“It's the most controversial debate on Capitol Hill that no one seems to know about, and it doesn't break along partisan lines.” – Tom Karako, Center for Strategic and International Studies

[VIDEO]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, sounded the alarm about the dangers of the Republican plan to auction 800 megahertz of spectrum that is essential to national security, aviation safety and America’s innovation economy in a one-on-one conversation with Dr. Tom Karako, Director of the Missile Defense Project and Senior Fellow in Defense & Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

During the discussion, Sen. Cantwell and Dr. Karako touched on a wide-range of issues and concerns related to the electromagnetic spectrum and the current debate over the potential spectrum auctions included in the Republican reconciliation bill, from why spectrum matters to the American people in their daily lives, to its vital importance for our information economy and, specifically, just how consequential it is to protect the parts of the spectrum critical to our national security.  

Excerpts from the discussion:

Why Spectrum Matters to Our Daily Lives

Dr. Karako: “How do we feel it in our daily lives, given that it is, after all, invisible?”

Sen. Cantwell: “I think the key thing for everybody to understand is we live in the Information Age, and data is the new source of what our economy is going to be, but data is also used for national security. And when you think about this, all this data, that is, if you will, flowing through our system, that spectrum is like the arteries that help deliver it, and you need them to go to the right places and be the right infrastructure for that. I think everybody probably understands the time they've tried to tune their radio and heard interference, when they get that there is something happening that is allowing that signal to be distributed. And now we're in a debate with so many applications, so much data, how can we make these arteries that have been the old system continue to work effectively for us?”

The Dangers of the Republican Spectrum Auction Plan

Dr. Karako: “Congress is right now debating whether to reauthorize the FCC’s auction authority, which expired a couple years ago in ’23, and there's some proposals to auction off to the commercial world, some pretty significant chunks of the electromagnetic spectrum… So, Senator, how do you kind of see this bill?”

Sen. Cantwell: “I think it's a very dangerous proposal, because it really doesn't look at all the details about the incumbent users, in this case, a lot of military applications, and plan for what is the use of the future of that spectrum, if it's allocated to the private sector? And while we know we have an unbelievable need for new spectrum, the question is: How can we do things like dynamic spectrum sharing and testbed and really understand what these applications are and what they're going to do to create interference?... You're opening up, if you will, the arteries for anybody to flow in, in a way that could be very, very dangerous. And so I think if you listen to people like the IEEE, electrical engineers who know the subject well. They will say, ‘Don't do this. Don't do this.’ There are ways to proceed, but this isn't it.”

Dr. Karako: “What's driving the push for these spectrum auctions? Where is this coming from? We also hear that this is a spectrum arms race with China. How do you see that?” 

Sen. Cantwell: “Well, I wish we were involved in the negotiations, because I would definitely go to the White House and say to the President of the United States, “You have a vision of what you want to do to make the United States more secure with Golden Dome and all of these ideas.  And you did help in the initial creation of a Space Force, but I got news for you. This is about disarming, and you are basically going to hand the Chinese a victory.  So, it makes no sense that you would not only basically say, I'm going to stop building our own secure network for communication, but you're going to basically open up our system for interference and lots of avenues for the Chinese and other perpetrators who aren't friendly to the United States to have access and avenues.”

The Danger to Aviation Safety

Dr. Karako: “I want to get to the missile defense stuff in particular here in just a moment. But there's a long history here. There's been a lot of past auctions. Not too long ago, the FCC sold off some C-Band stuff, and that had interference with aircraft and altimeters, and you've talked about that. What lessons are there from some of these past auctions?”

Sen. Cantwell: “…[P]lanes depend on altimeters…The altimeter telling you the altitude. But now, if that altimeter can be interrupted or get the wrong information, get the wrong signal because of interference, all of a sudden now, the entire plane's brain, driven by what it thinks the altitude is, could be catastrophic. And so, when people just threw caution to the wind and said, ‘Okay, we're going to auction some of this,’ it created chaos between the aviation sector and between the telecom sector. And the telecom sector saying, ‘Oh, don't worry about this.’ And the aviation sector saying, ‘Oh my God, absolutely worry about this, and let’s get it right.’

“Now, this legislation basically would not only have every commercial plane having to get a new altimeter because it has to be sensitive enough to the interference. The planes that we're flying today do not have altimeters that are sensitive enough. Every DoD plane would also have to get a new altimeter calibrated to deal with the interference. Now, if that isn't enough to stop a bill right there, I don't know what is, but I guarantee you no one is telling my colleagues, every plane and every DoD asset will need a new altimeter.”

The Need for Additional Spectrum by Private Companies

Dr. Karako: “On Tuesday of this week, I noticed that AT&T’s CFO was saying that actually they've got a lot of spectrum-- that he said that there's no pressing need that I feel like we have to go out and acquire spectrum in the next 12, 24, even 36 months, because they're using the spectrum they have more efficiently. What's your thoughts on that?”

Sen. Cantwell: “Well, if that's the case why are we going to disrupt our national security on behalf of this telco sector? Then why are they pushing? So if they want to send a letter to the President saying, ‘Don't do this, because we haven't achieved this,’ great, but what Americans need to know is that we're not doing this just at the behest of industry. Now, I will say we do want to be the leaders in 5 and 6G…[the] United States has been good at innovation. We could talk a lot about the budget cuts on all sorts of science, things that are horrific, but our goal should be for innovation to happen all across America.

