Strategic Competition > Strategic Domains
Telecom & Digital Infrastructure Leadership
Securing the Arteries of Commerce, Security, and Innovation
“Control the world’s digital arteries, and you control the future flow of commerce, innovation, and influence.”
Kennedy visiting Turk TeleKom in Istanbul with students from Johns Hopkins University.
🔹 Strategic Context
- This page is part of WISC’s Strategic Competition framework, applying geoeconomic statecraft through the STEAD model — integrating Security, Technology, Economics, Alliances, and Diplomacy — to secure U.S. leadership across critical domains.
Why Telecom and Digital Infrastructure Leadership Matters
- The networks that connect the world are no longer neutral—they are contested.
- The networks that connect the world are no longer neutral—they are contested.
- Embed surveillance and coercion into global telecom networks
- Dominate 5G/6G infrastructure, cloud systems, and undersea cables
- Export closed, opaque models of digital governance
- Democratic nations must respond by leading in:
- Building secure, open, trusted networks
- Setting global standards for digital transparency and resilience
- Expanding digital infrastructure access aligned with democratic values
- Victory requires winning both the physical networks and the rules that govern them.
Strategic Priorities for Telecom and Digital Infrastructure
- Secure and Expand Trusted 5G/6G Networks: Lead efforts to deploy secure, interoperable networks through partnerships with democratic allies and emerging markets.
- Strengthen Resilience of Global Digital Infrastructure: Protect critical nodes—satellites, undersea cables, cloud hubs—against physical, cyber, and economic threats.
- Set Open Standards for Digital Governance: Drive multilateral agreements on trusted vendor criteria, data sovereignty, privacy, and interoperability.
- Invest in Emerging Markets’ Digital Connectivity: Support high-standard digital infrastructure investment to counter authoritarian influence and extend open systems globally.
- Integrate Telecom Leadership with Trade and Investment Strategy: Embed digital infrastructure resilience into supply chain agreements, development financing, and regional economic frameworks.
Insights & Engagements
🏛️ Engaging Administration or Congress, 📰 Op-Ed / Article / Quoted 🎙️ Podcast ✍️ Policy Brief 👥 Roundtable / Event 🎤 Speaking 🎥 TV/Video 🌐 Global
Trusted Global Telecommunications
- 🎤 🇯🇵 Remarks to Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology in Washington, DC - September 18, 2024
Digital Infrastructure Security
- 👥 Briefing with National Cybersecurity Center - University of Colorado Colorado Springs - June 21, 2021
Closing Principle
Those who build the world’s digital highways today will define the world’s systems of commerce, security, and freedom tomorrow.
👉 Related Pages
🔷 Featured Insights
The Scanning Empire: How China is Building a Global Web of Digital Control - Wilson Center Policy Brief with Lea Thome - February 20, 2025