[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
REAUTHORIZATION OF NTIA
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
FEBRUARY 2, 2017
__________
Serial No. 115-5
GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce
energycommerce.house.gov
__________
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COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
GREG WALDEN, Oregon
Chairman
JOE BARTON, Texas FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey
Vice Chairman Ranking Member
FRED UPTON, Michigan BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois
JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois ANNA G. ESHOO, California
TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania ELIoT L. ENGEL, New York
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas GENE GREEN, Texas
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee DIANA DeGETTE, Colorado
STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois
CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS, Washington G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina
GREGG HARPER, Mississippi DORIS O. MATSUI, California
LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey KATHY CASTOR, Florida
BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland
PETE OLSON, Texas JERRY McNERNEY, California
DAVID B. McKINLEY, West Virginia PETER WELCH, Vermont
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico
H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia PAUL TONKO, New York
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York
BILL JOHNSON, Ohio DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa
BILLY LONG, Missouri KURT SCHRADER, Oregon
LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, III,
BILL FLORES, Texas Massachusetts
SUSAN W. BROOKS, Indiana TONY CARDENAS, California
MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma RAUL RUIZ, California
RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina SCOTT H. PETERS, California
CHRIS COLLINS, New York DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan
KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
TIM WALBERG, Michigan
MIMI WALTERS, California
RYAN A. COSTELLO, Pennsylvania
EARL L. ``BUDDY'' CARTER, Georgia
Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
Chairman
LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
Vice Chairman Ranking Member
JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois PETER WELCH, Vermont
STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York
ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa
BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky RAUL RUIZ, California
PETE OLSON, Texas DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida ANNA G. ESHOO, California
BILL JOHNSON, Ohio ELIoT L. ENGEL, New York
BILLY LONG, Missouri G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina
BILL FLORES, Texas DORIS O. MATSUI, California
SUSAN W. BROOKS, Tennessee JERRY McNERNEY, California
CHRIS COLLINS, New York FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey (ex
KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota officio)
MIMI WALTERS, California
RYAN A. COSTELLO, Pennsylvania
GREG WALDEN, Oregon (ex officio)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hon. Marsha Blackburn, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Tennessee, opening statement.......................... 1
Prepared statement........................................... 3
Hon. Michael F. Doyle, a Representative in Congress from the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, opening statement................ 3
Hon. Greg Walden, a Representative in Congress from the State of
Oregon, prepared statement..................................... 67
Witnesses
John M.R. Kneuer, Former Assistant Secretary for Communications
and Information, Former Administrator, NTIA, President and
Founder, JKC Consulting........................................ 7
Prepared statement........................................... 10
Answers to submitted questions \1\........................... 71
Meredith Attwell Baker, Former Acting Assistant Secretary for
Communications and Information, Former Acting Administrator,
NTIA, President and CEO, CTIA.................................. 15
Prepared statement........................................... 17
Answers to submitted questions............................... 73
Anna M. Gomez, Former Acting Assistant Secretary for
Communications and Information, Former Acting Administrator,
NTIA, Partner, Wiley Rein...................................... 25
Prepared statement........................................... 27
Answers to submitted questions............................... 77
Submitted Material
Statement of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, submitted
by Mr. Doyle................................................... 69
----------
\1\ Mr. Kneuer did not submit a response to questions for the
record.
REAUTHORIZATION OF NTIA
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Communications and Technology,
Committee on Energy and Commerce,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:48 a.m., in
room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Marsha Blackburn
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Blackburn, Lance, Shimkus, Latta,
Guthrie, Olson, Kinzinger, Bilirakis, Johnson, Flores, Brooks,
Collins, Cramer, Walters, Costello, Doyle, Welch, Clarke,
Loebsack, Ruiz, Dingell, Engel, Butterfield, McNerney, and
Pallone.
Staff present: Gene Fullano, Detailee, Telecom; Kelsey
Guyselman, Counsel, Communications and Technology; Dan
Schneider, Press Secretary; Evan Viau, Staff Assistant; Gregory
Watson, Legislative Clerk, Communications and Technology; Alex
Debianchi, Minority Telecom Fellow; David Goldman, Minority
Chief Counsel, Communications and Technology; Jerry Leverich,
Minority Counsel; and Lori Maarbjerg, Minority FCC Detailee.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE
Mrs. Blackburn. Good morning, everyone.
We are delighted that you all are here and that you're
joining us as the Communications and Technology Subcommittee is
kicking off the 115th Congress.
I guess kick off is the right word to use because we are
looking at the Super Bowl this weekend. So everybody pick your
team.
Our subcommittee features a few new faces and also some
familiar faces in new roles, and before we begin I'd like to
take a moment for a brief introduction.
Mr. Lance is our vice chairman and he is going to be a
valuable partner in all of our endeavors. His understanding on
the issues and his experience as a senior member of this
committee will be a great asset to us on the subcommittee.
I am also excited to introduce the new Republican members
of the subcommittee: Mr. Flores, Ms. Brooks, Ms. Walters, Mr.
Costello. We welcome their eagerness and their talents to these
issues.
I want to congratulate Mr. Doyle, the new ranking member.
He has been consistently active on these issues through the
years. I am looking forward to working with him.
As I have so focused on these coms and technology issues
I've appreciated the fact that Mr. Doyle kind of like me chose
to opt himself in to the discussion on these issues and he is
joined by three new members on his side.
I know that he is going to be ready to introduce them in a
few moments. Let me begin with my opening statement. Get myself
organized here.
As we continue the subcommittee's work, modernizing the
laws around communications and technology and striving to
promote innovation and investment it only makes sense to begin
by taking a look at one of the agencies tasked with developing
telecommunications policy.
The last NTIA reauthorization was adopted in, get this,
1992. It is far past time that we again reauthorize the agency
and the first step in the process is to examine the role of the
agency past, present and future in crafting policies that will
achieve our shared goals.
We are pleased to have three witnesses today that can speak
to their experiences as head of the NTIA. We are so grateful
for your time and for your insights and I am certain they are
going to give us the needed perspective on the work that the
agency has done and also, hopefully, give us some good ideas on
how to empower the NTIA going forward.
One of the biggest bipartisan priorities for the
subcommittee over the years has been satisfying the demand for
additional spectrum for commercial use.
As the FCC winds down the broadcast incentive auction, one
of the last opportunities for reallocation of commercial
spectrum to other commercial users we are again turning our
focus to federally-held spectrum. The government holds a large
amount of spectrum and we recognize that they require much of
it for carrying out critical government missions.
However, we also want to be certain that the government is
armed with the best technology and is using that spectrum as
efficiently as possible. The dividend from this investment in
our government agencies will be more spectrum to meet more
broadband demands.
Broadband deployment is America's greatest infrastructure
challenge of this decade and it is up to us to rise to the
occasion of meeting this demand.
We will have long said that spectrum will need to be an all
of the above solution and NTIA will be an essential player in
any discussion moving forward. In additional to spectrum
policy, NTIA plays a leading role in public safety and
cybersecurity policy.
They serve as a liaison for interagency cooperation and
standard setting in both of these areas promoting safer and
more secure communications networks.
We have seen time and again in recent months how serious
cyber threats are we will need to use all of our tools to
combat these attacks, especially when it comes to critical
infrastructure.
NTIA has the capability to bring together a diverse group
of government stakeholders to address the problem and develop
best practices. We must ensure that we empower them to be
effective and efficient in combating cyberattacks and promoting
strong public safety networks.
The communication sector is vibrant, thriving, and the
government agencies that handle these issues should reflect
that.
Today, we are going to look at how to enable the NTIA to
craft thoughtful telecom policy that promotes continued
innovation and investment.
I thank our witnesses for their thoughtful testimony and I
look forward to a robust discussion on this important agency
and at this time I yield 5 minutes to the ranking member.
[The prepared statement of Mrs. Blackburn follows:]
Prepared statement of Hon. Marsha Blackburn
As we continue this subcommittee's work modernizing the
laws around communications and technology, and striving to
promote innovation and investment, it only makes sense to begin
by taking a look at one of the agencies tasked with developing
telecommunications policy. The last NTIA reauthorization was
adopted in 1992. It is far past time that we again reauthorize
the agency, and a first step in the process is to examine the
role of the agency, past, present, and future in crafting
policies that will achieve our shared goals.
We are pleased to have three witnesses today that can speak
to their experiences as heads of NTIA. I'm certain they will
provide us with valuable perspective on the work that the
agency has done, but also hopefully give us good ideas as to
how to empower NTIA going forward.
One of the biggest bipartisan priorities for this
subcommittee over the years has been satisfying the demand for
additional spectrum for commercial use. As the FCC winds down
the broadcast incentive auction, one of the last opportunities
for reallocation of commercial spectrum to other commercial
users, we are again turning our focus to federally held
spectrum. The government holds a large amount of spectrum, and
we recognize that they require much of it for carrying out
critical government missions. However, we also want to be
certain that the government is armed with the best technology,
and is using spectrum as efficiently as possible. The dividend
from this investment in our government agencies will be more
spectrum to meet broadband needs. Broadband deployment is
America's greatest infrastructure challenge and we must rise to
the occasion. We have long said that spectrum will need to be
an ``all of the above'' solution, and NTIA will be an essential
player in any discussion moving forward.
In addition to spectrum policy, NTIA plays a leading role
in public safety and cyber security policy. NTIA serves as a
liaison for interagency cooperation and standard setting in
both of these areas, promoting safer and more secure
communications networks. We have seen time and again in recent
months how serious cyber threats are, and we will need to use
all tools at our disposal to combat these attacks-especially
when it comes to critical infrastructure. NTIA has the
capability to bring together a diverse group of government
stakeholders to address the problem and develop best practices.
We must ensure that we empower NTIA to be as effective and
efficient as possible in combatting cyber attacks and promoting
strong public safety networks. The communications sector is
vibrant and thriving, and the government agencies that handle
these issues should reflect that. Today, we will look at how to
enable NTIA to craft thoughtful telecommunications policy that
promotes continued innovation and investment. I thank our
witnesses for their thoughtful testimony and look forward to a
robust discussion on this important agency.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Mr. Doyle. Well, I want to thank you, Madam Chair, for
holding this hearing and I want to congratulate you on your new
role. I look forward to working with you and having a
productive partnership and I am glad you like opt in. I do,
too.
I also want to thank my colleagues on the committee for
giving me this opportunity and introduce our two new members,
Raul Ruiz from California and Debbie Dingell from Michigan--
both good members and I think will be good members for this
committee.
I want to thank the outstanding panel that's here today. We
look forward to your testimony. As the chair said, we are here
today to discuss reauthorizing the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration, an agency charged with
providing the president and the executive branch with fact-
based expert policy recommendations on telecommunications,
information, and internet issues.
NTIA is also responsible for managing the federal
government's use of spectrum and it has been instrumental in
clearing government-held spectrum and making it available for
commercial use.
In the process, tens of billions of dollars have been
raised for the federal government. NTIA is also working with
federal agencies to find new and creative ways to share
underutilized spectrum resources and that's important because
maximizing our finite spectrum resources will be critical as we
move to the fifth generation wireless networks and beyond.
NTIA's Institutes for Telecommunication Sciences located in
Colorado are key to this mission. Last year, the funding for
this lab was 23 percent below the president's request. Our lack
of investment here could have serious implications for this
agency's ability to accomplish its mission.
We want to ensure that this agency has the authority, the
tools, and the personnel it needs to do its job. NTIA also
plays a critical role in convening government agencies,
industry experts and academics to tackle complex problems
through their multi-stakeholder process.
This process has been used to address evolving issues such
as cybersecurity, the internet of things, UAVs, and many
others.
This is a well-managed, orderly, and inclusive process that
enables the federal government to thoroughly grasp and
effectively address complex issues, and more than that, this
agency has repeatedly proved its worth beyond just clearing
spectrum.
Under the leadership of our panel, NTIA ran the DTV
converter coupon program and the BTOP program to deploy
broadband infrastructure and stood up FirstNet, the public
safety broadband network authority.
They have learned valuable lessons along the way. BTOP is
now Broadband USA, a program to help communities expand
broadband and promote its adoption.
My hope is that as we talk about infrastructure investment
in this country we look to agencies like NTIA which have
extensive experience in this area to help manage and direct
these investments for our future.
My hope in reauthorizing NTIA is that we empower this
agency to continue doing its job and that they continue to have
a seat at the table and continue to provide fact-based advice
to the president and others.
Madam Chair, I'd like to ask unanimous consent to enter
this letter from the Electronic Privacy Information Center into
the record.
Mrs. Blackburn. So ordered.
[The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.]
Mr. Doyle. Thank you, and I would like to yield the
remainder of my time to my colleague, Ms. Matsui.
Ms. Matsui. Thank you very much, Mr. Doyle, for yielding me
time.
Today's digital economy demands that we bolster the
invisible infrastructure supporting wireless connectivity.
Spectrum is the building block for innovation.
Working with NTIA we made significant progress in the last
8 years to free up federal spectrum for commercial use.
Congressional oversight and cooperation from the administration
was critical. As a result, we made 300 megahertz of spectrum
available for the wireless broadband.
We must have continued leadership from both branches of
government including leaders at the agencies like the
Department of Defense to expand this progress.
