state-owned or state-
     controlled;
       (B) the extent of foreign participation or investment in 
     such providers; and
       (C) the implications of such ownership and control for 
     communications freedom and censorship.
       (4) Any other relevant information to assess the 
     opportunities and risks associated with terrestrial and non-
     terrestrial communications technologies in Iran.
       (5) An analysis of the effectiveness of low-Earth-orbit 
     (LEO) satellite internet constellation systems in providing 
     accessible internet to Iranians during the January 2026 
     Iranian protests, the needs of Iranian civil society in being 
     able to ensure reliable access to such systems when the 
     Government of Iran cuts access to the internet, existing 
     capabilities of LEO satellite internet constellation systems 
     in circumventing jamming, the per user cost of providing LEO 
     satellite internet constellation systems, and recommendations 
     for technology improvements to LEO satellite internet 
     constellation systems to be able to resist jamming 
     technologies to ensure the Iranian people's access to the 
     global internet. This analysis should also include an 
     assessment of physical and digital security vulnerabilities 
     for LEO satellite internet users in Iran and recommendations 
     for how to mitigate those concerns. The analysis and 
     assessment shall have a classified annex.
       (6) An assessment of the feasibility of including readily 
     available commercial ``off-the-shelf'' technologies to be 
     eligible for the grant program outlined in section 5124 of 
     the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 
     (22 U.S.C. 8754a) that--

[[Page S3455]]

       (A) could facilitate unrestricted access to the global 
     internet in Iran;
       (B) could be integrated into already available commercial 
     technologies that civil society and the people of Iran have 
     access to;
       (C) could reasonably shield the personal data of users from 
     the Government of Iran; and
       (D) has some degree of resilience against countermeasures 
     that the Government of Iran could employ when cutting off the 
     global internet.
       (c) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be 
     submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified 
     annex.
                                 ______