Bill Hughes(@BillHughesDC):👀👀👀 National Security Determination on the Threat Posed by Foreign-Produced Advanced Robotic Devices July 27, 2026 "The Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan identifies robotics as a next-generation technology essential to our defense and national security. Robotics technology is rapidly advancing, driven by enhancements in AI, sensing, and actuation technologies. Advanced robotic devices will be critical to creating efficiencies in our economy, dominating on the battlefield, and securing our homeland. To ensure the United States is able to take advantage of this generational technology, the United States must have an independent and resilient robotics supply chain and industrial base. As the 2025 National Security Strategy states, “The United States will reindustrialize its economy, ‘re-shore’ industrial production, and encourage and attract investment in our economy and our workforce, with a focus on the critical and emerging technology sectors that will define the future.” As the technology matures, advanced robotic devices have growing use cases in monitoring and securing critical infrastructure. Robots are often equipped with high-fidelity sensors, including Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), tactile, acoustic, and thermal sensors that collect and maintain sensitive data on their surroundings. Advanced robotic devices are inherently networked systems which creates broad attack surfaces and leaves them vulnerable to data exfiltration, remote disruption of the physical robot, and dependencies on unsecure over the air updates. The data collected by advanced robotic devices, especially those securing sensitive locations and critical infrastructure must be protected and maintained in the United States. In addition to securing critical infrastructure, advanced robotic devices also have applications in industrial manufacturing, from material handling to order fulfilment. Integrating these technologies into American manufacturing will lower production costs, increase output, and support America’s reindustrialization. In order for the American economy to rely on these technologies, we must have a secure domestic advanced robotics supply chain and industrial base."

2026.07.28 20:28

👀👀👀 National Security Determination on the Threat Posed by Foreign-Produced Advanced Robotic Devices July 27, 2026 "The Trump Administration’s AI Action Plan identifies robotics as a next-generation technology essential to our defense and national security. Robotics technology is rapidly advancing, driven by enhancements in AI, sensing, and actuation technologies. Advanced robotic devices will be critical to creating efficiencies in our economy, dominating on the battlefield, and securing our homeland. To ensure the United States is able to take advantage of this generational technology, the United States must have an independent and resilient robotics supply chain and industrial base. As the 2025 National Security Strategy states, “The United States will reindustrialize its economy, ‘re-shore’ industrial production, and encourage and attract investment in our economy and our workforce, with a focus on the critical and emerging technology sectors that will define the future.” As the technology matures, advanced robotic devices have growing use cases in monitoring and securing critical infrastructure. Robots are often equipped with high-fidelity sensors, including Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), tactile, acoustic, and thermal sensors that collect and maintain sensitive data on their surroundings. Advanced robotic devices are inherently networked systems which creates broad attack surfaces and leaves them vulnerable to data exfiltration, remote disruption of the physical robot, and dependencies on unsecure over the air updates. The data collected by advanced robotic devices, especially those securing sensitive locations and critical infrastructure must be protected and maintained in the United States. In addition to securing critical infrastructure, advanced robotic devices also have applications in industrial manufacturing, from material handling to order fulfilment. Integrating these technologies into American manufacturing will lower production costs, increase output, and support America’s reindustrialization. In order for the American economy to rely on these technologies, we must have a secure domestic advanced robotics supply chain and industrial base."

Bill Hughes@BillHughesDC

2026.07.28 20:20

FCC Adds Foreign-Produced Power Inverters and Robots to Covered List Public notice and fact sheet available at the link above. In brief: The FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau added two new categories to the Covered List: foreign-produced power inverters and foreign-produced "advanced robotic devices" (defined as mobile robots, including humanoids and quadrupeds). This follows two National Security Determinations transmitted to the FCC on July 27 by a White House-convened Executive Branch interagency body. The FCC has no independent authority to make the underlying national security finding. Under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, the Commission is obligated to add equipment to the Covered List once it receives a qualifying determination from the Executive Branch interagency body; the Public Notice is explicit that PSHSB's role here is non-discretionary. The operative restriction is that covered equipment cannot receive FCC equipment authorization, and since most electronic devices need that authorization before import, marketing, or sale in the U.S., this functions as a de facto import/market-entry ban for new models going forward. Like the UAS (Dec. 2025) and router (Mar. 2026) additions, this covers anything "produced in a foreign country," regardless of the producer's nationality — the same categorical approach rather than a company-specific blacklist (Huawei, ZTE, etc.). Previously authorized models can still be sold, imported, and used; existing owners are unaffected; and federal government purchase/use is entirely carved out. DHS or DoW can grant approval to a specific inverter or inverter class; DoW alone handles robotic device approvals. Applications go through a guidance-document process to conditional-approvals@fcc.gov, mirroring the UAS/router precedent. Both determinations lean on supply chain vulnerability and cybersecurity risk — remote connectivity enabling data exfiltration, remote shutdown, or "commandeering" by foreign actors. This is the first time the Covered List framework has been extended to humanoid/quadruped robots by direct executive action, ahead of the GUARD Act that would codify a similar process legislatively. This shows how the administration is willing to move on robotics-specific national security restrictions without waiting on Congress, and it will likely shape how the GUARD Act debate proceeds.

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