We all know there is much more work to be done. The United
States must lead the world in 5G and I look forward to working
with my colleagues to free up more of our nation's airwaves for
the wireless economy.
We have always been a nation of innovators and our spectrum
policies should be no exception. With that, I yield back to the
ranking member.
Mrs. Blackburn. The gentleman yields back his time.
Chairman Walden is not here for his opening. Is there any
member that would choose to take a portion of his time? Then
let me reserve that in case he makes it up and at this time--
Mr. Pallone had requested time. Is that not correct?
Mr. Doyle. Could I claim his time to yield for one more
minute?
Mrs. Blackburn. Absolutely you can claim the time and
yield.
Mr. Doyle. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it.
Is there any member of the subcommittee that would like to
have time?
Mr. Ruiz. Chair.
Mr. Doyle. Yes, I'll yield to Mr. Ruiz.
Mr. Ruiz. Thank you, Chairwoman and Ranking Member.
In today's digital age, access to broadband internet is not
a luxury. It is a great equalizer that gives millions of
Americans the opportunity to pursue their education, find a job
and achieve their dreams.
But the fact is there are severe disparities in the
deployment of broadband in my district and across the U.S.,
felt most acutely in rural areas and on tribal land.
The National Telecommunications and Information
Administration, or NTIA, has been instrumental in closing this
digital divide and I am pleased to be here today to discuss how
we can build upon their successes to better serve our
constituents. And particularly, I want to highlight NTIA's
Broadband USA initiative launched in 2015 which empowers local
communities and tribes to expand their broadband capacity and
promote broadband adoption through online and in person
technical assistance, regional workshops and guides and
toolkits with best practices for achieving success.
This is a program that supports local solutions supported
by evidence-based best practices and technical assistance and
is a model that we should all be able to support.
I thank the ranking member again for the opportunity to
speak briefly about this critical program and look forward to
working together with the members of this subcommittee to find
solutions that move our nation forward into the digital age.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Mr. Doyle. Thank you. I'd like to yield some time to Ms.
Dingell, too.
Ms. Dingell. Thank you, Ranking Member, for yielding to me
and I'd like to thank the chairman for holding this hearing
today.
I know this subcommittee oversees much of the new
technology that's reshaping our great nation and NTIA in
particular has helped usher in this new era of connectivity
through its work supporting broadband deployment and clearing
our airwaves. Every day new high-tech marvels are unveiled,
including connected and automated vehicles, which I care a
great deal about, which have the promise of reducing energy
consumption and saving lives on the road.
The continuing technological revolution is creating many
new jobs and bringing other benefits to society. But for all
the good this innovation brings to consumers in our economy, we
have to ensure that no American is left behind in this new
technological era.
As this transition occurs, we have got an obligation to use
every tool at our disposal to create jobs and get people back
to work. We are going to need to train Americans for the new
jobs that need filling and if any agency's up to the task of
helping to solve this problem I know NTIA is.
Keeping Americans on the job is critical to this new
economy. It's going to be a major focus for me on this
subcommittee. I thank the ranking member and yield back the
time.
Mr. Doyle. Thank you. Does anyone else seek time?
Mr. McNerney.
Mr. McNerney. Well, again, I thank the ranking member.
The NTIA is the agency that's going to be advising the
president on internet policies, on privacy and security. These
are really important functions, especially in the age of our
internet of things--the IoT.
So I really advocate for a strong agency that has the
resources to do the research and to develop policy
recommendations that will make internet more competitive and
will keep America's lead in the internet activities and
telecommunications activities.
So we have a couple of issues like the broadband map, I
think, which needs to be updated so that we have the proper
information, security and privacy. Very, very important.
I've worked with the chairwoman of this committee on this
issue and I look forward to working with you again on that. But
again, I advocate that we have a strong NTIA to help us move
forward working with the administration.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mr. Doyle. I yield back. Thank you.
Mrs. Blackburn. And this concludes our member opening
statements. I do remind all members that you've got 5 days for
submitting those opening statements.
They are all going to be made a part of the record and we
know that several of our members are on the member bus coming
back from the prayer breakfast and they are not here at this
time.
We want to thank our witnesses for being here with us today
and for taking their time and for submitting that testimony
early. That's always a good thing.
Our panel features three witnesses who are testifying today
in their capacity as former administrators of the NTIA.
They are the Honorable John Kneuer, who served as the
assistant secretary of commerce for communications and
information and administrator of NTIA from February 2006 to
November 2007. Welcome.
The Honorable Meredith Attwell Baker, who served as the
acting assistant secretary of commerce for communications and
information and acting administrator of NTIA from November 2007
to January 2009. Welcome.
And Ms. Anna Gomez, who was the acting assistant secretary
of commerce and acting administrator of NTIA from February 2009
to June 2009. Ms. Gomez continued to serve the NTIA as deputy
assistant secretary and deputy administrator of the NTIA until
2013.
We appreciate all of you, each of you being here today and
preparing for this. We will begin the panel with you, Mr.
Kneuer. You are now recognized for 5 minutes to give an opening
statement.
STATEMENTS OF THE HONORABLE JOHN M.R. KNEUER, FORMER ASSISTANT
SECRETARY FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, FORMER
ADMINISTRATOR, NTIA, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, JKC CONSULTING; THE
HONORABLE MEREDITH ATTWELL BAKER, FORMER ACTING ASSISTANT
SECRETARY FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, FORMER ACTING
ADMINISTRATOR, NTIA, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CTIA; ANNA M. GOMEZ,
FORMER ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND
INFORMATION, FORMER ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, NTIA, PARTNER, WILEY
REIN
STATEMENT OF JOHN M.R. KNEUER
Mr. Kneuer. Thanks very much.
Good morning, Chairman Blackburn, Ranking Member Doyle,
members of the committee. It was indeed my privilege to serve
at NTIA as both the Deputy and the Assistant Secretary from
2003 to 2007.
Since that time in private life I have served as a board
member, a consultant, and an advisor to various companies and
institutions that have an interest in telecommunications and
technology markets.
But I want to stress I am here today in my personal
capacity and all of my views are my own.
So while NTIA has developed a diverse portfolio of issues
over time, its core mission can really be broken down into two
functions: the policy coordination and policy advisory for the
president function and as the manager of the federal government
spectrum.
Because of this dual responsibility, NTIA occupies an
important intersection of telecommunications policy in industry
as well as our national and homeland security.
But to be most effective I think any reauthorization
statute should focus NTIA on those areas where its core
competency can be leveraged to maximum effect.
With regards to policy coordination and development, under
the existing statute NTIA administrator serves as the
president's principal advisor on telecommunications policies
pertaining to the nation's economic and technological
advancement and to the regulation of the telecommunications
industry.
This is a very, very broad mandate that can be read to
include essentially policy area that affects the
telecommunications and technology markets.
However, in my experience at NTIA I think it's at its most
effective when it focuses its policy coordination efforts on
those areas of its unique responsibility, namely, this
intersection of commercial and government interests.
Now, one very obvious example is with regard to cyber.
Cybersecurity is an issue that cuts across commercial interest
as well as very important government equities. By providing the
perspective of industry and the experience that NTIA has there
into the interagency process, NTIA can help bridge the gap
between the executive branch interests and executive branch
entities that have national and homeland security
responsibilities and the key private sector interests that also
support our collective cyber defenses.
Similarly, NTIA can serve as a conduit from government
agencies with cyber experience back into the private sector so
they have that information flow as well.
With regards to spectrum management, I think as Secretary-
designee Ross stated in his confirmation hearing testimony, the
Department of Commerce has to work with Cabinet departments to
free up more spectrum to meet our critical demand for
broadband, and it's not just broadband but it's also autonomous
vehicles, the internet of things, the range of spectrum-
dependent industries that are proliferating across the economy.
All have spectrum demand and we need to manage that properly.
But this doesn't have to be a zero sum transaction where
industry's gain is agency's loss.
With thoughtfully crafted policies, Cabinet departments,
and agencies benefit both from commercial industry
technological developments that produce not only spectrum
efficiencies but also new mission critical capabilities for
government services, and then the revenue from spectrum
auctions can also be used to fund these critical government
facilities and ease budget pressure.
Because of its exposure to both industry and government
agencies, NTIA can help ensure that the spectrum relocation
results in both positive benefits for industry and the
government, and I think it had been mentioned by multiple
comments the ITS labs in Boulder can also help with cutting
edge research in that regard.
There are, however, limits to NTIA's authority. As a sub-
Cabinet agency in a single department it's beyond NTIA's
authority to dictate to other Cabinet departments their
spectrum and capital budget allocations and resources.
However, there is one section of the existing authorizing
statute that I think should be examined for potential
clarification in any future reauthorization.
Under existing law, NTIA is authorized to advise the
director of OMB on the development of policies relating to the
procurement and management of federal telecommunication
systems.
In the past, this authority has been effective in combining
NTIA's expertise with OMB's government wide authority to
promote spectrum efficiencies. I think there is untapped
potential in that relationship.
So, again, I appreciate the opportunity to testify and I'll
remain available to the committee as you consider the
authorization of this agency and I'll look forward to any
questions.
[The statement of Mr. Kneuer follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mrs. Blackburn. I thank you, and Ms. Baker, you're
recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF MEREDITH ATTWELL BAKER
Ms. Baker. Terrific. Good morning. My name is Meredith
Attwell Baker and I'm President and CEO of CTIA.
I first wanted to offer my congratulations to both Chairman
Blackburn and Ranking Member Doyle on your new roles. We
applaud your longstanding commitment to ensuring that all
Americans have access to global-leading communications.
As the head of an association that cares deeply about
spectrum policy and as a previous acting administrator of NTIA,
it's an honor to be a witness at this subcommittee's first
hearing.
Your focus today on the reauthorization of NTIA rightfully
underscores the importance of this organization to so many of
our shared and bipartisan objectives.
Serving alongside my colleagues at NTIA was a distinct
honor. I have the highest opinion of the extremely talented and
surprisingly small staff. From the digital television
transition that I helped lead to the AWS-1 and AWS-3 auctions
they helped enable, NTIA plays a critical role in our nation's
communication future in close collaboration and with guidance
from this committee.
While NTIA serves many important functions, I want to focus
my remarks on spectrum. As a nation, we need to have advanced
communication networks to support mission critical government
programs and we need to continue to lead the world in
commercial wireless services.
NTIA plays a unique role seeking out win-win situations for
government and commercial users. They leverage new technologies
and auction revenues to provide government agencies more
efficient and effective systems.
In doing so they provide our industry with access to
critical new spectrum to better serve all of us. I hope this
reauthorization process can help empower NTIA to advance its
mission and ensure government and commercial users have the
communications resources they need. I believe we can benefit
from the lessons learned from prior reallocation efforts to
strengthen NTIA's role.
First, we should ensure that NTIA has the technical
resources and expertise it needs to serve as an impartial
mediator of future spectrum disputes.
For example, I hope we focus on NTIA's engineering lab,
ITS, and its ability to do cutting edge research with both
government and commercial partners. The lab has always played
an important role in AWS-1 and AWS-3 reallocation efforts.
Similarly, NTIA should be able to provide agencies with the
R&D support needed to evaluate potential sharing and
reallocation efforts. Hand in hand with those technical
resources, NTIA would benefit from greater transparency tools
to better hold agencies accountable for their spectrum use and
to simplify this committee's important oversight role.
In my mind, given the importance of our sector to the
economy it is also overdue to elevate the NTIA administrator to
an Under Secretary level to better reflect their role as the
president's principal advisor on communications.
Strengthening NTIA now is particularly important. We are
about to have a revolutionary breakthrough in the next
generation of wireless, known as 5G. These networks will be 10
times faster and five times more responsive than today's
networks.
They will be able to support 100 times more wireless
devices, from beacons to wearables, and that will unlock
powerful benefits in communities of all sizes from Clarksville,
Tennessee to McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
America's wireless industry is ready to make significant
new investments to bring these benefits to communities all over
the country.
One recent study estimates that wireless operators will
invest $275 billion over the next decade to deploy 5G. That
investment is projected to create a new 5G job for every 100
Americans--three million total jobs.
In local communities, increased 5G connectivity will mean
officials can more quickly respond to emergencies. It will make
our roads safer. Smarter energy solutions will lower our
monthly bills and mobile health care systems will instantly
connect patients with doctors. The speed with which these
benefits reach all Americans will largely depend on decisions
made here in Congress at NTIA and at the FCC. We need an
infrastructure policy to support denser networks with new small
cells, hopefully a future topic for another hearing soon.
And we need a plan for 5G spectrum with a clear pipeline of
new commercial spectrum under NTIA's steady hand. The wireless
industry is ready to invest in what's next.
We hope this committee will continue its record of helping
make that happen, help us create jobs and, most relevant for
today, help empower NTIA to provide for all Americans'
communications needs.
Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. Baker follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mrs. Blackburn. I thank you.
Ms. Gomez, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF ANNA M. GOMEZ
Ms. Gomez. Good morning, Chairman Blackburn and Ranking
Member Doyle, distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank
you for the opportunity to appear before you to share my
thoughts regarding the important work NTIA performs.
I had the honor to serve as NTIA's deputy administrator
from 2009 through March 2013 and a short stint as acting
administrator as well. I am proud to have served our nation
alongside the many committed professionals at NTIA and the
Department of Commerce.