“We don't want it just in Seattle or Silicon Valley or in Boston. We have so much innovation in the information age. We want it to happen more places. Well, if we want it to happen more places, we need better distribution of broadband capabilities with 5 and 6G, and we want to lead in telecommunications. If I had anything I want out of this, it is to create a new regime where DoD and the outside most sophisticated technology companies and their CTOs are communicating about the future and working together on how to successfully navigate this very challenging time. That way we'll be the leader in both 5 and 6G and the military applications.”

The Threat to the Development of Golden Dome

Dr. Karako: “You've written to Secretary Hegseth, for instance, about the Low 3, in particular, as relevant for Golden Dome. I wonder if you could speak a little bit about why this part of the spectrum is so important.”

Sen. Cantwell: “Well, it's the use that you just described is important because, again, when you think about warfare, moving to the sky, and ability to disrupt or intervene or change a signal that is being sent. Again, we see lots of avenues already where we're being attacked, as I mentioned before on pipelines and security, which is just somebody being able to infiltrate that infrastructure and cause a disruption, a shutdown. And so here, though, when you think about that kind of activity happening, you are disabling or allowing us to not be able to effectively deliver.

“But in Golden Dome, we're trying to say, how do we create a more secure network, a system that protects the United States overall from being attacked by more advanced missiles or systems that people are developing internationally? And so you want to be able to create that layer of a secure system.  And again, if you aren't making it secure, and we all know from the Huawei example, we made mistakes by allowing an infiltration that could be from a company backed by a foreign government, in China's case with Huawei. So, we had to say, ‘Look, we can't have that. We can't have that.’ I do think everybody on the Hill gets that -- ‘Okay, we can't have Huawei equipment.’ Okay, well, why are you going to then let Golden Dome basically be interfered with that could be the same potential? And it just doesn't make sense.”

Impacts on Citizens Broadband Radio Service

Dr. Karako: “Talk to us a little bit about the citizens broadband radio service or CBRS. What's, what's kind of the history? What is that this is a part of the upper three, or mid three, excuse me, that the DoD and CBRS has had to share what's going on with that.?”

Sen. Cantwell: “… So CBRS is like having access to a more affordable broadband that has helped manufacturing in the Midwest achieve some good success. And look, the cost of energy is a big issue generally, and being able to continue to innovate with, you know, affordable spectrum is a very positive thing, so why now all of a sudden disrupt that and basically put a bunch of industry that was using that spectrum? Why throw them out? And basically said, now I'm going to go rebid that, and I'm going to make everything more expensive again. So, I do think there's elements to that equation that are very interesting, very interesting, if you think about the fact that spectrum is so dear and yet, here is a particular thing that benefited both industry and defense, that seems to be like something that you would want to continue.”

The State of Play Right Now

Dr. Karako: “Well, I know you've got to get back to the Senate here in just a bit. But let me kind of wrap it up with where I began. The first observation that this is a contentious issue, but it's not a partisan issue. I wonder if you could just talk a little bit to close this out in terms of, across party lines, what kind of commonality you're seeing with, again some of your colleagues in the Senate, or the House.”

Sen. Cantwell: “Well, I think, probably, even dividing people within states. And I think those who have deep backgrounds on either technology, as I do, or on defense issues, kind of look at this one way. And those who are a little more just like, ‘I just think I want more.’ And look, they can be earnest about it. They can be real about it. They might come from a more rural state, and they're like, ‘I need more broadband because I want more economic development. I want these things to transpire.’  

“And I do, too. Trust me, I didn't work so hard on CHIPS and Science to have it only take place in the Northwest. Listen, the Northwest is going to continue to unfold in unbelievable ways on innovation. I see it every time I go home. But again, we want innovation to be cheaper, so we do want it in other places. So, this need of continuing to build out is real, but it is not so essential, according to the AT&T [CFO], it's not so essential that it has to happen right now.”

“…If you're saying every plane and every DoD asset needs to get a new altimeter, that alone just says it is not. But even that isn't even the biggest issue. That is an infrastructure issue and a very serious one, because we don't know the answers yet. But when you think about, why would you vacate for drones, missile defense, CBRS, and a bunch of other, you're basically throwing the whole system open and without the technology answers. So, let's get the answers. Let's get collaboration. Let's be good at both. Let's be successful here as a country. Let's not fall behind. Certainly, don't make it easier for the enemy.”

Sen. Cantwell has been a leader in exposing the dangers of the Republican plan to auction spectrum that is important to national defense and aviation safety. She sharply questioned FAA Administrator nominee Bryan Bedford about the dangers toaviation safety at his nomination hearing on June 11. Sen. Cantwell wrote to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on May 6 and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy on May 12, urging them to protect critical spectrum bands used for national defense and aviation safety. And earlier this week, she wrote to Commerce Committee Chairman Cruz, urging him to follow regular order on the Reconciliation Bill, and not pass such major legislation without a single hearing.

The complete video of Sen. Cantwell’s interview can be found HERE and the transcript can be found HERE.

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