FCC, NTIA Nomination Concerns Factor Into House Activity

Some House Democrats are beginning to echo their Senate colleagues’ concerns about the continued lack of permanent leadership at the FCC and NTIA (see 2106160056). House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told us he plans to delay the subpanel’s customary FCC oversight hearings until President Joe Biden names a permanent commission chair and fills a vacant seat that would give Democrats a 3-2 majority. Qualms about Biden’s failure to name a permanent NTIA administrator also featured during a Wednesday House Communications hearing on nine bills largely aimed at increasing the role that agency and the FCC play in communications security. Subcommittee members from both parties appeared interested in pursuing those measures.

“We want to wait and get a full” FCC complement “and then I’m sure we’ll have them up to the Hill to give them their initiation” in a hearing, Doyle said in an interview. House Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Communications ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, pressed panel Democrats in May to hold an FCC oversight hearing, citing the need to review implementation of the $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund and $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit (see 2105250082). The committee’s last FCC oversight hearing was in September (see 2009170068).

“We need” Biden to name a Democrat to the seat former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai vacated in January and to potentially renominate acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who will have to leave the commission Jan. 3 absent Senate reconfirmation, Doyle said. “There’s a lot of things” the FCC can do only once the existing 2-2 tie ends.

Doyle said he doesn’t blame the Biden administration for the delay, saying getting the COVID-19 pandemic “somewhat under control” and the current push for Congress to pass infrastructure spending legislation (see 2106240070) “took precedence over some of these other things. There’s still a lot of appointments that have to be made. We’ll just have to wait and see when that happens, but hopefully it won’t be too much longer.”

NTIA Woes

Qualcomm Senior Vice President-Spectrum Strategy and Tech Policy Dean Brenner and Access Partnership Senior Policy Counsel Dileep Srihari urged Biden to quickly fill the NTIA administrator role. Evelyn Remaley is the acting administrator. The Biden administration’s timeline for selecting the agency’s head and FCC nominees remains unclear. Scott Harris of Harris Wiltshire is believed to still be a contender to lead NTIA (see 2105120065), but he’s faced criticism from the Revolving Door Project and others, lobbyists told us.

Congress “should hear” from a Senate-confirmed NTIA administrator before moving on the Timely Evaluation of Acquisitions, Mergers or Transactions with External, Lawful Entities to Clear Owners and Management (Team Telecom) Act (HR-4029) and four other bills affecting the agency’s jurisdiction, Srihari said. A “permanent administrator” will need to be in place for NTIA to be effective in implementing bills affecting its role, Brenner said: It would also be “good to get that person’s views” on the legislation before it’s enacted.

HR-4029 would codify the “Team Telecom” executive branch agencies’ process for reviewing FCC applications from foreign-owned companies, along with NTIA’s role in that process. The other measures House Communications considered that would affect NTIA’s jurisdiction: the Understanding Cybersecurity of Mobile Networks Act (HR-2685), Open Radio Access Networks Outreach Act (HR-4032), NTIA Policy and Cybersecurity Coordination Act (HR-4046) and American Cybersecurity Literacy Act (HR-4055).

Doyle told us he doesn’t want to delay consideration of the measures until there’s a permanent NTIA administrator but believes the role needs to be filled. HR-2685 would require NTIA to report on cybersecurity of wireless networks and vulnerabilities to cyberattacks and surveillance by adversaries (see 2104210070). HR-4032 would direct NTIA to provide outreach and technical assistance to small communications network providers on how to use ORAN technologies. HR-4046 would create an Office of Policy Development and Cybersecurity within NTIA. HR-4055 would require that NTIA establish a cybersecurity literacy campaign to increase public knowledge and awareness of cybersecurity risks, including best practices for preventing cyberattacks.

Bipartisanship

McMorris Rodgers and Latta supported the nine security bills during the hearing, saying they're an example of House Commerce bipartisanship. The Secure Equipment Act (HR-3919/S-1790) would ban the FCC from issuing new equipment licenses to Huawei and other companies the commission determines to be a national security risk. Commissioners approved an NPRM 4-0 in June proposing a similar ban (see 2106090063). The Information and Communication Technology Strategy Act (HR-4028) would require the Commerce Department to create a whole-of-government strategy to bolster U.S. information and communications vendors’ economic competitiveness and reduce their reliance on foreign resources.

“We do not want the Chinese Communist Party setting the standards for 5G and 6G,” McMorris Rodgers said. “America must be at the forefront.” House Commerce members worked together to enact the 2020 Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (see 2003170004) and now “we must work together to strengthen the security of our networks as industry deploys advanced technologies,” she said. “Though we don’t agree with our Democrat colleagues on every issue, I’m proud of our bipartisan record when it comes to securing our communications supply chain,” Latta said.

Brenner; Srihari; Jason Boswell, Ericsson head-North America security and network product solutions; and Clete Johnson, Center for Strategic and International Studies senior fellow, supported the bills with some caveats. The Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhanced Networks Act (HR-4045) directs the FCC to establish a 6G Task Force to provide recommendations on how to ensure U.S. leadership in developing that technology’s standards. The Communications Security Advisory Act (HR-4067) would make the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council permanent and requires the council to report to Congress every two years with recommendations on “network security, resiliency, and interoperability” issues it examines.

Turning NTIA “into having cyber as one of its core functions” is “a very significant change,” Brenner said. Srihari urged lawmakers to “be cheerleaders for” NTIA by making “very modest budget increases to just help them do these things.” Right now “I am working with them on a number of different issues and I see the same staffers' email being CCed on three very different topics because they just don't have the people right now, that's the reality right now,” he said.

Johnson, who’s also ORAN Policy Coalition counsel, said the Commerce Department remains a “crucial part” of federal cybersecurity activity because of its emphasis on public-private partnerships instead of prescriptive rules. “They're the only agency whose core mission is promoting American business and innovation, which underlies American strength,” he said.