Given technology's large and growing contribution to our
broader economy, sound policy that supports investment and
innovation is critical. NTIA has an important and often
underappreciated portfolio in this regard.
First and foremost, Congress and through this committee's
efforts in 1992 enshrined NTIA's authority to serve as the
president's principal advisor on telecommunications.
As such, NTIA is responsible for formulating the
administration's telecommunications and information policy, a
role that has grown in importance and breadth with the
evolution of a digital economy.
NTIA enables the federal agencies to have access to
spectrum to meet their mission needs and has played an integral
role in making additional spectrum for wireless broadband uses.
NTIA also provides valuable research and analysis to inform
efforts to identify additional spectrum efficiencies and
potential opportunities to increase spectrum access for all
users.
With increasing demand for wireless technologies showing no
signs of abating, the need for an experienced and knowledgeable
manager of our federal agency spectrum resources is ongoing.
NTIA also play an important role in developing internet
policy. American businesses in the digital space both large and
small depend on an online ecosystem that has the confidence of
all users.
NTIA should continue convening multi-stakeholder processes
to address policies that affect the internet and it's also very
important that NTIA be at the table in policy discussions both
domestically and internationally related to practices that may
affect the digital economy and that it continue its strong
voice in the internet domain name system.
NTIA has also focused on increasing broadband access and
adoption. The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program helped
build lasting projects that increase access and adoption of
broadband throughout the country.
NTIA also co-chairs the Broadband Opportunity Council, an
interagency effort to produce recommendations to increase and
do remove barriers to broadband deployment, competition, and
adoption.
And through its Broadband USA program NTIA sponsors a
series of publications, webinars, and conferences designed to
help stakeholders overcome broadband access and adoption
obstacles.
NTIA also helps ensure that the nation's telecommunications
resources adequately support the needs of public safety.
NTIA administers grants to promote Next Generation 911 and
works with FirstNet, an initiative that is near and dear to my
heart. I believe strongly in its mission to provide broadband
services to all first responders.
NTIA also works with NIST on the public safety
communications research program whose laboratories provide
research, development, testing, and evaluation to foster
nationwide interoperability in communications.
These highly valuable programs will help provide the
nation's public safety the technology they need to keep their
communities and themselves safe.
In conclusion, NTIA should continue its important role
coordinating federal policies in areas such as spectrum,
broadband, internet policy, public safety, and research. In an
area like technology policy where there are many agencies with
overlapping jurisdiction, it is critical to have an agency like
NTIA to shepherd interagency activities and to bring some
thought and rigor to priorities and interagency coordination so
there is less duplication of effort.
One example is with policies regarding the internet of
things. Myriad agencies have oversight over different
components of the IoT. IoT implicates spectrum policy,
cybersecurity, privacy concern, among others.
In the absence of a central approach to governance, we risk
having inconsistent and burdensome requirements. NTIA can and
should play an important role in convening and guiding the
numerous agencies and ensuring consistent federal policies that
promote innovation.
NTIA also should continue its efforts to identify barriers
to broadband deployment and to push interagency efforts to
streamline processes or eliminate requirements that show down
that deployment. In addition, NTIA is well positioned to manage
any grants or other infrastructure funding that would promote
broadband access and adoption. Any new program would benefit
from the NTIA's prior expertise and experiences.
I want to thank you again for allowing me to share my
thoughts with you this morning and I look forward to answering
any questions you may have.
[The statement of Ms. Gomez follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mrs. Blackburn. The gentlelady yields back and we thank you
all for being here.
We will now move to questions and Mr. Kneuer, I would like
to begin my 5 minutes of questions with you.
As I've reviewed the testimony from each of you and we have
looked at the number of different funds, and you alluded to
this in your testimony and all of you did actually, how it is
spread out over different agencies. And I know Commissioner
O'Reilly at the FCC has also commented on his concerns with the
way sometimes we don't have one hand knowing what the other
hand is doing or the agency across the street hasn't
coordinated.
And so as you were saying, Ms. Gomez, you end up with this
duplication of effort. What I'd like to hear from you is how
best can NTIA work to coordinate those funds and you touched on
this when you talked about advising the OMB director.
And then what would you propose for them as they look to
coordinate those funds and utilize those dollars to the
maximum?
Mr. Kneuer. Sure. I think, as you pointed out and Mr.
O'Reilly pointed out, lack of coordination is a fundamental
challenge and problem where you've got so many different pools
of money under different control.
But I think there is also not just different institutions
managing these pools of money. They sometimes have slightly
different views and agendas. So some of these pools of money
are for loans versus some are for grants, some are focused on
underserved areas versus unserved areas.
I think the path is, and particularly as you consider
reauthorization of NTIA, taking a broader look and
collaborating with other committees of jurisdiction, working
with the executive branch, working with OMB to the extent
possible to bring these under a single area of planning and
oversight so that the money that we are spending is focused,
it's accountable.
It gets to with the highest priority on unserved area,
places that really have no opportunity to take part in the
broadband economy whether it is tribal lands or very rural
areas but a consolidation and coordination of effort and I
don't know if it'll be possible to make a singular place of
focus. But the challenge is going to be to tighten it up as
much as possible.
Mrs. Blackburn. OK. So singular point of focus--if that's
the goal then is NTIA the best place to house that?
Mr. Kneuer. In the executive branch I would certainly think
that.
Mrs. Blackburn. You would say so? OK. That's great.
Mr. Kneuer. You've got still the other options under the
FCC. But NTIA, having the function of working directly with the
FCC, is the one place in the executive branch that has the
expertise. I think the logical locus would be NTIA.
Mrs. Blackburn. OK.
Ms. Gomez, I saw you making notes so I know you have
something you want to add.
Ms. Gomez. Actually, I was just making notes on what you
said. But I agree that coordination is very important. One of
the things that NTIA did with BTOP was it--as part of its stage
of reviews of grants was to make sure that it got input from
industry and from the local governments and from others to make
sure there was not duplication of efforts or that they were not
targeting already served areas. There is always room for
improvement but I do think it's a good role for NTIA.
Mrs. Blackburn. OK.
Ms. Baker, I want to ask you a little bit about the 5G
deployment. I see this is siting, utilization of health care
informatics. I am from Nashville. This is something that people
are working on every single day.
This is something we want to go quickly and I am about out
of time and I really want to get through this. Is there
anything that NTIA can and should do that would help facilitate
the 5G deployment? And about 30 seconds on that because I've
got one more item.
Ms. Baker. Absolutely. I am glad you asked the question. We
can talk about health care in the future. But I think the core
functions that NTIA serves to streamline siting would be very
helpful, streamline and simplify siting these small sites that
need to be put up for 5G is critical for the rapid deployment--
--
Mrs. Blackburn. OK.
Ms. Baker [continuing]. And I think we are going to need
more spectrum so we need to work on a spectrum pipeline for
commercial wireless.
Mrs. Blackburn. That is terrific. I appreciate that, and
what I want each of you to submit, since I am out of time, if
you were the one with the pen and the pad working out the
reauthorization of the NTIA and modernizing the agency, what
would you see as the five critical items and what did you see
as the biggest stumbling blocks?
If you'll submit that for the record then I will turn and
yield 5 minutes to Mr. Doyle.
Mr. Doyle. Thank you very much.
Ms. Baker, I believe that spectrum like roads and bridges
are part of our critical infrastructure and I am starting to
work on some legislation to free up at least an additional 20
megahertz of federal spectrum below 3 gigahertz available for
commercial use. Would that be something your association and
industry would support?
Ms. Baker. Absolutely. I think the low-band spectrum is
really critical. I think the FCC has done a good job this
summer in bringing forth some high-band spectrum. But if you
look at a place like Montana that hasn't been sited there is
been a recent low-band spectrum that's been released there that
has caused the deployment of siting in Montana.
So I think that's--it is very important for the future that
we have low, middle and high-band spectrum.
Mr. Doyle. Great.
Ms. Baker. So we absolutely support that.
Mr. Doyle. Well, Madam Chair, maybe that's something we can
make part of this reauthorization or perhaps as a standalone or
one of the proposed infrastructure packages. I'd certainly be
interested in working with you on that if you're interested.
Thank you.
Ms. Baker and Ms. Gomez, you both worked on spectrum
issues. How important do you think it is that NTIA lab in
Colorado is fully funded and tell us a little bit about what
types of research the lab does and what role they play in
freeing up federal spectrum and do you see that as critical to
the future of federal spectrum policy?
Ms. Baker. I'll be happy to go first.
As I mentioned in my testimony, I think ITS is a critical
part of future questions in spectrum. I personally think that
spectrum is a scarce resource. It's becoming more and more
difficult as we move forward.
Some place like ITS can help us figure out how we can share
where spectrum is critical and where it can be geographically
shared or some other sort of sharing. It was very helpful in
AWS-1 as well as AWS-3 to figure out how to move critical
government agencies' missions to different spectrum.
Mr. Doyle. Ms. Gomez.
Ms. Gomez. I agree. ITS, which is the Institute for
Telecommunication Sciences, served as a valuable resource to
NTIA's Office of Spectrum Management in identifying spectrum
and how it's being used.
They perform spectrum surveys that assist with this kind of
planning that we are talking about. Their deployable team and
measurement system go to sites.
They identify sources of interference. They, as Meredith
mentioned in her opening statement, performed spectrum
occupancy measurements in support of the AWS auction
preparations, which helped industry better understand the
nature of the federal operations.
They perform system to system measurements. Basically, they
are an objective and neutral arbiter of these issues--
technology issues, technical issues--as we move forward with
trying to identify more spectrum and trying to get more
efficient usage of the spectrum we have today.
Mr. Doyle. Thank you. Let me ask you also, Ms. Gomez, as we
look at the challenges of repacking stations as part of the
incentive auction, do you believe that public
telecommunications and facilities program if funded could play
a role in assisting public stations and making the investments
necessary to continue operating?
Ms. Gomez. Yes. As you know, that program was defunded some
years ago and but it would have, if it were still funded, been
able to provide valuable support to these public television
stations.
Mr. Doyle. And let me ask you all, too, during your time at
NTIA what benefit did you see to having an agency act as an
interagency coordinator on telecommunications and what can
Congress do to strengthen that role to ensure that NTIA has a
seat at the table when government agencies are discussing
technology and telecommunications issues?
If you could each just take maybe 10 seconds because I have
one more question.
Ms. Gomez. So NTIA is in this unenviable role of trying to
herd other federal agencies, not just with spectrum but with
other policies, and pull them away from their own missions to
try to provide resources for the administration's
telecommunications policy and spectrum policies.
So anything Congress can do to help bolster NTIA's position
vis-a-vis those other agencies would be very helpful.
Ms. Baker. I think NTIA's coordinating and convening role
is critical. I think three things really will help NTIA. I
think an elevation of title to Under Secretary helps. I think
transparency as to what they are working on will help and I
think that being able to play the traffic cop for NTIA is also
a very critical function that they perform.
Mr. Doyle. And let me just close by saying that, Ms. Baker,
I received a letter from not only your association but several
associations and I know this isn't relative to NTIA
reauthorization but asking us to use the Congressional Review
Act to repeal FCC's privacy order.
I just want to say for the record that I was disappointed
to get that letter from these associations and that you would
urge Congress to use such a blunt and untested tool to remove
privacy protections for hundreds of millions of Americans. I
think there is a better way to work on that issue and I look
forward to doing that with you.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. Lance, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Lance. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
To the entire panel, the Spectrum Pipeline Act updated
existing law to ensure federal agencies have the necessary
resources to undertake research and development activities that
would result in freeing up more spectrum for commercial mobile
broadband.
The act provides very specific instructions on when and how
the federal agencies may gain access to the $500 million
provided under the act.
To the distinguished members of the panel, how do you think
NTIA could further safeguard the expenditure of this R&D fund
so that it funds activities that would truly improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of federal spectrum use?
Mr. Kneuer. There was originally money for similar purposes
in the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act as part of the
relocation funds for agencies.
So agencies would get some of the auction revenue for
relocation purposes and I think one of the challenges with that
process is that agencies had expenditures they wanted to make
that they believed would give them the ability to be more
efficient going forward but it wasn't tied directly to their
immediate relocation efforts.
They were looking for spending money on tools that they
could apply in multiple scenarios with multiple different
projects.
I think the money in the Pipeline Act sort of fills that
purpose. I think for it to be most useful, again, it's
coordination, having some ability to test, OK, how is that
money being spent and, again, I think the ability for NTIA to
be effective in an arbiter of that is leveraging their
relationship with OMB, that you can export the expert judgment
of NTIA into the agency with the authority that can green light
those projects, which would be OMB.
Mr. Lance. Very good.
Ms. Baker.
Ms. Baker. So I think John is right. I think one of the
lessons that he's learned is that the spectrum relocation fund
shouldn't just fund the move.
It should fund the planning that goes into what a future
move should be and how that should be coordinated. So I think
that's one of the lessons that we have learned that I think has
been very good. I think that also the qualitative analysis that
NTIA has done has been very good. But I think it's this
committee that usually instructs.
If you pick two targets that NTIA can fulfill then and
focus on, I think that oversight of this committee has really
been critical to future spectrum allocations.
