POLITICO: Matsui urges Biden to clean up the Trump era's 'untenable' 5G chaos
Rep. Doris Matsui, who co-chairs the Congressional Spectrum Caucus, is urging President-elect Joe Biden to clean up the government infighting over 5G airwaves that spilled into public view during the Trump era.
“These frequent, public conflicts encouraged a combative rather than collaborative posture among federal agencies and often necessitated congressional intervention,” the veteran California Democrat wrote in a letter to Biden on Friday, describing the last four years. “This spectrum management approach is untenable.”
What she’s referring to: The FCC frequently found itself in the middle of sparring with the Trump administration's agencies — including the Pentagon and departments of Commerce and Transportation — amid the commission’s efforts to free up spectrum for use by commercial tech, telecom and cable companies for Wi-Fi and 5G. These fights often reflected competing priorities for who has access to the airwaves, a fight with implications for federal agencies and commercial entities including GPS companies and electric utilities.
Matsui is not alone in her concerns. A year ago, House Energy and Commerce leaders asked the Government Accountability Office to probe the “chaotic” breakdown in airwaves management, complaining that agencies were bypassing the normal channels coordinated through the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The FCC oversees commercial airwaves, while NTIA oversees federal ones.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who will probably chair Senate Commerce after Democrats take over, has questioned the FCC’s choices in some of these big spectrum fights. She has sided with agency critics like the Pentagon and DOT and suggested the commission has misplaced priorities.
Strategy time:President Donald Trump in 2018 promised he would issue a national spectrum strategy, which his officials said would be a boon to 5G. Such a document was never released. He has also lacked a Senate-confirmed NTIA leader for much of his presidency.
Biden must do it differently, said Matsui, who is vice chair of Energy and Commerce's telecom subcommittee.
“I believe it is imperative that your Administration’s strategy include a unified approach to spectrum policy and a clearly articulated process for resolving interagency disputes,” she wrote to Biden.
“NTIA’s role as manager of the federal government's use of spectrum is vital and should be respected and supported,” she added. “This role allows NTIA to effectively represent federal interests before the FCC and also ensures that the FCC is not forced to interpret divergent messages from individual federal agencies.”
Matsui urged Biden to consider updating a memorandum of understanding between the two agencies “to determine whether updates are or are not needed to ensure a transparent, consultative process.”
What’s next: These challenges will await whomever Biden taps to lead his agencies, including the NTIA. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) late last year recommended that Biden pick his aide Joseph Wender for that role.
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