CSIS REPORT CALLS FOR GOVT.-PRIVATE FUNDING OF SPECTRUM R&D

As expected, the report, written by a group co-chaired by former Motorola Chmn. Robert Galvin, recommended a White House-level body to examine spectrum policy (CD April 25 p1). What appeared to be more unexpected was a proposal to create a public/private research consortium for spectrum R&D. “We make it because of mounting evidence that research in the United States is declining, while it is continuing to increase overseas,” the report said. “This trend will damage U.S. economic competitiveness and security if not reversed.” It said that without federal intervention, the U.S. might not make that investment, saying private sector R&D funding in the U.S. now focused more on new products than on research. “In contrast, foreign competitors in Europe and Asia gain an advantage from government funding for both short- and long- term basic research,” it said. The consortium could be organized as a standalone entity or under the National Science Foundation, the report said.

In other areas, the report recommended: (1) A senior White House position for spectrum management along with a “senior-level” policy coordinating committee to settle disputes between agencies and ensure coordination. (2) Greater concentration of spectrum-related international duties, including putting the World Radio Conference ambassadorship under the auspices of the State Dept. (3) Creation of a White House advisory group for national spectrum issues. The report said the special assistant for spectrum management at the White House should be shared between the National Security Council and the National Economic Council.

At a briefing on Capitol Hill unveiling the plan, Schlesinger said White House oversight was needed because of the “unsolvable conflict between various departments which has occurred” in past spectrum policy areas. “The conflicts are ultimately resolved but it takes years and years to do,” he said.

Among other things, this new White House post would oversee a new interagency group for spectrum management that would develop a national strategy and serve as a dispute resolution tool when agencies disagreed, the report said. The new interagency group itself would include representatives of the FCC, NTIA, Pentagon, Dept. of Homeland Security and other agencies. It said its recommendation wouldn’t require changes in how lines of authority were drawn now between the FCC and NTIA. The group would either decide interagency disputes or “escalate them to the cabinet level or the President for decision,” the report said. The issue of how spectrum disputes were resolved among federal agencies and the private sector received a higher profile leading up to the FCC’s adoption of an ultra-wideband order, although the FCC and NTIA ultimately ironed out differences in technical opinions on interference. Separately, the report called for the White House to create a small, high-level advisory group for spectrum drawn from outside govt., which wouldn’t have a management role.

The U.S. needs to treat international spectrum negotiations “more seriously,” including the WRC preparatory process in the U.S., the CSIS task force said. It said the WRC ambassador in the U.S. carried a 6-month term, shorter than that of its foreign counterparts. Instead, the report said spectrum negotiations should be placed under the purview of the White House. The CSIS group said the positions of WRC ambassador and the State Dept.’s coordinator for international communication and information policy, which typically also carries the rank of ambassador, should be merged. “Incumbents have performed well, but there are no benefits to having 2 ambassadors,” it said.

The report follows several others in recent months on how to overhaul the U.S. spectrum management process. The CSIS document has received significant attention because of the involvement of Schlesinger, who also is a former Energy Secy. He was tapped early in this Bush Administration to head a DoD spectrum assessment. The idea of an umbrella policy group over existing agencies to examine spectrum has come up elsewhere, as well. The General Accounting Office this year suggested an independent federal commission to examine spectrum management, citing past govt. difficulties in resolving disputes among spectrum users (CD Feb 4 p2). While the report said the FCC’s Spectrum Policy Task Force had examined spectrum reform, the GAO said no single agency had ultimate authority over all spectrum. More recently (CD June 6 p1), President Bush signed an executive memorandum that created a task force to recommend how to stimulate more efficient spectrum use by federal users.

Like other reports, the CSIS document concluded that the current spectrum management process was outmoded: “The existing spectrum management structure is overwhelmed by technological change and strenuous competition. This combination of new demands and new technologies will only become more difficult, given the continuing pace of innovation.” The lack of change in the U.S. spectrum management structure results in a “process that blocks innovation.”

“While the reality of physics does not permit the expansion of spectrum, engineering reality permits substantially greater exploitation of the limits of spectrum,” Schlesinger said. “The present system of management of the spectrum precludes the greater exploitation of that technology,” he said. Members of the panel that drafted the report included CTIA Senior Vp Steven Berry, Defense Science Board Chmn. Craig Fields, Aerospace Industries Assn. Pres. John Douglass, Boeing Senior Vp Carl O'Berry, former WRC Ambassador Janice Obuchowski, Electronic Industries Alliance Pres. Dave McCurdy, Lockheed Martin Corp. Vp Brian Dailey.

On the recommendation of a spectrum advisory board to be drawn from the private sector, Schlesinger said that would allow companies involved in making technological breakthroughs to make recommendations. The current National Telecom Advisory Committee is fundamentally oriented toward national security. One possibility in creating such a spectrum advisory board would be to expand the responsibilities of NSTAC, he said, which he said would require a decision by the Executive Branch and legislative changes. On the recommendation that the WRC ambassadorship be made permanent and folded into the Dept. of State, Schlesinger said the current system meant that the “Department of State only gets involved intermittently in the problem of dealing with other countries on the issue of spectrum.” A more effective mechanism “would begin to adjust the attitude in the [State] Dept. more toward technology,” he said.

House Govt. Reform Chmn. Davis (R-Va.) said the report would complement numerous General Accounting Office reports on spectrum management that now are in the works, and the President’s interagency task force on spectrum policy. NTIA Dir. Michael Gallagher said the CSIS effort overlapped many of the wireless issues now before the interagency task force on spectrum used on the govt. side, which an executive memorandum by President Bush created last summer. “It will be given strong consideration,” he said.

Several participants in the drafting process and other speakers stressed the national security implications of the need to overhaul the current spectrum management system. House Govt. Reform National Security Subcommittee Chmn. Shays (R-Conn.) cited testimony he heard last week from state and local first responders on their unmet spectrum needs: “It seems clear to me the pace of innovation far exceeds the capacity of last-century decisionmaking models to plot the optimal strategic course over a complex technological horizon.”