    [House Hearing, 115 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                            REAUTHORIZATION OF NTIA

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                 SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY

                                     OF THE

                        COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
                            HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                         ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                   __________

                                FEBRUARY 2, 2017

                                   __________

                                Serial No. 115-5

     GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

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                        COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE

                              GREG WALDEN, Oregon
                                     Chairman
    JOE BARTON, Texas                    FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey
      Vice Chairman                        Ranking Member
    FRED UPTON, Michigan                 BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois
    JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois               ANNA G. ESHOO, California
    TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania             ELIoT L. ENGEL, New York
    MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas            GENE GREEN, Texas
    MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee          DIANA DeGETTE, Colorado
    STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana             MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
    ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio                JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois
    CATHY McMORRIS RODGERS, Washington   G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina
    GREGG HARPER, Mississippi            DORIS O. MATSUI, California
    LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey            KATHY CASTOR, Florida
    BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky              JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland
    PETE OLSON, Texas                    JERRY McNERNEY, California
    DAVID B. McKINLEY, West Virginia     PETER WELCH, Vermont
    ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois             BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico
    H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia         PAUL TONKO, New York
    GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida            YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York
    BILL JOHNSON, Ohio                   DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa
    BILLY LONG, Missouri                 KURT SCHRADER, Oregon
    LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana               JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, III,
    BILL FLORES, Texas                       Massachusetts
    SUSAN W. BROOKS, Indiana             TONY CARDENAS, California
    MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma           RAUL RUIZ, California
    RICHARD HUDSON, North Carolina       SCOTT H. PETERS, California
    CHRIS COLLINS, New York              DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan
    KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
    TIM WALBERG, Michigan
    MIMI WALTERS, California
    RYAN A. COSTELLO, Pennsylvania
    EARL L. ``BUDDY'' CARTER, Georgia

                 Subcommittee on Communications and Technology

                          MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
                                     Chairman
    LEONARD LANCE, New Jersey            MICHAEL F. DOYLE, Pennsylvania
      Vice Chairman                        Ranking Member
    JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois               PETER WELCH, Vermont
    STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana             YVETTE D. CLARKE, New York
    ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio                DAVID LOEBSACK, Iowa
    BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky              RAUL RUIZ, California
    PETE OLSON, Texas                    DEBBIE DINGELL, Michigan
    ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois             BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois
    GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida            ANNA G. ESHOO, California
    BILL JOHNSON, Ohio                   ELIoT L. ENGEL, New York
    BILLY LONG, Missouri                 G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina
    BILL FLORES, Texas                   DORIS O. MATSUI, California
    SUSAN W. BROOKS, Tennessee           JERRY McNERNEY, California
    CHRIS COLLINS, New York              FRANK PALLONE, Jr., New Jersey (ex
    KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota               officio)
    MIMI WALTERS, California
    RYAN A. COSTELLO, Pennsylvania
    GREG WALDEN, Oregon (ex officio)

                                 C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page
    Hon. Marsha Blackburn, a Representative in Congress from the
      State of Tennessee, opening statement..........................     1
        Prepared statement...........................................     3
    Hon. Michael F. Doyle, a Representative in Congress from the
      Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, opening statement................     3
    Hon. Greg Walden, a Representative in Congress from the State of
      Oregon, prepared statement.....................................    67

                                   Witnesses

    John M.R. Kneuer, Former Assistant Secretary for Communications
      and Information, Former Administrator, NTIA, President and
      Founder, JKC Consulting........................................     7
        Prepared statement...........................................    10
        Answers to submitted questions \1\...........................    71
    Meredith Attwell Baker, Former Acting Assistant Secretary for
      Communications and Information, Former Acting Administrator,
      NTIA, President and CEO, CTIA..................................    15
        Prepared statement...........................................    17
        Answers to submitted questions...............................    73
    Anna M. Gomez, Former Acting Assistant Secretary for
      Communications and Information, Former Acting Administrator,
      NTIA, Partner, Wiley Rein......................................    25
        Prepared statement...........................................    27
        Answers to submitted questions...............................    77

                               Submitted Material

    Statement of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, submitted
      by Mr. Doyle...................................................    69

    ----------
    \1\ Mr. Kneuer did not submit a response to questions for the
      record.