Mr. Lance. Thank you.
Ms. Gomez.
Ms. Gomez. I would say that the Spectrum Relocation Fund
and the changes that were made in the Pipeline Act actually
have helped motivate the agencies to think ahead and to plan.
So it's an important process and I do think it was very
important to provide the funding for that planning.
The technical panel that reviews these investments, so to
speak, is already providing a lot of rigor to the process in
determining the funding is being utilized for the reasons that
it should be and I would not want to add more process to that,
given that you have the voice of NTIA, OMB and the FCC as part
of that process.
Mr. Lance. Thank you.
Ms. Gomez, you noted that the NTIA plays a critical role in
public safety communications including a role in the future of
the FirstNet public safety broadband network.
NTIA's role in public safety communications and in the
FirstNet is relatively new. The last time NTIA was authorized
there wasn't a FirstNet.
Given that fact, on what should we focus as we reauthorize
NTIA regarding this critical component, moving forward?
Ms. Gomez. NTIA works with FirstNet. FirstNet is an
independent agency but it's housed within NTIA, and then NTIA
has some responsibilities that go hand in hand with FirstNet's
responsibilities.
It is the one that approves or provides grants to the
states. If states decide not to participate in the FirstNet
deployment then NTIA is the one that will run that process and
they will also be the ones that approve spectrum leases for any
states that choose not to participate in the FirstNet
deployment within the states.
So I think that NTIA will continue to have responsibilities
to its overseers to respond to its particular role within the
larger endeavor. It needs to support FirstNet to the greatest
extent possible. It's a large undertaking. It's unprecedented.
So this committee's oversight and support would be very
important to it.
Mr. Lance. Thank you very much.
Madam Chair, I yield back two seconds.
Mrs. Blackburn. Way to go. We are running on time today.
Mr. Loebsack, 5 minutes.
Mr. Loebsack. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I do want to thank the subcommittee for holding this
hearing today and thank the witnesses for your expert testimony
regarding the important role NTIA has to play in our nation's
technology policy.
And again, I note that I can't believe it's been since
1992, although knowing how Congress works I guess it's not
surprising. But so many things have changed since that time.
And so I really appreciate the chair's request that you provide
in writing those five items regarding modernization.
I think that makes complete sense, and then we can all have
access to that so we know what we are talking about because so
many things have changed, as Mr. Lance just said, with respect
to FirstNet.
We didn't really have any of that. We didn't have a lot of
things in 1992. But I also want to make sure that I emphasize
that when we do the reauthorization, assuming that we get there
and that may be a big assumption, but when we get there make
sure that we provide the funding for that reauthorization too
because just going briefly over what NTIA does there is so much
that it does and so the funding is going to be absolutely
necessary.
I am from southeast Iowa. I continue to harp on rural
broadband. I'll do that until my dying days, no doubt, even
when I am not in Congress and, of course, yesterday we had a
great rollout of our bicameral bipartisan Rural Broadband
Caucus.
We all know that upwards of 49 percent of rural America
really isn't adequately provided for when it comes to
sufficient broadband.
And we really know that, obviously, around the country, the
beginning of the 21st century we have to have that kind of
coverage out there in rural America. Rural America simply will
not survive, let alone thrive if we don't have broadband.
Everybody on this committee knows that. I appreciate even
the folks who are from the urban areas here who do support this
expansion of rural broadband.
There has been a lot of talk on the infrastructure front,
as we know, with the new president. I think we have bipartisan
support for significant infrastructure improvements around the
country and we are talking perhaps as much as $20 billion for
broadband development.
And I guess I'd like to ask all three of you, if you could,
to weigh in. What are the lessons learned from NTIA's role in
supporting broadband infrastructure development in the past?
How can these programs be updated to bring more broadband
to underserved communities, assuming that we--and, again, it
may be a big assumption but assuming in the coming months
perhaps we get a pretty significant infrastructure investment
in broadband.
Can you speak to that, all of you, please?
Mr. Kneuer. Sure. I think one of the stats that Meredith
referenced, close to $300 billion in new cap ex from industry
over a decade.
These industries are spending an enormous amount of money
and they have incentives to spend a great deal of money. But
that incentive is tied to places where they've got enough
population density for their returns----
Mr. Loebsack. Exactly.
Mr. Kneuer [continuing]. On capital. So the challenge is to
closely monitor and evaluate where those market failures exist.
Mr. Loebsack. Right.
Mr. Kneuer. All of these companies are in competition with
one another. The value of the network increases to the extent
it can reach other places. It's more valuable to us in
Washington, D.C. if we know that we can reach people in every
part of rural America.
So there is certainly a will and a desire to spend private
money. There is a manifest will and desire to lever the private
money with government expenditures in those places that we can
identify and I think it's going to be a combination of
leveraging those two pools of capital in a focused way so that
the money gets to people where it's needed and new incentives
for the private sector to counter those market failures that
may not be direct expenditures of grants but it could be tax
benefits and other things. But it's measuring, focusing, and
being deliberate about it.
Mr. Loebsack. Thank you.
Ms. Baker.
Ms. Baker. So I think, as you know, I was privileged to be
at the Rural Caucus roll-out----
Mr. Loebsack. Thank you for being there.
Ms. Baker [continuing]. And I support both the House and
Senate bipartisan Rural Caucus. It's a wonderful endeavor to
see and very important.
As you said, 1992 is the last reauthorization. 1997 was
when Steve Jobs first introduced the smart phone, and so that
was 10 years ago.
The computing power of the smart phone led to our 3G
networks and in the 10 years that's now led to our 4G networks
and what we have now is these data driven very fast and what I
am talking about for 5G, which is coming probably in the next,
we have trials all over America, 10 times faster network is
going to be gigabit fast.
So it will actually be a substitute for your wired
broadband. So I think we need to be careful when we define
broadband to make sure that we encompassed the fast growth of
these networks and how quickly they are turning over and
improving.
I do want to say that the most important thing that NTIA
can do and that we can do as in oversight and as an industry is
to streamline the siting to make sure that these networks can
roll out fast.
Mr. Loebsack. Thank you.
Ms. Baker. And they will also need more spectrum.
Mr. Loebsack. Thank you.
Ms. Gomez. If that's OK, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Blackburn. Oh, yes.
Ms. Gomez. OK. Some of the lessons that we learned, the
importance of a broad perspective in the community--we want to
make sure that we have both the deployment and the adoption and
so those economics are very important.
Secondly, the importance of sustainability--we don't want
to have stranded investments. You want to make sure that it
actually continues and one of the big successes of the BTOP
program is that 98 percent of its projects continue to operate
today.
And then, finally, making sure that whoever gets funding,
whether through the Universal Service program or through other
grants, has the institutional knowledge and structure that it's
going to be able to succeed.
That's also part of sustainability. So these are all
important lessons learned.
Mr. Loebsack. Thank you for indulging, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Blackburn. And the gentleman yields back, and Mr.
Shimkus.
Mr. Shimkus. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you also for
holding this hearing in our conference and I think really on
both sides part of our responsibility is just oversight and
then the focus on addressing reauthorization of agencies is
key. So your expertise is welcome and we look forward to moving
forward. So it's the focus.
So you all have been here before. We have worked with you
closely for many, many years. So it's--for those of us who've
been up here it's comfortable and we have got great trust and
faith in your expertise in your sector.
So let me start by going to Meredith. The committee
received the management plan developed by NHTSA and NTIA for
administering $115 million in grants to update public safety.
You all know that I've been involved with Anna on the public
safety 911 stuff.
It appears that most of the actions are generic agency
actions that each agency could perform separately or jointly.
What specific expertise or contribution does NTIA bring to the
table apart from what NHTSA brings to the table? Does the
burden of coordinating with a separate agency outweigh the
benefits of the added perspective of the second agency?
Ms. Baker. Good question.
Mr. Shimkus. Yes.
Ms. Baker. Yes. I would say I think one of the most
important things NTIA does is its convening role and I think
some of the joint roles, whether it's been public safety
interoperability with Department of Homeland Security or NHTSA,
the future of these networks is health care.
The future of these networks is Connected Cars. The future
of these networks are financial institutions. So I think
communications will cover every part of our lives and so this
convening role only gets more important for NTIA.
Mr. Shimkus. So I think that it's better to talk and maybe
lose a little efficiency there but in the long run that's a
better process?
Ms. Baker. I think it's important for--we have a Connected
Car Coalition that we work with the auto industry. I think it's
important because our jurisdictions have traditionally been so
different but yet our lives are now intertwined. I think it's
important for us to understand both the history and the future
of the industries.
Mr. Shimkus. Thank you.
Anna, could you discuss your experience and role of NTIA in
the International Telecommunications Union?
When I was doing other things involved in the sector I was
not that excited about that. But there are some benefits that I
am going to try to raise.
As you know, this is an organization where international
spectrum allocation decisions are made which to me makes it
seem fairly important that the U.S. participate in a robust way
to maintain a voice in those decisions.
In your view, does the United States benefit from its
membership in ITU and is it important that we have a forum like
ITU?
Is it able to accommodate our commercial, defense, and
other interests and does NTIA have the appropriate authority
and tools to participate in this new regime?
In international discussions I think this might be more
important. Do you want to comment on those?
Ms. Gomez. Yes, absolutely.
NTIA is very involved at the ITU both on the spectrum side
for allocations. NTIA works closely with the FCC, with the
Department of State to represent the federal agencies'
interests and the administration's interests.
It also participates in other areas, including internet
governance. So yes, NTIA's role is very important and it should
continue.
The ITU is important to both the health of our spectrum
management system as well as for companies, for example, that
build to standards and to be able to have interoperability--
global interoperability so that they can continue to
participate in the global economy and not have that hindered by
lack of participation.
The U.S. voice at the ITU is very strong and it needs to
continue to be strong to reflect the status of our economy
versus, I guess, everyone else.
Mr. Shimkus. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
I am finished and I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back 53 seconds on the
clock. We are doing well. Mr. Ruiz, you're recognized 5
minutes.
Mr. Ruiz. Thank you very much.
In 2009, the NTIA was tasked with administering $4 billion
in grants to increase broadband access and adoption in
underserved and unserved areas of the country.
I understand the NTIA invested $3.3 billion into
infrastructure projects, which 98 percent of those funded
projects still operating and serving communities across the
country.
I represent a remarkably diverse district with 11 tribal
nations, underserved, desert farm worker communities like
Thermal and Mecca, small desert communities like Chiriaco
Summit and rural mountain communities like Anza. So no one
solution will address the broadband needs of the people and the
geography that I serve.
So, Ms. Gomez, in your testimony, you referenced the
Broadband USA initiative and how NTIA is using this program to
continue helping communities and tribes across the country
increase their access and adoption of broadband. Can you
elaborate on how Broadband USA might be able to help the
diverse set of communities I represent and in particular how
tribal governments might be able to benefit from the Broadband
USA initiative?
Ms. Gomez. What NTIA did was as it starts winding down its
BTOP program it has the staff that has this great expertise and
knowledge now in both how to deploy infrastructure in unserved
and underserved areas including tribal areas, as you mentioned,
and also how to ensure adoption because, you know, if we build
them and they don't come that's not a good thing.
So we have this great staff now that has this technical
expertise so their goal is to provide as much technical
assistance as possible.
Mr. Ruiz. How does a tribe or a school district get this
support? What do they have to do?
Ms. Gomez. Well, first of all, NTIA puts together webinars.
They put together seminars. They can reach out to the NTIA or
NTIA can do the opposite in order to make sure that they go to
locations where these tribes are.
They've put together a toolkit specifically for tribal
broadband deployment and NTIA also, through the Broadband
Opportunity Council, is working with the Department of Interior
to also have programs to reach out to the tribes on these
issues.
Mr. Ruiz. Thank you.
So on another topic, as an emergency medicine physician
your testimony on the First Responder Network Authority, or
FirstNet, was equally near and dear to my heart and in trauma
situations communications between first responders and
physicians in the emergency department can be critical to the
survival and well-being of a patient.
So what have you done and what is NTIA doing to ensure
FirstNet's network deployment is patient centered and focuses
on improving outcomes and saving lives?
Ms. Gomez. FirstNet's mission is to deploy this network but
there is no requirement that any public safety entity actually
participate in it.
So FirstNet has very wisely paid a lot of attention to the
needs of every segment of the first response community and they
need to continue to do so.
They are engaging currently and will continue to engage in
consultation with each state and territory to make sure that
those needs are met because the only way they succeed is if in
fact public safety sees the value of the network.
Mr. Ruiz. And so what can Congress do to help EMS systems
engage with FirstNet and help foster that kind of relationship
and promote those services?
Ms. Gomez. I think communication is very important. What we
find is that the state at the high level is very engaged in
FirstNet but it's not necessarily at the very local level.
So the more we can reach into those localities and make
sure that they understand that this is a resource and that they
need to have a voice with the state point of contact that works
with FirstNet on these issues the better.
Mr. Ruiz. Well, it kind of sounds like a visit to my
district would be warranted and we can get all the stakeholders
together and start talking about how we can help build that
relationship.
Ms. Gomez. Yes. I am sure FirstNet is watching.
Mr. Ruiz. Good. I yield back my time.
Mrs. Blackburn. At 41 seconds. We are rolling. OK.
Mr. Latta.
