Walden Concerned by Senate FY20 NDAA Language on DOD 5G Coordination

House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., said he's among lawmakers raising concerns about language in the Senate-passed FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (S-1790) that would call for DOD to work with the FCC and NTIA to establish a spectrum sharing R&D program aimed at sharing between 5G technologies, federal and nonfederal incumbent systems (see 1906270051). The language says DOD, the FCC and NTIA officials should, by May, propose an “integrated spectrum automation enterprise strategy” that will allow Defense to “address management of [spectrum], including Federal and non-Federal spectrum” shared by DOD “that could be used for national security missions in the future, including on a shared basis.” House Commerce leaders “aren't happy at all” about the Senate NDAA language, Walden told reporters. “We don’t need the Pentagon replacing the NTIA” in making “spectrum allocation decisions for the federal government.” Walden isn't among the Republicans named Tuesday to the House-Senate conference committee that will attempt to reconcile S-1790 and the House-passed NDAA (HR-2500); Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., is the GOP representative from House Commerce. Other policy issues to be debated include differing provisions on national security concerns about Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE (see 1907220053).