                            REAUTHORIZATION OF NTIA

                                  ----------

                           THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2017

                      House of Representatives,
         Subcommittee on Communications and Technology,
                              Committee on Energy and Commerce,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:48 a.m., in
    room 2322 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Marsha Blackburn
    (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
        Present: Representatives Blackburn, Lance, Shimkus, Latta,
    Guthrie, Olson, Kinzinger, Bilirakis, Johnson, Flores, Brooks,
    Collins, Cramer, Walters, Costello, Doyle, Welch, Clarke,
    Loebsack, Ruiz, Dingell, Engel, Butterfield, McNerney, and
    Pallone.
        Staff present: Gene Fullano, Detailee, Telecom; Kelsey
    Guyselman, Counsel, Communications and Technology; Dan
    Schneider, Press Secretary; Evan Viau, Staff Assistant; Gregory
    Watson, Legislative Clerk, Communications and Technology; Alex
    Debianchi, Minority Telecom Fellow; David Goldman, Minority
    Chief Counsel, Communications and Technology; Jerry Leverich,
    Minority Counsel; and Lori Maarbjerg, Minority FCC Detailee.

    OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
                  CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE

        Mrs. Blackburn. Good morning, everyone.
        We are delighted that you all are here and that you're
    joining us as the Communications and Technology Subcommittee is
    kicking off the 115th Congress.
        I guess kick off is the right word to use because we are
    looking at the Super Bowl this weekend. So everybody pick your
    team.
        Our subcommittee features a few new faces and also some
    familiar faces in new roles, and before we begin I'd like to
    take a moment for a brief introduction.
        Mr. Lance is our vice chairman and he is going to be a
    valuable partner in all of our endeavors. His understanding on
    the issues and his experience as a senior member of this
    committee will be a great asset to us on the subcommittee.
        I am also excited to introduce the new Republican members
    of the subcommittee: Mr. Flores, Ms. Brooks, Ms. Walters, Mr.
    Costello. We welcome their eagerness and their talents to these
    issues.
        I want to congratulate Mr. Doyle, the new ranking member.
    He has been consistently active on these issues through the
    years. I am looking forward to working with him.
        As I have so focused on these coms and technology issues
    I've appreciated the fact that Mr. Doyle kind of like me chose
    to opt himself in to the discussion on these issues and he is
    joined by three new members on his side.
        I know that he is going to be ready to introduce them in a
    few moments. Let me begin with my opening statement. Get myself
    organized here.
        As we continue the subcommittee's work, modernizing the
    laws around communications and technology and striving to
    promote innovation and investment it only makes sense to begin
    by taking a look at one of the agencies tasked with developing
    telecommunications policy.
        The last NTIA reauthorization was adopted in, get this,
    1992. It is far past time that we again reauthorize the agency
    and the first step in the process is to examine the role of the
    agency past, present and future in crafting policies that will
    achieve our shared goals.
        We are pleased to have three witnesses today that can speak
    to their experiences as head of the NTIA. We are so grateful
    for your time and for your insights and I am certain they are
    going to give us the needed perspective on the work that the
    agency has done and also, hopefully, give us some good ideas on
    how to empower the NTIA going forward.
        One of the biggest bipartisan priorities for the
    subcommittee over the years has been satisfying the demand for
    additional spectrum for commercial use.
        As the FCC winds down the broadcast incentive auction, one
    of the last opportunities for reallocation of commercial
    spectrum to other commercial users we are again turning our
    focus to federally-held spectrum. The government holds a large
    amount of spectrum and we recognize that they require much of
    it for carrying out critical government missions.
        However, we also want to be certain that the government is
    armed with the best technology and is using that spectrum as
    efficiently as possible. The dividend from this investment in
    our government agencies will be more spectrum to meet more
    broadband demands.
        Broadband deployment is America's greatest infrastructure
    challenge of this decade and it is up to us to rise to the
    occasion of meeting this demand.
        We will have long said that spectrum will need to be an all
    of the above solution and NTIA will be an essential player in
    any discussion moving forward. In additional to spectrum
    policy, NTIA plays a leading role in public safety and
    cybersecurity policy.
        They serve as a liaison for interagency cooperation and
    standard setting in both of these areas promoting safer and
    more secure communications networks.
        We have seen time and again in recent months how serious
    cyber threats are we will need to use all of our tools to
    combat these attacks, especially when it comes to critical
    infrastructure.
        NTIA has the capability to bring together a diverse group
    of government stakeholders to address the problem and develop
    best practices. We must ensure that we empower them to be
    effective and efficient in combating cyberattacks and promoting
    strong public safety networks.
        The communication sector is vibrant, thriving, and the
    government agencies that handle these issues should reflect
    that.
        Today, we are going to look at how to enable the NTIA to
    craft thoughtful telecom policy that promotes continued
    innovation and investment.
        I thank our witnesses for their thoughtful testimony and I
    look forward to a robust discussion on this important agency
    and at this time I yield 5 minutes to the ranking member.
        [The prepared statement of Mrs. Blackburn follows:]

