‘Astonishingly Misguided:’ HASC & SASC Hammer FCC Chair For Ligado 5G Approval

WASHINGTON: House and Senate Armed Service Committee leaders from both parties are lambasting FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s draft decision to approve Ligado’s proposed 5G mobile communications network over Pentagon objections that it will interfere with GPS.

But it’s not clear they will actually do much to stop the decision. Why? Given the Federal Communication Commission’s independent status, it is unclear just how much power the defense committees can exert to change the course, especially if the decision is formally approved by all five commissioners. That said, the political pressure on the FCC and Ligado — to quote the immortal film “Spinal Tap” — just got cranked up to 11.

“As far as I know, the Pentagon doesn’t have a ‘death ray,’ but the nearest thing it has is GPS Kryptonite: when you get close enough to GPS to interfere: you die,” one veteran space industry watcher joked in an email today.

Democratic HASC Chair Adam Smith and Ranking Member Mac Thornberry both issued strongly worded statements in the wake of the FCC chairman’s decision. Just the day before Pai’s announcement yesterday, Thornberry joined Republican SASC Chair Jim Inhofe and Ranking Member Jack Reed in a letter to President Donald Trump pleading for him to intervene to block the pending decision, arguing (dare we say cleverly?) that the plan would harm the capabilities of Trump’s signature Space Force.

“I’m not pleased, to say the least, that the chairman is pushing forward with a draft order approving Ligado’s application, especially in the midst of a global pandemic,” said Inhofe, in an email statement provided to Breaking Defense today. “This action will amplify, rather than ease, current economic challenges.

“When people try to push bad policy through in the middle of a crisis, without much coordination with seemingly anyone else, it makes me wonder about their motives,” Inhofe warned. “I hope that the other commissioners will listen to the near-unanimous objections from the rest of the federal government – not to mention hundreds of industry leaders – and reject the plan. The risks to our national security are far too great to be ignored, and the precedent this would set is astonishingly misguided.”

Citing DoD’s vociferous protests that the Ligado plan to convert its current L-band spectrum to use in a US-wide terrestrial 5G network would degrade GPS signals, Smith penned a letter yesterday to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to express his “profound concern.” The license was granted in 2004 to Ligado’s predecessor company LightSquared for satellite operations,

“Make no mistake, I firmly support the necessity of the United States leading in the implementation of 5G networks. It is a national security imperative that the U.S. military run on reliable 5G. The aggressive rate at which China has sought to promote its 5G companies around the world presents considerable security challenges that must be addressed. Yet, while I strongly support development of the world’s most robust, safe and secure network, using L-Band spectrum as Ligado’s proposal requires would pose larger security risks.”

While the howls of protest from defense lawmakers could turn into hearings or DoD reporting requirements on the impacts, their powers to impose a change, especially if the FCC decision is finalized, are limited.

First of all, the FCC falls under the jurisdiction of the powerful congressional commerce committees, not the defense committees. Thus, as a matter of political practicality and to avoid a messy jurisdictional spat, any legislation would require joint action between the two committee groups.

Rep. Frank Pallone, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has not yet weighed in on the issue, a spokesman told me today. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman Roger Wicker’s office said the same.

Second, if the FCC confirms the vote to approve Ligado’s plan, Congress would have to vote to disapprove the rule under something called the Congressional Review Act. And, third, Trump would have to approve the congressional action — or, Congress would have to approve the bill by a veto-proof two-thirds vote.

Given that the FCC has not yet voted or even set a date for a vote, it also is possible that Trump could try to pressure Pai to change his mind. But top Trump advisors –including Attorney General William Barr and senior White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow — support breaking L-band open for 5G wireless communications, as do some White House technical experts. Barr now leads the interagency ‘Team Telecom,’ established by an April 6 Executive Order, designed to find ways to block China from winning the race to dominate the international 5G market.

At this point, it looks as if the only real pressure Trump could put on Pai is to threaten to remove him. While FCC chairs are presidential appointees, they are legally independent of the White House.

Meanwhile, a wide swathe of industry groups has opened fire on Pai. A coalition of aerospace companies, aviation firms, US airlines, pilots and satellite companies — including GPS prime Lockheed Martin, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), FedEx and Iridium — wrote Wednesday to the FCC urging that Ligado’s proposal be dismissed entirely.

““New technology is vital to America’s economy, national security, and to our aerospace and defense industry. However, the government has a responsibility to help ensure it is deployed in a way that does not jeopardize the work of our armed forces or the safety of the American people,” AIA said in a statement.

The move, AIA said, “disregards the serious concerns raised by various government agencies about the harmful impacts to GPS. We urge the FCC to reject the Chairman’s proposal and adequately protect the GPS network that underpins our nation’s military operations and the safety of our airspace.”