Governments all over the world are asking essential questions on nationwide safety and submarine cables, searching for to guard this essential infrastructure and mitigate threat.
Within the minds of many, threats from unhealthy actors are a prime concern, although the overwhelming majority of cable faults are attributable to accidents from fishing and anchor drags.
On November 20, 2025, members of the U.S. Home Committee on Homeland Safety convened a listening to to debate overseas adversary threats to subsea cable infrastructure. TeleGeography’s Chief Analysis Officer Tim Stronge testified at this joint listening to for the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Safety and the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety.
Watch Tim’s congressional testimony beneath and learn the report he submitted to Congress.
Opening Assertion of Tim Stronge, Chief Analysis Officer, TeleGeography
Chairmen, Rating Members, and distinguished members of the committee. Thanks for the chance to talk with you at present.
My identify is Tim Stronge, and I’m the Chief Analysis Officer at TeleGeography. We offer the impartial information that the worldwide communications trade depends on to map and measure the web.
I’m right here at present to speak in regards to the bodily spine of the trendy U.S. economic system: submarine fiber-optic cables. The strategic significance of this community boils down to 3 traits: these cables are weak, they’re essential, and they’re irreplaceable.
First, vulnerability. I’ve introduced a cable pattern with me. Encased inside are skinny strands of glass, every in regards to the width of a human hair.
If this seems fragile to you, that’s as a result of it’s. Particular person cables are particularly weak to wreck from fishing gear and anchor drags. The worldwide community experiences roughly 200 faults yearly—a mean of 4 per week.
Second, criticality. My son Kaz is away at school in Connecticut. One in all our favourite methods to remain linked is to share humorous movies. Fiber-optic networks make that attainable. Maybe you already lay awake at night time, worrying about how we should shield our nation’s strategic reserve of cat movies. However even when not, it’s essential to know that cables carry way over social media and net content material.
They’re the spine of worldwide finance. Greater than $12 trillion in monetary transactions stream over these cables every day. Hundreds of thousands of American jobs now depend upon entry to digital infrastructure. The U.S. authorities, itself, is closely reliant on business submarine cables.
Third, irreplaceability. A typical false impression is that satellites are a viable one-for-one substitute. They aren’t. Satellites are an important emergency backup for mission-essential use, however they can’t change the sheer capability and cost-efficiency of fiber. Cables carry over 99% of all intercontinental information for a easy cause: the cost-per-unit of cable capability is 2,800 occasions cheaper than satellites.
Collectively, these three situations—bodily vulnerability, excessive criticality and irreplaceability—would possibly appear to be a scary combine.
However I’m right here at present with excellent news. For a cable operator, the lack of income streams throughout downtime is financially catastrophic. That implies that these non-public firms are already powerfully self-incentivized to safe their cables.
Let’s return to that vulnerability. The overwhelming majority of these 200 annual faults are accidents. This fixed menace has compelled the non-public sector to speculate billions of {dollars} in a tangible, layered protection.
Firms have constructed dozens of recent cables and geographically various touchdown stations to make sure information all the time has a backup path. Cable operators are innovating with new detection expertise that makes use of the fiber itself to sense threats. They usually have funded a worldwide fleet of two dozen restore vessels on 24/7 standby.
Crucially, the methods constructed to defend in opposition to routine accidents can even assist to safe the community in opposition to malicious assaults.
Nevertheless, there are essential gaps the place authorities motion is required:
- First, designate a single level of contact for cables. We’d like one federal lead with a twin mandate: to shepherd new cable initiatives by the allowing maze, and to construct a coherent nationwide technique for resilience.
- Second, strengthen deterrence. Present penalties for harm to cables date again to an 1884 treaty on telegraph cables and are woefully—virtually comically—inadequate.
- Third, assist fast-track cable restore overseas. The worldwide common delay to start a restore is now a month and a half. A lot of that is because of complicated allowing in overseas waters. We’d like a diplomatic push to chop the overseas crimson tape conserving restore ships in port.
The trade has already demonstrated its deep dedication to cable safety. It seems to authorities as a associate to assist clear the trail.
Thanks, and I look ahead to your questions.