Senate Commerce Takes on Redl in Amicable NTIA Confirmation Hearing

Senators peppered Redl with questions on spectrum, as expected (see 1706070061). He stressed NTIA’s role in maintaining the balance between trying to free up more spectrum for the commercial wireless industry and the needs of federal spectrum users. “The spectrum demand on both sides is going to continue to grow,” he told Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., lauding NTIA’s “admirable job” trying to understand federal agency needs and focus on efficiencies. “Those government agencies have essential missions.” Young noted the military sometimes shares spectrum, and government-held spectrum isn’t necessarily used by a government entity. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., asked about the possible federal bands that could be reallocated, and secured a commitment from Redl to ensure U.S. leadership on 5G.

Disbursement of Spectrum Relocation Fund money is slower than Congress intended with 2015’s Spectrum Pipeline Act law, which would add flexibility of such spending to allow more spectrum R&D, Thune said during the hearing, which he didn’t chair but attended to ask questions. Thune noted concerns raised about the NTIA review process and asked Redl to commit to disbursement in a timely fashion, which Redl did.

To facilitate an age of self-driving cars, “we’re potentially going to have to share some spectrum,” said Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., citing his legislation with Thune “that we hope to introduce shortly.” He cited the 5.9 GHz band and the “process going forward right now to see whether that can be shared.” He asked nominees for a commitment that such testing is a “fair and transparent process that is driven by facts.” Redl agreed and said “we should be pushing for transparency at every venture.” Derek Kan, the nominee for undersecretary of transportation for policy, also made that commitment.

“Improving the performance of government spectrum systems, providing incentives for government agencies to make better use of spectrum, and promoting spectrum research and development have been critical to the digital economy and will continue to be important for NTIA,” Redl testified. “The recent changes made by Congress to the Spectrum Relocation Fund are already driving federal agencies to reach for new efficiencies, but the work on this front is far from over. If confirmed, I will work to continue to improve government spectrum efficiency and make additional spectrum available to fuel our nation’s licensed and unlicensed wireless needs.”

Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, secured a commitment from Redl that he would work with the Commerce Department to comply with appropriations law requiring an interagency review group. Schatz warned against IoT-focused companies “operating under 17 different statutory regimes.” Redl wants to “try and knock down some of those barriers,” he agreed.

Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., probed Redl about whether states will have enough time to review FirstNet’s draft state plans before deciding whether to opt in or out. Redl said he hopes the plans satisfy all state needs, but “the states should be given the right to truly opt out.” If states did opt out, Redl would fulfill his responsibility as NTIA administrator to ensure any alternative state network is up to par and fits into the network. “I certainly hope so,” he told Wicker of “adequate” review time for states before the decision.

“I agree with you that the BTOP [Broadband Technology Opportunities Program] program in West Virginia was a lost opportunity,” Redl told Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. She raised concerns and asked how to structure broadband infrastructure investment going forward: “I wouldn’t say [the Obama administration broadband stimulus] was an abysmal failure but there was a lot of wasted money in that program.” Redl, a longtime staffer on the House Commerce Committee, cited his oversight work on that earlier stimulus and described the economic value that comes from expanding broadband. “I saw firsthand as a child as broadband first came to my hometown, what that meant for my family’s business,” Redl said of his rural upbringing in upstate New York. Redl “witnessed firsthand my questioning of the previous NTIA administrator on the EagleNet debacle in my home state of Colorado -- so I hope you’re not too nervous,” Gardner said at the hearing’s outset, citing another BTOP grantee (see 1302280063). Redl committed to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., to work on next-generation 911. She also raised dig once policies. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, promised to introduce the Rebuild America Now Act next week and focused on streamlining the federal permitting system.

Redl also faced questions on the ongoing implications of the now-completed Internet Assigned Numbers Authority oversight transition, as expected (see 1706050057). Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pressed Redl on whether the nominee believes the oversight transition, completed in October (see 1706050057), “was a wise and prudent decision.” Cruz, who was the Senate's most vocal critic of the spinoff, said he plans to continue “this conversation with [Redl] because this is an issue of considerable interest to me and, I think, to a great many Texans.” Sullivan told Redl he too continues to “have some issues on the ICANN matter. I think a lot of us in the Senate do, so I think it will be important to make sure we understand your views on that.” Sullivan had pushed NTIA to delay the handover (see 1605250051 and 1609160066).

Congress “spent a lot of time” debating whether it was appropriate to allow the transition to proceed but “the reality" was that once NTIA decided in 2014 to announce plans to spin off its oversight authority, “it would have been very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle,” Redl said. It's important now for NTIA to “move forward and be the best representative of U.S. interests” as the nation's representative to ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee, Redl said: “The way the process turned out and the changes that were made” to ICANN's accountability mechanisms put the U.S. “in a position to continue to protect its interests.” He will work to preserve the internet as “an engine for free speech and free-market commerce.”