Mr. Latta. I hope I don't get in trouble now.
Madam Chair, thanks very much for having this hearing this
morning and to our witnesses, thanks very much for being here.
I've been very involved with the internet of things working
group and also with rural broadband, and with the rollout
yesterday, as was mentioned a little bit earlier from our
friend and colleague from Iowa, that, you know, there is great
interest out there because of what you have to have today.
Ms. Baker, if I could ask you the first question. It's
clear that wireless is the future and with limited spectrum
availability NTIA has a vital role encouraging efficient use by
federal users.
What can NTIA do to ensure that there is sufficient
spectrum available for both commercial and federal purposes to
meet the needs of our increasing connected world?
Ms. Baker. So I think NTIA plays a critical part,
obviously, in managing the federal spectrum. I think they've
just done a qualitative analysis, which I think is very helpful
for us to take a look at what spectrum bands we need to focus
on for reallocation next.
We now have devised a system where it's a win-win. So the
the spectrum comes to the commercial providers but yet the
federal agencies get updated systems.
It's a terrific tool for federal agencies to update their
system to also become more spectrally efficient. I think with
the help of this committee we can identify the next bands so
that we can have more commercial spectrum and it can move this
process.
The FCC did a broadband plan but that was a while ago. So I
think it's time to take a look and see what we need to do for
the future and to build the spectrum pipeline.
Mr. Latta. Thank you.
Ms. Gomez, you spoke about overlapping jurisdiction in the
federal agencies, specifically how it relates to the internet
of things.
As I am sure you are aware, NTIA has already taken an
active role in the security of IoT by holding multi-
stakeholders process meetings and recently releasing a green
paper discussing the possibility of a national IoT strategy.
Do you believe that NTIA could be doing more to address
securing IoT as well as other policies that touch these
connected devices such as spectrum policy and privacy concerns?
Ms. Gomez. I think it's a very important role for NTIA to
address these issues. The multi-stakeholder process in which it
has been engaging is a very good process for addressing these
issues that change so quickly in our technical system.
So yes, I do think NTIA could be doing more. I will say
they are very under resourced in this. So what they are doing
right now is what they can do at their current capacity.
If they could get some more capacity, absolutely. There are
lots of areas that they identified in the IoT green paper that
you mentioned in which additional multi-stakeholder processes
would be able to develop policies to address these challenging
issues that are probably better done via this consensus process
than via regulations that become enshrined for long periods of
time.
Mr. Latta. Let me follow up.
In addition, would it be harmful to the development of the
IoT to have multiple agencies asserting jurisdiction and with
that should it be more coordination?
Ms. Gomez. Multiple agencies have jurisdiction because of
the nature of the IoT. The IoT now touches the Department of
Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Food
and Drug Administration, the Health and Human Services, because
it touches so much of our society today.
But, yes, you are correct--we need more coordination to
make sure that we are not having one segment be the tail that
wags the dog of the entire IoT.
Mr. Latta. Thank you.
Ms. Baker, if I could ask, with my remaining time here,
much of federal infrastructure is governed by agencies other
than NTIA. How do you think NTIA could better work with
agencies to accelerate and expand access to necessary inputs
like leases of federal buildings or federal right of ways?
Ms. Baker. So a great amount of land, as we know, is owned
by the federal government and that is something that NTIA can
absolutely help in citing federal government lands and
expedite.
At this point, it takes an average of 18 months to site a
tower. In the speed of which we need to roll out 5G, there is a
global race. America has won the race in 4G. We are the world's
leader in wireless.
For 5G, Japan, Korea--they are right on our tails and I
think for us to win the 5G race, which is important for every
aspect of our life and economy, we need to make sure that we
can roll it out fast.
NTIA can help in streamlining federal lands, siting on
federal lands. They can also help in best practices and figure
out--Ohio just passed a bill. I think at every level of
government we need to pitch in to see if we can roll these
networks out as fast as we can.
Mr. Latta. Well, thank you very much and, Madam Chair, with
4 seconds left I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. He made it in under the wire. All right.
Ms. Dingell, 5 minutes.
Ms. Dingell. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
First, I want to thank all of the witnesses for your public
service. People don't thank people enough for putting
themselves out there.
NTIA has a critical mission that's going to be even more
important in the coming years as technological advances promise
to change the way we live our lives.
Nowhere is that more evident than in my home state of
Michigan where the development of connected and automated
vehicles promises to transform the auto industry into the
mobility industry.
And while we all agree that we should be doing more to use
spectrum more efficiently, we also have an obligation to ensure
we allow connected and automated vehicles to be developed in a
responsible manner. Over 35,000 people die on our roadways each
year and this technology has the potential to save lives, plain
and simple.
NTIA has played a critical role here through its support
for vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure technology
known as dedicated short-range communications, or DSRC. There
are more initials in this.
I'd like to thank NTIA for collaborating with the FCC and
the DRT with really important work on establishing and
executing the test plan to find the best possible sharing
solution for the 5.9 GHz band of spectrum.
I hope this continues to move forward and we keep finding
common ground. As you know, the auto industry is near and dear
to my heart, in case anybody missed that, and NHTSA has stated
that DSRC has the potential to eliminate or mitigate the
severity of up to 80 percent of nonimpaired crashes. But there
are other ways NTIA could help enable the deployment of these
technologies.
As you all know, the president and many members of Congress
have said it's a priority to pass an infrastructure bill maybe
has high as a trillion dollars. And I would agree this is a
good idea if we do it right.
One thing that must be included is dedication to developing
the vehicle to infrastructure technologies. We should be giving
moneys to the states to help them build these systems up and
giving them technical expertise as well.
So my question is for all three of you. Given NTIA's
successful history administering the Broadband Technology
Opportunity Program, do you believe the agency would have the
technical expertise and experience to effectively manage a
grant program to help states and localities adopt the V2Y
technologies and should this be something that Congress
considers either in a comprehensive transportation bill or
legislation reauthorizing NTIA?
Mr. Kneuer. I think absolutely NTIA has that ability and
there have been, you know, examples in the past. We worked very
closely with the Transportation Department to authorize
something as simple as EZ Pass, a single frequency allocation
that would cover the entire world or the entire country and the
entire highway system that resulted in probably trillions of
hours of saved time with productivity gains across the economy
by something seeming so small.
You magnify that with the ability to essentially make it
highly unlikely to die in a car crash on the nation's highways.
It's not just the technical coordination but there is also
a leadership function of being able to articulate the benefits
of this, that there are huge benefits to the economy and to the
nation by doing these things.
So I think NTIA is sort of well situated in its dual role
both in the spectrum side and as a communicator of a unified
national policy.
Ms. Baker. I think you're going to find agreement here that
NTIA has effectively handled every single grant program that
this committee has given it and you have given NTIA a lot of
grant programs.
The staff is amazing. They have developed expertises in
places that I think they didn't think their core mission was to
begin with. They have very effectively done a terrific job.
It's a fair question for this committee to ask whether they
want NTIA to continue in grant programs and I think that that's
a conversation that is worth having.
Ms. Gomez. I agree it's a very nimble staff that
understands the importance of having a strong oversight
mechanism and of working closely with other agencies like the
Department of Transportation as well as with state and
localities and tribes and making sure that the grant dollars
are stretched to the furthest possible.
Ms. Dingell. Thank you. I don't have enough time so I'll
yield back my 20 seconds, Madam Chairwoman.
Mrs. Blackburn. We are on a roll.
Mr. Guthrie, see if you can continue it, for five minutes.
Mr. Guthrie. Thank you. I'll definitely stay within the 5
minutes. I appreciate that.
Mr. Kneuer, thanks to everybody for testifying here today
but I want to start with a question regarding top level
domains.
In 2013, the Obama administration sided with foreign
governments and abstained from a vote at ICANN that led to the
rejection of Amazon's application for the dot Amazon top-level
domain, acting directly against the interests of a major
American company which happens to have facilities in my
district.
Just made a major announcement that they are going to be
locating a new part of their business at Cincinnati Airport,
which happens to be in Kentucky across the river from Ohio, and
a lot of people are constituents of theirs as well.
Do you believe it would be appropriate for the Trump
administration to take specific steps at ICANN to assist Amazon
in its ongoing effort to resolve this matter and right the
wrong?
Mr. Kneuer. Absolutely. with the conclusion of the
transition of the IANA contracts, without speaking to the
substantive decisions of the Obama administration, the United
States government can take counterintuitively, perhaps, a more
proactive role in favor of domestic companies.
I think there was at some point, when the U.S. government
had its oversight or its exclusive contractual relationship
with ICANN there was some hesitancy to be perceived as abusing
that authority or overplaying that role.
With the IANA functions being fully enshrined in the
private sector, there are all sorts of examples where it is
appropriate and wholesome for the U.S. government to
collaborate with U.S. companies in front of myriad private and
governmental bodies.
So I think that's exactly the kind of role that you would
expect to see the Commerce Department and NTIA in particular
playing in this new environment with the full privatization of
IANA.
Mr. Guthrie. How strong do you believe the U.S. position
would be in matters like this when advocating before the
Governmental Advisory Committee?
Mr. Kneuer. I think the comparative advantage the U.S.
government has in the Government Advisory Committee is our
expertise in the subject. All right. We stood up ICANN. We
probably have the most dedicated and competent staff to work
with the Government Advisory Committee.
So while we are a nation of equals, our historic role and
our expertise, I think, gives us a comparative advantage.
Mr. Guthrie. OK. Thank you.
And Ms. Baker, one of the things in your testimony focuses
on ways to empower NTIA, especially as the agency has become
more important in the spectrum debates.
I'll leave it open ended if you'd like to expand on some of
the points you made and describe what more can be done to
empower NTIA on spectrum issues.
But one idea that has been raised with me would have NTIA
regularly collecting more information about how agencies are
actually using their spectrum rather than conducting band-
specific studies.
So in addition to other ideas you may suggest, is it worth
looking at giving NTIA a stronger coordinating role not just in
initial frequency assignments but also in monitoring how
federal spectrum is being used?
Ms. Baker. Thank you for your question, and I think that
that is a good idea. I think in my testimony I call it
transparency and I think that it would help both to have
federal government agencies be more transparent about what
their use is of the spectrum as well as what NTIA might be
looking forward to in relocation in the future and I think that
would probably help this committee in its oversight abilities
as well.
I also would compliment you on your federal incentives bill
because I think that also is a very good step.
Mr. Guthrie. Well, thank you. Do you think the NTIA has
sufficient stature to tell federal users that they need to be
more efficient with allocations? Is there a problem with
regulatory by larger and possibly more influential federal
departments such as DoD, Homeland Security, FAA?
Ms. Baker. I think NTIA punches above its weight in
everything they do and I think that they do a terrific job in
coordinating federal agencies.
I do think raising NTIA's profile with the title of
undersecretary would help. It would make them equal to their
sister agency, NIST, and I think it reports directly to the
commerce secretary. So I think that that is a natural. In this
town, titles seem to matter and that seems like that might be a
good addition to their----
Mr. Guthrie. OK. Would the other two of you like--any ways
to empower NTIA?
Mr. Kneuer. There is the coordination with OMB is critical.
So NTIA can use its expertise to gather information from other
departments and agents. But Under Secretary or not, Under
Secretary of commerce calls the Under Secretary of Defense,
it's going to be a different story. The director of OMB calls
and says, look, you've got a new requirement--if you want
capital to spend on these things it's a different kind of
conversation.
Mr. Guthrie. I only have about 6 seconds. I am not going to
run over because it appears that's the flow. So a couple of
seconds? Oh, well, I'll catch you up later. Sorry, I am out of
time. I yield back one second.
Mrs. Blackburn. Yield back, and we can submit for the
record. How is that? Because we do have a couple of things that
are coming in.
Ms. Clarke, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Clarke. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I thank the ranking
member. I thank our witnesses today.
Spectrum sharing in urban environments may pose particular
challenges since population density and user demand for
wireless services is very high.
In the previous administration, NTIA and the FCC started
work towards a model city program that would establish a pilot
program in a major city or cities to serve as a test bed to
evaluate and demonstrate spectrum-sharing technology for urban
environments.
Additionally, FCC Chairman Pai recently announced the
formation of the broadband deployment an advisory committee
that would provide advice and recommendations to the FCC on how
municipalities can deploy high-speed broadband nationwide to
close the digital divide.
So my question is do you support the model city initiative
and what are your thoughts on NTIA--what would you be doing to
promote spectrum sharing in cities? And it's for the panel.
Mr. Kneuer. I think there is a great benefit of those sort
of model roll-outs. We conducted or we developed a spectrum
initiative for the 21st century when Meredith and I were
working together.
And one of its proposals was a test bed where you could
take potentially a block of federal spectrum that's under
consideration for reallocation and a block of perhaps
underutilized commercial spectrum and figure out what are the
best ways to share and how they can be best deployed.
The challenge in urban environments is the propagation
characteristics and it's much more difficult to find low-band
spectrum that you can do those sorts of things that would be of
most benefit to an urban environment. But some of those
propagation characteristics have made some spectrum lie fallow.
And so I definitely think there are opportunities to
combine those two to explore in the real world and develop the
data that comes from that. So I think it's a fine idea.
Ms. Baker. So a couple different things. Sharing, I think,
is important. I think it's the future. But it has to work for
all. It has to work for everyone.
