House Science, Space, And Technology Committee Chair Calls For
Further Investigation Of LightSquared Issue
House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Ralph
Hall (R-TX) and Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman
Paul Broun (R-GA) have reiterated their request that agencies
provide the Committee with their assessments of the potential
impacts of the LightSquared network on their operations. These
assessments were transmitted to the National Telecommunications and
Information Agency (NTIA) in July, yet neither the NTIA, nor the
individual agencies have allowed the technical evaluations to see
the light of day.
“The ramifications of destroying
critical national security and economic infrastructure such as GPS
should be fully vetted in the light of day," said Chairman Hall
(pictured) in a news release posted Thursday on the committee
website. "Everyone supports expanded wireless broadband capacity in
the United States and I hope we can find a way to make it happen.
But it absolutely cannot happen behind closed doors and with
backroom deals.”
“Unfortunately, this is an issue
that the Committee is unable to fully address because of the
refusal of certain agencies to release their experts’
technical evaluationsm," Hall continued. "For the benefit of all
parties, today I am releasing the agency documents submitted thus
far for the record in an attempt to shine some light on the issues
that have been raised.”
The FCC requested comments on
LightSquared’s proposal on July 30th, with a deadline of
August 15th. While some agencies have complied with the
Committee’s request, the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) and the Department of Commerce (DOC), including the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National
Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), continue to withhold
this information. Today, Chairmen Hall and Broun sent letters to
DHS, NIST, and NOAA, once again requesting their assessments be
provided to the Committee.
The Committee held a hearing on
September 8th, 2011 to examine the impacts of the LightSquared
network on federal science activities related to the Global
Positioning System (GPS). Prior to that hearing, on July 28th,
Chairman Hall asked the agencies to provide the Committee with a
copy of the technical assessments they submitted to the NTIA. On
September 20th, Chairman Hall, Vice Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner
(R-WI), along with Republican Members of the Investigations and
Oversight (I&O) Subcommittee requested a number of records from
the Administration related to the LightSquared proposal.
“Despite the
Administration’s claims of unprecedented transparency, the
American public wouldn’t know about the impact of
LightSquared’s interference on GPS if it weren’t for
the diligence of Congressional oversight.” said Chairman
Broun. “We need this Administration to be open about the
impacts of LightSquared’s network on the GPS
signal.”