HWG represented longtime client North American Submarine Cable Association (“NASCA”) before the Department of Homeland Security and its U.S. Customs and Border Protection unit to force the withdrawal of a proposal to revoke longstanding Customs rulings ensuring access by foreign-flagged ships to install and repair submarine telecommunications cables in the U.S. territorial sea.  The proposal, if adopted, would have increased costs and repair times for submarine cables, which carry more than 99 percent of U.S. intercontinental Internet, voice, and data traffic.  The HWG team was led by Kent Bressie and included Colleen Sechrest and William Leahy.