I think these questions are less policy questions than they
actually are technical questions and I think that goes back to
my plea for the importance of ITS and the labs in Boulder.
The FCC is rolling out one test program now in 3.5. It's
still to be seen if that's going to work or not. We are all in.
We are trying it.
We are going to see if it does work. I think in the future,
whether it's licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, shared
spectrum, we are going to need it all and I think model cities
are terrific. A lot of our companies have focused on model
cities and I think when a city sees that they are saving $160
billion in energy costs by being a smart city then it does
catch your eye and everybody wants to be one.
So I think there is a cost to the build out but the savings
is so exponentially great for smart city that I think the more
we can illustrate the more rapidly they will deploy.
Ms. Gomez. I can't say much more than that. I agree, smart
cities are so important for our future in 5G as well. So
anything we can do to support that is a good thing.
Ms. Clarke. Very well.
The next question is for you, Ms. Gomez. First, I want to
say that NTIA is a very important government agency vital to
growing our innovative digital economy.
With the recent cyberattacks that have occurred over the
past couple of months, a particular spotlight has been placed
on creating secure cybersecurity policies.
In 2015, NTIA began its cybersecurity multi-stakeholder
process. What are your thoughts on this approach and how will
it enhance NTIA's policy recommendations?
Ms. Gomez. I'm a big believer in the multi-stakeholder
processes. I think that they can be much more nimble and
flexible than actual regulations and they pull in all of the
stakeholders, not just whatever stakeholder a particular
individual agency has jurisdiction over.
So it's important to have these discussions, to have as
many stakeholders as possible including government, civil
society, public interest groups, industry, everybody together
to come to consensus to try to address these issues as they
change on almost a daily basis. So I would be a big supporter
of what they are doing.
Ms. Clarke. Very well, and I won't break the trend. I go
back, Madam Chair.
Mrs. Blackburn. We are on a roll.
Mr. Olson.
Mr. Olson. I thank the chair for the time. On behalf of all
Texans, especially one of our witnesses from Houston, Texas,
thank you for the opening comments, the strong statements about
the best Super Bowl ever. Super Bowl LI, Falcons versus the
Patriots, NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas, kickoff 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, February 5th.
Well, to our witnesses a special howdy to our Texan, Ms.
Baker. Ms. Baker, in our home state bigger is better. Your
testimony spent a great time talking about the deployment of 5G
over moving up from 4G.
In Texas, bigger is better. 5G is bigger. And Texans are
excited about the flood of new services they will have with 5G
deployment.
You mentioned medicine, transportation. My question is,
where do we stand right now with deployment of 5G in the
spectrum. When do you think that will be truly available?
Ms. Baker. Great question, and we are excited for the Super
Bowl in our house, too.
I think when you look at the Super Bowl, for instance, you
look at the capacity of how many people are going to want to
send videos and tweet and take pictures and send them.
You see the importance of the capacity. It's grown
exponentially and we are expected to see it grow six times by
2020.
So the data is just increasing so our network's capacity
has to increase. I was in Dallas not too long ago and we have
some trials going on there. I think there are about 117 trials
of 5G across the country at this point.
When I first started this job two and a half years ago we
were not necessarily thinking that we needed 5G. The industry
has changed that quickly to now we are seeing the rollout of
field trials this year and I expect that we will see commercial
roll-out of 5G by 2020.
Mr. Olson. Great. Thank you.
You talked about America leading development of 4G. We led
the world in 4G. It appears we are losing some advantages with
5G.
In today's global economy, as you know, speed kills. You
mentioned we are behind South Korea and Japan. I traveled there
with Chairman Upton and Chairman Walden, Mr. Shimkus, Mr.
Griffith, we saw it firsthand. We are falling behind those two
countries. Who else is ahead of us globally?
Ms. Baker. I'm hopeful we're not too far behind at this
point and we are catching up.
Mr. Olson. OK. Great.
Ms. Baker. Our companies are really working hard and they
are investing the money and they are working hard to overtake
that because of the importance of--the reason the app community
is in the United States is because we lead the world in
wireless. The reason that 98 percent of operating systems are
from the United States is because we rolled our networks first.
So I think we understand how important it is and we are
working hard to that end.
Mr. Olson. OK. Thanks.
Who's behind? Who should be considered as behind us but
catching up quickly maybe we should be worried about in the
rear view mirror?
Ms. Baker. I think we are doing well. Well, our LTE
networks are covering 99.7 percent of America. So we have a
good head start to build on.
Mr. Olson. OK. One further question--as former NTIA
administrators speaking only for yourselves, not for the
organization, is NTIA being helpful with the 5G rollout and
where can we help them with deficiencies with the
reauthorization of the agencies? One minute and 20 seconds. Ms.
Gomez, you're up.
Ms. Gomez. 5G rollout, as Meredith has mentioned, is a huge
undertaking. I think continued support of their interagency
processes to get relief from the barriers to infrastructure
deployment is the most important thing.
Mr. Olson. OK. Ms. Baker.
Ms. Baker. More spectrum and streamlined siting.
Mr. Olson. Mr. Kneuer.
Mr. Kneuer. Because of our lead in 4G, we have the highest
economic incentives to roll out 5G. The barriers are going to
be in policy and so making sure that we have the spectrum
available, that everybody's pulling in that direction, the
industry's going to take care of it and we will be first in
that.
Mr. Olson. Well, thank you. I yield back my time with 45
seconds.
Mrs. Blackburn. And he is under the wire.
Mr. Olson. I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. And I will remind the gentleman from Texas
that his Houston team left and came to Tennessee and became
Tennessee Titans.
And with that, Mr. McNerney, all yours for 5 minutes.
Mr. McNerney. Well, first, I want to congratulate the
chairwoman on assuming the chair. I look forward to working
with you and the ranking member as well.
My first question goes to Ms. Gomez. The rapid growth of
the IoT devices creates immense opportunities but also raises
serious concerns about issues like privacy and data security.
Multiple federal agencies have recently been involved in
examining the challenges raised by these questions. Can you
explain the NTIA's role and why that might be important?
Ms. Gomez. So the NTIA is, of course, the principal policy
advisor for administration policy on telecommunications and
information issues, which includes the issues that you raised--
privacy, cybersecurity, any other issues raised by the internet
of things.
In that role it serves a convening function in two ways.
One, it coordinates interagency activities that lead to
whatever policies are implemented for the IoT and hopefully the
removal of barriers to deployment so that we can get to the
rollout of 5G in a timely fashion.
And then, secondly, it's a multi-stakeholder process in
which it convenes stakeholders from all walks of life in order
to develop consensus policies to address issues like cyber
security and privacy issues writ large, both for the IoT and
for others.
Mr. McNerney. Thank you.
I am going to follow up on a question that the ranking
member asked Ms. Baker. Industry groups like the CTIA have been
on the Hill, sent a letter around asking Congress to use the
Congressional Review Act to overturn existing rules. This
letter makes no mention of the fact that the CRA could prevent
the FCC for making substantially similar rules in the future.
Now, are you aware that the CRA could prevent the FCC from
making future rules regarding data breach notification or
working with industry to create new privacy rules in the
future?
Ms. Baker. So we are absolutely 100 percent committed to
consumers' privacy and as such we distributed privacy
principles on Friday.
I think what we are looking for is a uniform and common set
of rules that apply to the entire ecosystem so that everyone is
competing with the same rules.
Mr. McNerney. But are you aware that the CRA could prevent
the FCC from making new rules regarding privacy and data breach
notification, for example?
Ms. Baker. We're looking for any tool that will allow
privacy rules to be the same for the entire ecosystem.
Mr. McNerney. Ms. Gomez, it's been 2 \1/2\ years since the
National Broadband map was updated. Although the NTIA is no
longer responsible for keeping the map up to date, individuals,
businesses and state and local governments still rely on this
map. Is having an accurate map important for identifying
geographical areas that are underserved or unserved by
broadband providers?
Ms. Gomez. Yes. As you know, NTIA is no longer updating the
map. That function has been moved over. But it has not been
updated since 2015 and that was using 2014 data.
I do believe it's important to have data-driven decisions
and so having an updated map would be a good thing, just not
the current state.
Mr. McNerney. How fast does that map change?
Ms. Gomez. The map changes constantly. We have deployment
change every day. As Meredith mentioned, there is a lot of
capital expenditures every year, every day to get the
infrastructure deployed.
Mr. McNerney. So, in terms of the digital divide, having
this map up to date is important and should be funded.
Ms. Gomez. The map was an important tool and it would be
good to fund the map in the future.
The FCC also has the ability to do it. It just doesn't have
the funding.
Mr. McNerney. So is the NTIA the right organization to do
that?
Ms. Gomez. If the NTIA gets its grant program again that
would be the right way to do it or it would be a good way to do
it, I should say. The way that the map was developed was a
bottoms-up process in which the states provided the information
to NTIA and NTIA worked with the FCC to create the map.
One way or another, you need to have that input and you
need to have the funding to be able to have an accurate map
because if it's not accurate then it's not useful.
Mr. McNerney. I'm just going to ask a question, and you
won't have time to answer it. Mr. Kneuer, you indicated that
the NTIA is the most effective when it's the working
intersection between business and private and government
sectors and also can be effective in advising the Office of
Management of Budget.
I'd like you to elaborate on that in writing, since I am
running out of time. Thank you.
Mrs. Blackburn. And he made it before he went into
overtime.
Mr. Johnson, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Johnson. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and I to want to
congratulate you on your chairmanship and looking forward to
this session, working with you.
I want to thank our panel for being here today, too. Really
appreciate that.
I represent a district that struggles with the issue of the
digital divide, particularly when it comes to talking about
broadband access. I've got high school students in my district
that have to go a public library or to a neighboring town in
order to do their school research or to check out the internet,
to do things that most of us, you know, just take for granted.
So broadband access is a very, very important issue for the
721,000 people that I represent.
Ms. Gomez, one important component of effectively
allocating resources for broadband deployment projects is
accurate comprehensive data regarding the current level of
broadband service across the country ideally at a granular
level.
How can NTIA, in your opinion, be helpful in developing
this information?
Ms. Gomez. There are a couple of ways that NTIA has been
involved in this type of information. The first is with this
tool that we were talking about before, which is where NTIA
administered grants to get the data necessary to populate the
map that the FCC actually put together. They worked on that
jointly.
It's not something that's currently funded by if it was
that would be a very valuable way to get more accurate data and
give the localities of tool that is visual and that provides
them good planning tools.
The second way is also with the work that NTIA does in
working with the Census to get accurate adaption information.
That is a very useful way to understand where we might have our
deployment but not necessarily the take-up. So understanding
from a demographic perspective who is using the internet, how
they are using the internet, also helps with this type of
planning to support localities that need to get broadband
infrastructure and adoption.
Mr. Johnson. OK. Continuing with you--I appreciate that
answer--you were at NTIA during the broadband technology
opportunities program when NTIA administered more than $4
billion in grants to promote broadband employment and adoption.
What are some of the lessons that we can draw from that
program as we move forward and what role is appropriate for
NTIA to play in future broadband deployment efforts?
Ms. Gomez. We learned a few things from the BTOP program.
As I mentioned before, we want to make sure that the funding is
sustainable and continues.
The importance of providing the technical assistance to the
grantees and to the communities to make the full usage of the
grants and to make sure that the grants not just benefitting a
specific deployment but also had ripple effects throughout the
communities in both the adoption as well as the access for
other providers to be able to link to whatever infrastructure
was being deployed.
The importance of a strong both team to both select the
grantees as well as to manage and oversee them. It really
requires a lot of resources and a lot of attention to make sure
that the grant dollars are well used and used in a timely
fashion.
So there is still a lot of that expertise within NTIA
because that staff that became very expert at managing the
grants have now pivoted to the technical assistance they are
providing through the Broadband USA program.
So absolutely NTIA could continue to provide the grant
management that you might seek. Understanding that whatever
enabling statute is very important in setting parameters of the
program.
A lot of the criticisms of the program came from concerns
about the fact that, for example, the grants went to fund both
unserved and underserved areas.
The definition of rural was very important to managing the
grant program. So attention to the statutory language that NTIA
would use to implement the programs is also very important.
Mr. Johnson. OK. Well, thank you.
Madam Chair, I yield back just under the wire.
Mrs. Blackburn. I tell you, we are rolling.
Let's see. Mr. Pallone, you're recognized 5 minutes.
Mr. Pallone. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
And, again, I know this is your first hearing so I want to
congratulate you and Mr. Doyle for being the chairman and the
ranking member.
Ms. Gomez, I've reviewed NTIA's most recent budget request
asking for only $50 million total, and given the recent growth
in the communication networks that the agencies oversees, that
amount seems reasonable.
NTIA has also provided strong justification for their
request. So can you just tell us briefly what an authorization
of $50 million would allow the agency to do for the American
people?
Ms. Gomez. From my experience, NTIA is a very resource-
constrained agency. It is surprisingly small, considering the
breadth of its portfolio. And with the evolution of the digital
economy and the new and innovative uses, its role is only going
to get bigger.
So new funding can be used in a variety of ways. Spectrum,
spectrum, spectrum. Our innovation is very much centered on
wireless and we need to have both the staff that can manage day
to day the federal agency's use of spectrum but also continue
to plan for the future, continue to plan for the pipeline and
continue to work within the interagency process to identify
more spectrum for wireless broadband uses.
