WASHINGTON-A House Government Reform panel has plans to hold a hearing March 17 on how U.S. policymakers prepare and execute spectrum policy positions at World Radiocommunication Conferences, the first of a series of hearings in Congress’ investigation of spectrum management in this country.
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), chairman of the subcommittee on national security, emerging threats and international relations, will address WRC issues that also are at issue in one of five spectrum probes being conducted by the General Accounting Office. The House Government Reform Committee requested the GAO reviews last June.
GAO, the official watchdog of Congress, has other investigations on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s relationship with the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee; the role of federal advisory committees that assist the Federal Communication Commission; public safety radio interoperability; and the impact of new technologies on spectrum management.
The House Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), plans another hearing in April on a broad range of spectrum management issues.
This summer, in June or July, Rep. Adam Putnam’s (R-Fla.) subcommittee on technology, information policy, intergovernmental relations and the census, will hear from expert witnesses on challenges hindering smooth wireless communications among federal, state and local government agencies.
The House Government Reform’s spectrum management oversight is playing out as the Bush administration separately re-examines U.S. spectrum management in the United States, a subject of increased controversy in recent years as a result of high-profile spectrum fights between the wireless industry and the Pentagon and growing demand for a finite supply of frequencies. Recommendations flowing from the latter initiative will be included in two reports delivered to President Bush on May 29.
In addition to rethinking spectrum governance, U.S. policymakers have to address how they plan to replenish the corps of aging spectrum managers in government. An official at NTIA, a Commerce Department arm that oversees federal government spectrum and advises the president on telecom policy, said the brain-drain issue likely will be addressed in one of the reports to the president.
