OSTP Nominee Droegemeier Sees Role on Spectrum, Tech Policymaking

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director nominee Kelvin Droegemeier outlined his vision for the office to maintain a leadership role on spectrum policy, cybersecurity and emerging tech issues during President Donald Trump's administration. He said during a Thursday Senate Commerce Committee hearing he aims to ensure “continued American leadership in science and technology.” Members' questioned Droegemeier on OSTP's future role in the administration, as expected (see 1808220036). Most of the interest was on the office's function in science policymaking.

Senate Commerce set a Wednesday executive session that will include a vote to advance Droegemeier. The markup will begin at 10 a.m. in G50 Dirksen, the committee said.

Droegemeier drew largely positive reactions, including praise from Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla. “You have a tough task ahead of you, but as far as I’m concerned, I’d be happy for you to go over to the White House and start this afternoon,” Nelson said.

Droegemeier aims to ensure OSTP leads a “coordinate and comprehensive portfolio” of science and tech policy initiatives, including “fundamental research that is commercially risky but potentially transformative.” Droegemeier cited concerns about rising competition from China and Russia, which are “moving very rapidly” to challenge U.S. leadership on quantum computing and artificial intelligence. OSTP recognizes it has an “important role to play” in emphasizing AI and quantum computing, as it and the Office of Management and Budget pointed to both among administration's FY 2020 R&D priority areas (see 1807310064), he said.

OSTP will “absolutely” have a role to play in shaping administration policy on reallocating federal spectrum for commercial uses, Droegemeier said. Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked about spectrum issues. Hassan said the issue came up during her Tuesday meeting with Droegemeier. OSTP's role will be “helping make sure the research gets done, to create the … technological capabilities” to let federal entities more efficiently use their spectrum and reallocate some, Droegemeier told Hassan.

Lee asked Droegemeier whether he believes the federal government needs to “revisit the presumption” that it should retain the majority of spectrum bandwidth in the U.S. for its uses and whether “Congress and the administration need to make federal spectrum holdings more transparent and more efficient.” Lee cited estimates that “upwards of 60 percent” of U.S. spectrum is set aside for federal use. Droegemeier said he would need to study the issue further before answering, noting his experience with working to free up spectrum by combining multiple meteorological radar systems. Droegemeier is vice president-research and professor of meteorology at University of Oklahoma and state secretary of science and technology.

The federal government has “absolutely a strong, even compelling need” to retain some spectrum for military and other uses, but commercial entities have generally utilized their allocated spectrum “far more efficiently,” Lee said. “When the majority” of spectrum “is never even allowed” to be used for commercial purposes, “I worry that we're neither being transparent nor efficient." Making "more spectrum commercially available” is needed, Thune said: “There are going to be tremendous needs out there and demands for it,” especially as the private sector begins deploying 5G technology.

OSTP will have an important role in shaping cybersecurity and privacy policy, Droegemeier said. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., asked about the “sweet spot” for balancing competing needs for cybersecurity, privacy and advancing innovation. Ed Markey, D-Mass., noted his Cyber Shield Act (S-2020), which would convene an advisory committee to create new voluntary data security standards for certifying IoT devices (see 1710270043). “Cybersecurity is really one of the gravest threats facing the nation,” particularly for IoT, Droegemeier said.

“We really have to at least” get the federal government's understanding of “the social use” of technologies on pace with development of new technologies so “we aren't putting technology out there” without being prepared for cases like people “posting suicide videos on Facebook,” Droegemeier said. OSTP can play a role in understanding “the box-top of the puzzle and saying 'OK, we've got the technology. We need to bring in these other dimensions and make sure that we're working as an ecosystem, not just purely the technology piece.' And I think we've paid prices for that in the past by not doing that.”