On the internet policy front, we need to continue our
strong voice at the governmental advisory committee before
ICANN. That is going to continue to be important for
international and domestic internet presence but also
addressing cyber security and privacy issues is going to be
important in the multi-stakeholder process. Particularly with
cyber security, we need staff that has security clearances that
understands the issues so that they can convene and shepherd
these multi-stakeholder processes to develop these policies.
Both with the multi-stakeholder process as well as
intergovernmentally to work with the other agencies as they
develop their own security policies.
And on research, it's important for supporting the spectrum
initiatives as well as other agencies and also industry.
Industry relies on the laboratory for some of its measurement
and testing.
And so bolstering their ability is going to be very
important. I think the National Foundation found that they are
actually seriously underfunded. So that would be very helpful
in that regard.
Mr. Pallone. Thank you.
Ms. Gomez mentioned the privacy issues. So let me ask Ms.
Baker, NTIA found last year that around half of American adults
limited their economic activity online because they were
worried about their privacy and data security.
A Pew study also found that a full 91 percent of adults
believe they have lost control of how personal information is
collected and used by companies. And that's why I have been
disappointed in CTIA's recent attacks on consumer privacy
protections. I am hopeful we can still find some common ground
though. So I think we may agree that the Federal Trade
Commission should be a strong protector of consumer privacy.
Let me ask you, would CTIA support democratic efforts to
strengthen the FTC's ability to protect consumers by lifting
the common carrier exemption, given the FTC Rulemaking
authority, giving the FTC more privacy staff. Would you comment
on that?
Ms. Baker. First, I think that CTIA believes strongly in
privacy and in consumers' right to privacy and data security.
It is a priority for all of our carriers and companies.
I think that we believe that consumers are served better
when their privacy protections are based on the type of
information as opposed to the company that holds it.
And for that reason, we would like to see the FTC's
jurisdiction on privacy be consistent across all of the
companies. The mechanism is to how to get to that. I would have
to get back to you on the languages too.
But yes, the idea is to having the FTC have jurisdiction
over the privacy of consumers' data. All companies would be
consistent with what we believe.
Mr. Pallone. All right. I've run out of time but I wanted
to ask you a local question. Well, it's not really local. But
Ms. Gomez, one of my priorities is promoting public safety
communications and network resiliency, and I have been a strong
supporter of FirstNet, which is housed at NTIA.
And getting better technology in the hands of first
responders is really important. So I understand you were at
NTIA when FirstNet was formed, and from that perspective how
would you assess FirstNet's progress in starting up the
nation's public safety broadband network?
Ms. Gomez. I think FirstNet has made great progress. It is
a huge undertaking as well and it is very close to getting the
contract in place to be able to start the actual deployment in
services and working with the states.
So I, too, am a great supporter of FirstNet.
Mr. Pallone. OK. We have run out. Thank you, Madam
Chairwoman.
Mrs. Blackburn. Well, actually, you went 3 seconds over but
who's counting?
Mr. Kinzinger, you're recognized 5 minutes.
Mr. Kinzinger. Thank you, Madam Chair, and running a tight
clock. That's good. That's good. I am excited. It's going to be
a good couple years.
Quickly, just to all witnesses, since 2010 NTIA's office of
spectrum management has been tasked with executing a
presidential memorandum to make available a total of 500
megahertz of federal-nonfederal spectrum by 2020. We are
quickly approaching the end of that 10-year window and do you
all think there is a need for the NTIA and the FCC to jointly
establish and carry out formal planning activities for the next
decade through a new national spectrum plan?
Mr. Kneuer. Yes, I think it's vital to have a pipeline to
have to have long-range visibility as to where the next
spectrum bands are going to come from to meet the growing needs
that I think we have all been talking about.
I think there is a challenge when you set numbers of
megahertz to be freed without some more detail and concept
about what that means.
If the agencies are put in a position to find spectrum,
they may find spectrum that is in the cupboard but is not very
useful and say we have met our obligation.
So the focus less on specific targets and more on holistic
policies that will be deployed across the entire government
that this is part of your job, day in day out.
As a steward of these resources you need to account for
them and make sure you're taking steps that they are used
across the economy and not just held for isolated purposes. So
I think long-range planning is very important. I think the
spectrum pipeline bill is important. But yes, we have to keep
looking down range.
Ms. Baker. I think goals are important and I would
certainly welcome this committee, asking NTIA and the FCC to
have set another goal for 10 years. I think that the focus of
this committee is very helpful.
You have brought the AWS-3 auction. You have brought the
600 megahertz auction to bear. And I think that the guidance
from this committee is very important and we would love to see
that.
Mr. Kinzinger. Ms. Gomez, do you have anything to add?
Ms. Gomez. Sorry. The only thing I would add is I agree,
planning is I agree planning is very important. Goals are very
important. I also want to make sure that NTIA continues to
focus on what it's doing today because it still has a lot of
work to do.
So whatever resources they need it would be good to bolster
those resources so they can in fact engage in thoughtful
planning for the future.
Mr. Kinzinger. Mr. Kneuer and Ms. Gomez, how can the NTIA
most effectively promote the interests of the United States in
international discussions on internet and communications
policies?
Mr. Kneuer. Well, I think Mr. Shimkus asked about ITU and
our role there. That has been the vehicle in the world radio
conference where NTIA works with our colleagues in the State
Department. Aggregating all of the equities of the spectrum-
dependent agencies is very heavily focused on the Defense
Department, as you would imagine.
So maintaining a robust role and making sure that we
collaborate across those areas. With regards to internet
governance and those sorts of subject matters, the multi-
stakeholder model has been very, very productive.
It was productive in collaborating and coordinating the
IANA functions. Some of these broader internet governance
issues probably don't belong.
The nontechnical issues don't belong in a technical body.
But the model of the multi-stakeholder model to bring diverse
coordinated interests and equities together for U.S. promotion
in a variety of international forums, NTIA plays an important
role in that.
Ms. Gomez. I absolutely agree with John. NTIA's strong
voice and role in the governmental advisory committee is very
important, may even be more so important today to ensure that
the internet remains a free and open resource and that other
bodies don't take over trying to manage the architecture that
so far has been so successful and open.
Mr. Kinzinger. And let me just ask you very briefly, Ms.
Gomez, one of the NTIA administrator's important roles is to
represent the administration and the United States and the
multi-stakeholder decision process, particularly when it comes
to settings like ICANN and the internet governance issues. Do
you see any obstacles to doing this?
Ms. Gomez. I would agree with what Meredith said earlier,
which is that this is--or maybe it was John who said it. Sorry.
This is probably the best staff, the most expert staff and
the strongest and most strategic staff that we have to
participate in this body.
So it's important to continue to support that resource and
support their needs as we move forward with a U.S. presence and
voice in these meetings and associations.
Mr. Kinzinger. OK. Thanks.
And I yield back now.
Mrs. Blackburn. With military precision, yields back.
Mr. Butterfield, 5 minutes.
Mr. Butterfield. Thank you, Chairman Blackburn and Ranking
Member Doyle. Thank you for holding today's hearing on NTIA
reauthorization.
There is no doubt that NTIA will play a critical role as
this administration contemplates its goals related to our
nation's telecommunications policy.
By any definition, NTIA is critical in the communication
space. NTIA's past and ongoing work with FirstNet--and I
appreciate the ranking member's comments a few moments ago--
work with FirstNet as well as their work with the National
Highway Safety Administration to develop and implement next
generation 911 services is to be commended.
NTIA also plays a critical role in safeguarding our nation
from cyber threats. There is no higher mission from members of
Congress than doing all that we can to protect our constituents
from potential threats.
At this point, it is underscored by the intervention of
Russia in last year's election and their state-sponsored
hacking of the Democratic National Committee.
Those incidents highlight that cyberattacks that threaten
our country can be carried out by highly funded and even state-
sponsored actors.
In response to that type of attack on our democracy, we
must take steps to investigate all potential cyber security
threats including those posed by state sponsors like Russia,
and I am confident that NTIA will do just that.
Also important to my district and my constituents is
identifying ways to increase broadband adoption and reduce
barriers to broadband deployment.
In this regard, I understand that NTIA continues to engage
in several initiatives aimed to increase adoption. For example,
NTIA has engaged local communities through the Broadband USA
initiative to provide technical assistance and guidance on how
best to increase access to affordable broadband.
It has also been a key participant of the broadband
opportunity council which was created to ensure federal
agencies take specific steps to encourage broadband investment
and remove regulatory barriers.
Just one or two questions, Ms. Gomez. Do you think that the
new administration should continue these activities and why?
Ms. Gomez. Absolutely. All the activities that you
mentioned are important and especially to the continued
innovation and deployment of these new and important
technologies.
So I would say NTIA is front and center in a lot of them
and these are initiatives that should continue.
Mr. Butterfield. Aside from the increase in the budget from
40 to 50, are there other things that we can do legislatively
to enhance the work of NTIA?
Ms. Gomez. I do think that there are ways that you can
empower and promote NTIA as it continues a lot of these
interagency discussions.
As we have discussed before, it's a small agency with a
mandate to push and prod its fellow agencies throughout the
federal government to lead to, for example, removing barriers
to infrastructure deployment.
That requires dedication and focus from other agencies that
NTIA sometimes doesn't have the muscle to force other agencies
to make a priority as part of their mission.
So to the extent Congress can help with bolstering NTIA's
ability to successfully get the other agencies to cooperate,
that's always very helpful.
Mr. Butterfield. Thank you very much.
Madam Chairman, I yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. And gentleman is competing for first prize
in yield back.
Ms.----
Mr. Butterfield. I was told that you would be in the chair,
Ms. Blackburn. Your real title in the time is when I was a
judge in the courtroom.
Mrs. Blackburn. Absolutely.
Mr. Butterfield. I understand the importance.
Mrs. Blackburn. Yes, sir. Ms. Walters, five minutes.
Ms. Walters. There is a lot of pressure.
First of all, there's a lot of pressure. First of all, I'd
like to thank the chair for holding this hearing and for the
witnesses being here today.
Cybersecurity continues to be a growing threat and I'd like
to get your thoughts on what role the government should play in
this area as this becomes a bigger concern to all stakeholders.
With that, Ms. Baker, with regard to cyber security, there
seems to be several agencies that are staking a claim of
leadership--FCC, DoD, DHS, NTIA.
With respect to the commercial sector, do you have opinions
as to which agency should run point?
Ms. Baker. I'm glad you asked. It's a great question.
We do have an opinion here. Cybersecurity is critical.
These networks are going to change everyone's life every job,
our economy. But they have to be safe.
And so cyber security is the most important thing that we
work on every day. I feel strongly that this needs to take
place within the administration, not an independent agency.
So I think there's a coordination role that needs to happen
between DHS, NTIA, NIST. I think we probably prefer DHS to be
the lead with coordination from the others. But I do think one
way or another it needs to take place in the administration,
not in the FCC. Thank you.
Ms. Walters. Ms. Gomez, one of the primary challenges we
face in securing our nation's communication infrastructure and
networks from cyber threats is the rapidly evolving nature of
these threats.
Does NTIA have the ability to adapt quickly enough to
adjust to new and emerging threats in its efforts to drive
interagency cybersecurity practices?
Ms. Gomez. In keeping with your prior question, it is
important that we have some kind of a balance of the economic
and national security concerns in cybersecurity practices.
The point that you're making is it is a challenge to keep
up with changes in technology and that is why you need an
agency that can convene processes that are able to be flexible
enough to be able to address those changes.
NTIA could use more expert staff. They have very good
expert staff. But as we look forward to continuing and
increasing challenges and new and novel issues in these areas,
it would be helpful to be able to bolster them.
As I mentioned before, they also need the security
clearances, which is part of the reason why they need
additional budget to be able to get those clearances for their
staff.
Ms. Walters. And Ms. Gomez, you have the most recent tenure
at NTIA. And how would you describe the relationship between
NTIA and DHS and in this cybersecurity framework? And do you
think NTIA and the FCC have sufficient authority and ability to
represent the interest the interests of the commercial sector
in this conversation?
Ms. Gomez. NTIA and DHS has had a very good relationship
both on cybersecurity as well as on public safety. There are
established processes in place. There are interagency groups in
which they participate. So that is very helpful.
I think having specific authority is always helpful to
bolster an agency's jurisdiction and I think NTIA does have a
very good jurisdiction writ large but it always is helpful to
give them that specific jurisdictional authority in
reauthorizing legislation.
Ms. Walters. And Ms. Baker and Mr. Kneuer, do you have
anything to add, either one of you?
Mr. Kneuer. I think there is value in NTIA's role with its
interface with the private industry. There is the response part
of dealing with the cyber initiative which is probably not
going to be NTIA's role.
But one of the greatest lines of defense in cyber is to
share information on the nature of threats and the nature of
attacks.
Private industry sometimes is hesitant to share that kind
of information because they are admitting to a vulnerability or
they are exposing a vulnerability or they are concerned about
litigation exposure.
NTIA can play that role, taking some of the information of
the information from the private sector, bringing that into the
interagency and taking the best information from the
interagency and taking the best information from the
interagency and distributing it back into the private sector.
