Open Letter: Stop Foreign Control of the Internet!

Open Letter From Conservative Leaders
Congress Must Stop Foreign Control of the Internet

September 12, 2016
Washington, DC

“We bought it, we paid for it, we built it, and we intend to keep it.”

— Ronald Reagan, March 31, 1976, recommending that the (now Chinese-
controlled) canal in Panama not be tossed away.

Governor Reagan was referring to only one strategic American asset.

On October 1, 2016, President Barack Obama will hand to Iran, China, Russia, and others control of perhaps America’s single greatest strategic asset – the world wide web known as the internet.

The internet has become the foundation of international commerce for one reason. It operates under the protection of American legal, cultural, and political freedoms.

Totalitarian regimes have sought to block access to the internet within their borders. However, America’s Constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech has allowed even disfavored websites to be accessed via often difficult, but possible work-arounds.

Forces around the globe desire to control this medium. Shut down its fairness. Steal its commercial communications and secrets.

Perhaps none of Mr. Obama’s actions during his two terms will do as irreparable damage to our national security as his transferring the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions to the foreign government-controlled Internet Corporations for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on October 1, 2016.

Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution of the United States clearly states that only “The Congress shall have power to dispose of … property belonging to the United States.” Twice Congress has passed, and the President has signed, legislation to prevent Mr. Obama from using funds to transfer the Internet to foreign control.

The Protecting Internet Freedom Act by Senator Ted Cruz and Rep. Sean Duffy will ensure the continued protection of internet freedom by prohibiting the National Telecommunications and Infrastructure Administration (NTIA) from allowing the IANA functions contract to expire. It will ensure that the United States maintains sole ownership of the .gov and .mil top-level domains, which are vital to national security.

Congress must take action before October 1 in order to preserve the independence of the world wide web that has been such a blessing to the world.

We believe that it is our duty to hold every Member of Congress, House or Senate, Democrat or Republican individually responsible should they allow Mr. Obama to unilaterally take this brazen step in disregard of Congressional mandates.

No other nation would even consider discarding such a valuable strategic asset.

In the next few days we will have the names of those in Washington who are there to protect America and those who are not.

The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop
Chairman,
Conservative Action Project
Former White House Advisor,
President Ronald Reagan
________________________________

Diana L. Banister
President
Shirley & Banister Public Affairs

The Honorable Colin A. Hanna
President
Let Freedom Ring, Inc.L.

Brent Bozell, III
Founder and President
Media Research Center

Michael A. Needham
Chief Executive Officer
Heritage Action for America

Alfred S. Regnery
Chairman
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund

William W. Pascoe
Partner
Antietam Communications

Rebecca Hagelin
Board of Directors,
Family Talk Secretary,
Council for National Policy

Judson Phillips
Founder
Tea Party Nation

Bob Adams
President
Revive America PAC

Monty S. Warner
Plains States
Legal Foundation

Steven Thrasher
Special Counsel
National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Nicholas Stehle
Campaign for the
American Future

Ted Baehr
Publisher
MOVIEGUIDE(R)

Michael Farris
Chairman
Home School Legal Defense Association

Herb London
President
London Center for Policy Research

Col. Francis X. De Luca USMCR (Ret)
President
Civitas Institute

Peter J. Thomas
Chairman
Americans for
Constitutional Liberty

Allen Roth
President
Secure America Now

Bradley Mattes
President
Life Issues Institute

Nancy Schulze
Founder,
Congressional Wives Speakers Co-founder,
American Prayer Initiative

Herman Cain
CEO
www.hermancain.com

Floyd Brown
Chairman
Western Center for Journalism

Andresen Blom
Executive Director
Grassroot Hawaii Action, Inc.

George Landrith
President
Frontiers of Freedom

Thomas P. Kilgannon
President
Freedom Alliance

Ronald D. Rotunda
The Doy & Dee Henley Chair
and Distinguished Professor
of Jurisprudence Chapman University

Phillip Jauregui
President
Judicial Action Group

Dee Hodges
President
Maryland Taxpayers Association

Tricia Erickson
President,
Angel Pictures & Publicity
Publisher,
TheConservativePundit

Lewis K. Uhler
Founder and President
National Tax Limitation Committee

Rick Manning
President
Americans for Limited Government

Lou Cordia
President
Cordia and Associates

Belden Bell
Co-Chair
Heritage Legacy Society

Rick Scarborough
President
Vision America Action

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
President & CEO
Center for Security Policy

Robert K. Fischer
Meeting Coordinator Conservatives of Faith

Kelly Shackelford, Esq.
President,
CEO & Chief Counsel First Liberty Institute

Sandra Froman
Treasurer
Council for National Policy

The Honorable Ken Ivory
Member
Utah House of Representatives

Norm Singleton
President
Campaign for Liberty

The Honorable Mike Hill
Florida State Representative
District 2

Todd W Herrick
Chairman
Herrick Foundation

Larry Beasley
President and CEO
The Washington Times

Jim Martin
Chairman
60 Plus Association

Susan Falknor
Publisher
The Blue Ridge Forum

Tim Wildmon
President
American Family Association

Ron Pearson
President
Council for America

Terrence Scanlon
Retired President
Capital Research Center

Becky Gerritson
President
Wetumpka TEA Party (AL)

Lisa Calvert
Conservative Activist Houston, TX

Kimberly Bellissimo
CEO
ForthRight Strategy

Melvin Adams, Sr
Hardy, Virginia