The Federal Communications Commission is charged with regulating the nation's technology and telecommunications industries. But in house, the commission's own equipment is so deficient that its leader came to Congress this week pleading for an upgrade.

"We just simply cannot go on this way," the visibly frustrated FCC chairman told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday.

At hearings this week before the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees that handle his agency's budget, Chairman Tom Wheeler told Congress that the FCC needs $13.5 million to upgrade its "antiquated" technology system.

Vulnerability to cyberattacks is a top concern for Wheeler. For example, many of the FCC's computers still use Windows XP, the 13-year-old operating system that Microsoft is ending support for on April 8.