Ms. Baker. I think you've covered it.
Ms. Walters. Thank you, and I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. Costello for 5 minutes.
Mr. Costello. Thank you.
Continuing on the cybersecurity issue, could you share your
thoughts, Ms. Gomez, and I would open up to the other panelists
as well, on NTIA's role in assisting FirstNet plan and its
cybersecurity strategies.
We spoke on the commercial side already.
Ms. Gomez. Great. Well, cybersecurity is a very important
component of FirstNet. Again, we need to have public safety's
trust and confidence in the security of the nationwide public
safety broadband network to get them to actually sign on to the
service.
FirstNet has its own cybersecurity staff. I would start
with that. So to the extend NTIA is supporting FirstNet I would
say that's probably it's biggest role.
NTIA also participates with NIST in the public safety
communications research program and through that program is
able to coordinate support for FirstNet as well on
cybersecurity issues.
But this is fundamental to the success of the network will
be the ability to have a very secure network.
Ms. Baker. I would just add probably that I think FirstNet
it has probably one of the very most important missions of any
government agency.
And as I just stated, I think cybersecurity is one of the
most important jobs that we have as network providers. So I
guess you get double importance there.
Mr. Kneuer. I think that's right. I think there is an
opportunity for potentially a virtuous cycle to come into
effect as a customer. FirstNet probably has higher cyber
requirements than a typical large enterprise company, right.
So as they put those requirements into the provider and the
contractor for FirstNet, those cyber requirements populate into
the commercial networks more broadly and as those technological
developments take place in response to FirstNet, we get this
loop where the requirements get put in, the technology gets
developed and it's an improving cycle.
Mr. Costello. This could be a philosophical or a technical
question or both.
We are obviously dealing with a very massive network that I
think we can all agree needs to remain agile because as you get
new security technologies you want to make sure that you don't
have to sort of go back in time to reengineer.
How does NTIA remain relevant and make sure that it remains
agile and nimble as new security technologies enter into this?
Ms. Gomez. I think, again, this goes back to NTIA's
convening role. It both has the external expertise and also the
interagency expertise between NIST and DHS.
But, more importantly, it also needs to rely on the
stakeholders to come in and to educate it and the multi-
stakeholder processes on these new technologies and that's a
large part of what they do.
Mr. Kneuer. I would just build on something Meredith said
earlier about the administration being the best place for some
of these issues.
I think the danger in pursuing a regulatory approach to
cyber is that the incentives shift from network protection to
regulatory compliance and that creates a sort of sporadic
function that you're concerned about, that how do you stay
relevant.
Enshrining things in regs is the quickest way to delay
rapid changes. So levering the coordinating function,
leveraging and taking advantage of the incentives that both
industry and the government have to protect themselves is the
best way for us to keep it as something that's top of mind
rather than always backward looking at a regulatory structure.
Mr. Costello. The state and local implementation grant
program--the education and outreach to a state's local
emergency personnel is obviously extremely important. And the
guidance--the NTIA can offer in the decision making process for
states weighing challenges and how to opt in or opt out, can
you sort of explain, moving forward, how NTIA should approach
that--particularly in my state of Pennsylvania, where it's an
extremely important issue?
Ms. Gomez. Yes. Congress was very wise to include what we
call planning funding, just generally, in creating this state
and local implementation grant program because FirstNet needs
to get the input from the bottom up, from the cities and
communities and localities up through the state up to FirstNet,
and that takes dedicated resources. That's what the grant
program does.
What NTIA does is administers that grant program and
support FirstNet's efforts to reach out to those individuals so
they can have a voice in the network.
Mr. Costello. Thank you.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mr. Cramer, you're recognized 5 minutes.
Mr. Cramer. Thank you, Madam Chair, and congratulations on
the gavel.
Thanks to all of our witnesses for this hearing and your
time--time that is getting late.
Now, I've sat here a long time and I've listened to pretty
much everything and there have been a couple of passing
references to smart cars or autonomous vehicles. But I am going
to bring up a completely different topic so a completely
different context at least for a similar topic.
So my home state of North Dakota is home to the Northern
Plains UAS test site, one of the six FAA-designated test sites
designated in 2013.
And as you likely know, remotely-piloted aircraft are
playing an increasing role in important duties like disaster
recovery, monitoring pipelines, precision agriculture.
Obviously, there are the obvious military applications. And
as a result of our test site, we have a rather unique enhanced
use lease at the Grand Forks Air Force Base where there is a
private sector business park at the same place on the air base,
with the appropriate security divisions and what not.
It's quite unique, and for military applications for
defense contractors, which we have attracted to the park,
spectrum is fairly easy. Of course, it's a military issue.
But for the private sector where I think the real
opportunity and real growth lies for testing, aircraft testing
equipment, training pilots, research and development, there has
been a challenge as it relates. And, in fact, there was a
specific situation not that long ago where a company was
testing and wanting to illustrate, demonstrate the use of their
cameras and video. And they literally could not do it because
of a fairly basic spectrum issue.
All of that being said, going forward, how do you see
spectrum allocation as it relates to UAS and how do you see it
being resolved, improved upon? NTIA--obviously, their role in
other agencies and what can we as Congress do to help clarify
it? And I throw that to all of you and that will be my only
question, Madam Chair.
Ms. Gomez. So spectrum is going to be very important for
unmanned aircraft in a variety of ways. First of all, the
command and control of aircraft, particularly if you start
looking at beyond line of sights uses.
And there is going to be different types of needs depending
on the type of aircraft and the operations themselves. So right
now, you can fly using unlicensed but that's not going to be
true for the longer range flights.
So the spectrum is going to be very important. The FCC is
going to be important because they are going to have the rules
for commercial uses.
The FAA's going to be important because they are the ones
that are going to try to regulate to make everything safe and
make sure that they meet requirements to make them safe. And
NTIA is important because there is going to be interagency
coordination.
And so spectrum is something that the agencies are very
focused on currently. There is internationally allocated
spectrum for unmanned aircraft and it's specific aeronautical
spectrum, and then there is also other spectrum that can be
utilized that will also be very significant for the expansion
of this industry that is moving so quickly and, as you've
noted, the North Dakota test site is an important part of that.
Mr. Cramer. So Ms. Gomez had beautifully described the
complication of the issue. So as a result going forward, how
can we help streamline? Because you articulated perfectly how
difficult this is, especially command and control, which is
where the real opportunity rests.
Ms. Baker. I would highlight, many of the things that we
have talked about today, the future of our communications
networks, overlapped jurisdictions, and I think what we need to
encourage is to make sure that we remain on the cutting edge of
innovation and I think UAS is one where they are using them in
England. We are not using them really here.
So I think its own place where--I think with Congress'
oversight we can make sure that we don't over regulate budding
innovations and budding industries so that we can maintain our
innovative edge and competitive edge against other countries
around the world.
Mr. Kneuer. The only thing I would add apart from the long-
term deployment of unmanned vehicles, with regards to the test
site, there are private test sites. There are military test
sites that are typically in very remote areas and those remote
areas are typically not at all spectrum constrained in the real
world but they're spectrum constrained by the issuance of those
licenses.
We issue licenses on national bases or wide geographic
areas and you can turn on a spectrum analyzer and say there is
no one here. But the authorities are held by someone else.
Creating governance processes where there are the
opportunity and the ability of diverse carriers to say you know
what, I am not out there, and, here's how we can collaborate
and here's how you can use my spectrum, how you can have
transactional agreements in those areas, I think, clarifies or
will get the regulatory out of the way of the technological in
those test areas.
Mr. Cramer. Thank you all very much, and Madam Chair, I
yield back.
Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
Mr. Engel, we will get you in before we get called to votes
and be able to dismiss our panel and not have to come back.
Mr. Engel. OK. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, and
briefly, before I begin, I want to say how excited I am to be
rejoining this subcommittee after having served on it a number
of years ago and how much I am looking forward to working with
you, Madam Chair, and all the members here on these important
issues of Congress.
Thanks to our witnesses. I wanted to focus on cybersecurity
and particularly the role NTIA plays coordinating our national
cybersecurity response between government and industry.
Last year, when Russian operatives breached the Democratic
National Committee and broke into John Podesta's emails, they
attacked our election, the very core of our government.
But even that attack never hit a government agency or
government-owned computer. The DNC is a private organization
and Mr. Podesta kept his e-mail on a Google g-mail account.
So the Russian hacking story is at least in part a story
about how cyber threats leave us vulnerable in these places
where governments and the private sector meet.
NTIA has emerged as a vital cop on that beat in its role at
the IPTF and as a liaison between industry, Commerce
Department, defense and intelligence communities, DHS and the
rest of the government.
So let me ask Ms. Gomez and Mr. Kneuer, I wonder if you
could talk a bit about what would happen to this multi-
stakeholder approach to cybersecurity, particularly on the
government side if there wasn't an agency to fill that role.
Ms. Gomez. So what would happen if there wasn't an agency
to fulfill the role of coordinating with other agencies, as we
talked there's a lot of overlapping jurisdiction and interests
throughout government.
As I mentioned, I think it's very important that as we
continue to look forward to securing the networks that we make
sure we balance economic and national security interests
because each agency's mission is a little bit different.
The national security agency's interest is in protecting
the internet. That could lead to very draconian measures that
would not allow continued innovation.
So an NTIA is important because they are a convener and
they provide a balance. It's also important because it convenes
the multi-stakeholder processes to ensure that we have methods
of addressing a lot of these vulnerabilities and without having
rules enshrined in regulations that would then not be flexible
for to take into account changes in technology.
Mr. Engel. Mr. Kneuer, do you have anything to add?
Mr. Kneuer. I think I agree largely with all of that.
The legal and authorization structures around structures
around cyber touch everything. This is Title 50 authority
Defense Department--it's Title 10 Authority under Espionage and
you've got all of the various law enforcement authorities on
the response side of things.
I don't think it's ever going to be NTIA's role or whether
it would be wise for it to be NTIA's role to be in the response
change.
However, it does play an important role in, as we have
talked about earlier, sharing information that is developed
from some of those other expert agencies that are really
designed to respond to foreign and domestic threats.
Its role is best suited, I think, to making the commercial
industry aware of these threat vectors, what they can do to
practically defend themselves. And should the attacks come, the
response is going to be focused, I think, in other agencies.
Mr. Engel. Thank you. Let me ask Ms. Baker.
How valuable is the institutional expertise at NTIA and IST
and these other industry facing agencies that work with all of
you in cybersecurity--what would happen to our national
cybersecurity strategy if we lost that expertise at that
junction between industry and government?
Ms. Baker. I think it's critical. I mean, I think expertise
as these networks evolve is having that housed in both in the
private sector and having that in the government so that they
can convene the private sector I think is integral to our
protection, going forward.
Mr. Engel. Thank you. So let me just say, in conclusion,
that I am convinced that one of the biggest problems we are
facing now in confronting cyber threats is that everything is
spread out.
There are precious few clearinghouses where actual
decisions are made about the best way to protect American
interests.
We have this opportunity here with NTIA to build on and
expand our capability at this intersection of industry and
government.
I believe it is very important to overcoming part of this
problem. So I want to urge my colleagues and chairwoman to keep
that in mind while this subcommittee moves forward with this
reauthorization process.
Thank you, Madam Chair, and I yield back the balance of my
time.
Mrs. Blackburn. The gentleman yields back and there are no
further members waiting to ask questions. So we will thank our
witnesses.
We are so pleased to have had you with us today. I remind
members you've got 5 days to submit opening statements. You
have 10 days to submit further questions to our witnesses.
We would ask for written responses within 10 days, and
there being no further business to come before the committee
today, it is adjourned.
[Whereupon, the hearing concluded at 1:01 p.m.]
[Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:]
Prepared statement of Hon. Greg Walden
I had the honor of chairing this subcommittee for 6 years
and still care deeply about the issues under its jurisdiction.
There is never a dull moment in this exciting industry. The
communications and technology sector is a bright spot in the
American economy as it continues to innovate, compete, and grow
despite the recession of 2008. I have always argued that this
industry deserves a fair, transparent government agency to
oversee the rules of competition. Moreover, this industry
deserves a government that understands modern technology and
recognizes that these innovations are a critical underpinning
of the domestic economy. Our hope today is to ensure that the
agencies overseeing this dynamic industry have the tools they
need to set an environment that fosters innovation and
competition.
I applaud Chairman Blackburn for kicking off this Congress
with a close examination of NTIA. This agency plays a critical
role in determining how spectrum is allocated. We will be
looking increasingly to our government agencies to determine
where spectrum can be re-purposed for ever increasing
commercial needs without compromising the safety of our
infrastructure.
This agency also plays an important role in assessing
policy challenges in securing our networks. We should consider
how its role should evolve in this day and age, when threats
include everyone from nation states to teenage kids. I am also
mindful that additional work must be done on public safety
networks in general. NTIA's responsibilities include not only
the incubation of FirstNet but also the distribution of grants
intended to incentivize states to deploy and support public
safety answering points that can receive IP-based texts, voice,
and video. This work hasn't exactly gotten off to a roaring
start, and it is high time we looked into moving that forward.
I appreciate the work that this subcommittee has done to
date on these issues, and I know that under Chairman
Blackburn's leadership, you will continue to do good work. I
thank the witnesses for their time today and look forward to
their testimony.
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