Washington, Feb 1 (PTI) A powerful bipartisan group of lawmakers have introduced a bill in the US Senate to combat tech-specific threats to national security posed by foreign actors like China.

If passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President, the bipartisan legislation would create an Office of Critical Technologies & Security at the White House responsible for coordinating across federal and state agencies and developing a long-term, whole-of-government strategy to protect against "state-sponsored" technology theft and risks to critical supply chains, a media statement said.

"China's theft of critical US technologies and increased efforts to expand into our telecommunications market pose as serious threats to our national security and to consumers,” said Senator Susan Collins, who on Thursday cosponsored the legislation authored by Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio.

"This bipartisan bill would ensure greater coordination and cooperation between government at the federal and state levels, as well as with nongovernmental experts and the private sector, to develop a long-term strategy on combatting foreign attempts to acquire US technologies,” she said.

The Warner-Rubio bill would guarantee that there is a federal entity responsible for proactively coordinating interagency efforts and developing a national strategy to deal with the challenges to our national security and long-term technological competitiveness, the media statement said.

The Office would also be responsible for raising awareness and improving the overall education of the American public and business leaders in key sectors about the threats to US national security posed by the improper acquisition and transfer of critical technologies by foreign countries and reliance on foreign products – such as those manufactured by Chinese telecom companies ZTE and Huawei – that jeopardize the overall security of private sector supply chains, it said.

“At the same time, the US is also facing major challenges to the integrity of key supply chains as a result of reliance on foreign products that have been identified as national security risks. A national response to combat these threats and ensure our national security has, to date, been hampered by insufficient coordination at the federal level,” it said.

China and other nations are currently attempting to achieve technological and economic superiority over the United States through the aggressive use of state-directed or -supported technology transfers, it added.

The proposed legislation is cosponsored by Senators Michael Bennet, Roy Blunt, and Chris Coons.

The Companion legislation was also introduced in the House of Representatives on January 16 by Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger, Mike Conaway, Jim Himes, and Will Hurd.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)