CSMAC Launch Expected Soon, With New NTIA Chief
NTIA will likely move soon to appoint members to and relaunch the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, now that Alan Davidson has taken office as NTIA administrator, longtime members of the group told us. CSMAC has been in existence since the George W. Bush administration and grew out of a 2004 presidential memorandum on Spectrum Management for the 21st Century. But in recent years, it has been handicapped by a lack of political leadership at NTIA, even as spectrum issues have grown in importance, officials said.
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Longtime members of the group, some of whom aren’t seeking another term, told us the Commerce Department appeared to be waiting for confirmation of an administrator who could weigh in on members and an agenda. They expect some word from the department in coming days now that Davidson is in place. Phil Murphy, a senior adviser to the administrator and former top aide to Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., appears to be playing a key role in getting CSMAC restarted. NTIA didn’t comment Wednesday.
CSMAC last met in April, finalizing recommendations on spectrum for drones (see 2104080060). In March, NTIA sought nominations for the group, then pushed the application deadline from April 16 to May 13. During the Trump administration, CSMAC didn’t meet July 2018-October 2019. NTIA didn’t have a permanent administrator for most of the Trump administration.
CSMAC members are considered “special government employees,” subject to financial reporting rules and are expected to provide their individual expertise to the department rather than represent their association or company.
“The CSMAC has always been about providing expertise to NTIA, which means it cannot function unless NTIA has clear priorities,” said Harold Feld, Public Knowledge senior vice president and a former CSMAC member. “I expect that as NTIA moves to develop a spectrum policy for the administration, it will clarify internally where CSMAC recommendations will be most valuable,” he said: “I wouldn't look for anything immediately, but I would expect within a month or two it is likely to be reconstituted.”
“Given all the unhelpful discourse agencies, like the DOD and FAA, have drummed up over 5G, my feeling is that the CSMAC will play a central role to manage the conversation surrounding government spectrum sharing arrangements and the government's interference claims,” said Digital Progress Institute President Joel Thayer. Developing guidance on how to manage interference complaints “will be a high priority for the CSMAC,” he predicted: “If it isn't, it should be, as the NTIA has lost control over its constituencies, and it needs to unify the government's position on 5G and beyond.”
Thayer warned Davidson will have to spend much of his time focused on the $48 billion in subsidies to build out broadband flowing through the agency. “The president has put the administrator in a tough spot by making him responsible for these subsidy programs and, as shown, these spectrum disputes aren't easy to resolve,” he said.
“CSMAC has a long history of contributing to the spectrum management and policy work of NTIA,” said Mark Crosby, an adviser to the Enterprise Wireless Alliance, who was on the last CSMAC. Crosby said he’s not sure what Davidson’s priorities will be.
Wireless ISP Association President Claude Aiken, who was on the last CSMAC, sees “tremendous value” in relaunching CSMAC: “Anything that can help the government quickly identify and unleash more spectrum for commercial use is a boon for our economy and hungry internet consumers.”
Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America and a longtime CSMAC member, said there could be a return of the “more robust role” CSMAC played under President Barack Obama. “NTIA may have waited for Davidson’s confirmation because the agency needs to decide whether they will task CSMAC to advise on core issues or not,” Calabrese emailed: “For example, improving the coordination and collaboration between NTIA, FCC and federal spectrum users like FAA is a vital issue that CSMAC could address more fully than the uncontroversial notion of updating the Memorandum of Understanding between the agencies.”
“The vacuum in leadership at the NTIA and its detrimental effect on the executive branch's spectrum policy has been long and widely recognized,” but should be over now that Davidson is on board, said Seth Cooper, Free State Foundation senior fellow: “Hopefully, the NTIA's new leader will get right on top of things and also seek to benefit from CSMAC's input on spectrum matters by promptly reconstituting its membership.”