Mixed Signals on Spectrum Policy Seen in Administration Turnover

Concerns remain about NTIA leadership after acting Administrator Diane Rinaldo's mid-December departure (see 1912160049). Rinaldo left seven months after David Redl's abrupt exit as agency head (see 1905090051). Initial speculation was that Trump would name Treasury Department acting Deputy Assistant Secretary-International Affairs Edward Hearst to replace Rinaldo (see 1912160049). Instead, Associate Administrator Doug Kinkoph was designated acting NTIA administrator (see 1912230065). Former NTIA and FCC officials said it would be hard to transfer Hearst without confirmation, unless a non-confirmable slot is open.

There was uncertainty on Capitol Hill before the Christmas/New Year's recess about the administration’s plans for NTIA leadership, including about whether Hearst would eventually take over the role from Kinkoph. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us he had “not been clued in” on the White House’s intentions. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., “expects” Trump will eventually name someone to permanently fill the NTIA administrator role but “I don’t know when.”

House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., also said Trump administration officials hadn't told him whether there were plans to nominate someone to the NTIA administrator role in 2020 given the compressed timeline before the presidential election. “It would be better to have somebody permanent” leading the agency, “but it takes so long to get through” the confirmation process, as shown in the nearly six-month timeline between Trump’s nomination of Redl in May 2017 and final Senate assent that November (see 1711070084), Walden said.

Communications sector lobbyists are unsure if the administration has a plan to nominate Hearst or anyone else for the NTIA administrator role in 2020. “I don’t know if the White House is going to be willing to spend the political capital to get someone nominated and confirmed this close to the election,” said one lobbyist who monitors Republicans. “There have been a lot of issues with NTIA, and [Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross] may just decide to have an acting person in there and then figure things out after the election.”

The White House didn't comment Monday.

Infighting?

“I’m a little surprised” Rinaldo left NTIA so soon, “but I was never under the illusion” she would hold the administrator role permanently given she had been named only the agency’s acting head, Walden said. “I hope” Rinaldo’s departure doesn’t signal a return of the internal turmoil within Commerce previously evident in the department’s dispute with the FCC over whether commercial use of spectrum in the 24 GHz band sold in the recent auction could interfere with Earth observation sensors that occupy an adjacent frequency (see 1906120076), he said.

The FCC has faced resistance from other federal agencies. They raised objections on many of its spectrum proposals, including the 24 GHz auction and plans for the 2.5, 5.9 and 6 GHz bands.

Redl “pushed hard to advance 5G, finally to the point where some people in his own agency threatened some kind of dire response if he didn’t back down,” said Fletcher Heald’s Peter Tannenwald. “The disagreement wasn’t resolved, and he left.” Potential successors “looked at the buzz saw they faced and decided that they had lives to lead and preferred not to be sawed up into little chunks,” he said.

Others said the Pai FCC inevitably created dissension by pushing for sharing in bands other agencies want to protect, most recently the 5.9 GHz band dedicated to dedicated short-range communications. The Department of Transportation is raising concerns about the FCC's plans (see 1912120058).

The FCC is “rightfully taking the lead on telecommunications issues,” said Citizens Against Government Waste Director-Technology and Telecommunications Policy Deborah Collier. “Bureaucratic infighting is not exclusive to this administration. DOT has long objected to using any 5.9 GHz spectrum for anything other than DSRC.” DOD “has long objected to sharing any spectrum at all,” Collier said. “The reason these issues are now being discussed is that the FCC is taking a much stronger position on expanding the use of the spectrum for 5G and Wi-Fi and they should be commended for doing so,” she said.

Moving Forward

“The interagency issues have been around across administrations,” said Mark Jamison, a University of Florida professor who helped the Trump administration organize the current FCC.

“Although it's conceivable that eventually administration turnover will start to cause a problem, right now my sense is that the 5G transition continues apace,” said International Center for Law & Economics Associate Director Kristian Stout. “Even with leadership turnover, the direction for everyone involved is toward 5G. So, while a unified consistent leadership might help in some respects, I don’t think the turnover will necessarily cause a real hit to the process at the moment.”

New America Open Technology Institute's Wireless Future Project Director Michael Calabrese believes the White House is moving forward. “The administration has a smart group in the White House who understand that a 5G policy needs to include rural and small town America, where a more basic broadband digital divide remains unaddressed,” Calabrese said. “The White House should grab onto C-band as a bipartisan opportunity to both earmark the public auction revenue for rural broadband infrastructure and to have the FCC authorize shared use of the remainder of C-band for high-capacity fixed wireless.”

“While there has been turnover among some executive branch political appointees who have portions of the 5G agenda within their portfolios, career civil servant experts have remained in their jobs and have been working,” said Cooley’s Robert McDowell. “More importantly, the agency with the most influence over the future of 5G is the FCC and it has been cranking out order after order to feed the U.S. 5G machine.”