                  Prepared statement of Hon. Marsha Blackburn

        As we continue this subcommittee's work modernizing the
    laws around communications and technology, and striving to
    promote innovation and investment, it only makes sense to begin
    by taking a look at one of the agencies tasked with developing
    telecommunications policy. The last NTIA reauthorization was
    adopted in 1992. It is far past time that we again reauthorize
    the agency, and a first step in the process is to examine the
    role of the agency, past, present, and future in crafting
    policies that will achieve our shared goals.
        We are pleased to have three witnesses today that can speak
    to their experiences as heads of NTIA. I'm certain they will
    provide us with valuable perspective on the work that the
    agency has done, but also hopefully give us good ideas as to
    how to empower NTIA going forward.
        One of the biggest bipartisan priorities for this
    subcommittee over the years has been satisfying the demand for
    additional spectrum for commercial use. As the FCC winds down
    the broadcast incentive auction, one of the last opportunities
    for reallocation of commercial spectrum to other commercial
    users, we are again turning our focus to federally held
    spectrum. The government holds a large amount of spectrum, and
    we recognize that they require much of it for carrying out
    critical government missions. However, we also want to be
    certain that the government is armed with the best technology,
    and is using spectrum as efficiently as possible. The dividend
    from this investment in our government agencies will be more
    spectrum to meet broadband needs. Broadband deployment is
    America's greatest infrastructure challenge and we must rise to
    the occasion. We have long said that spectrum will need to be
    an ``all of the above'' solution, and NTIA will be an essential
    player in any discussion moving forward.
        In addition to spectrum policy, NTIA plays a leading role
    in public safety and cyber security policy. NTIA serves as a
    liaison for interagency cooperation and standard setting in
    both of these areas, promoting safer and more secure
    communications networks. We have seen time and again in recent
    months how serious cyber threats are, and we will need to use
    all tools at our disposal to combat these attacks-especially
    when it comes to critical infrastructure. NTIA has the
    capability to bring together a diverse group of government
    stakeholders to address the problem and develop best practices.
    We must ensure that we empower NTIA to be as effective and
    efficient as possible in combatting cyber attacks and promoting
    strong public safety networks. The communications sector is
    vibrant and thriving, and the government agencies that handle
    these issues should reflect that. Today, we will look at how to
    enable NTIA to craft thoughtful telecommunications policy that
    promotes continued innovation and investment. I thank our
    witnesses for their thoughtful testimony and look forward to a
    robust discussion on this important agency.

    OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
             CONGRESS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

        Mr. Doyle. Well, I want to thank you, Madam Chair, for
    holding this hearing and I want to congratulate you on your new
    role. I look forward to working with you and having a
    productive partnership and I am glad you like opt in. I do,
    too.
        I also want to thank my colleagues on the committee for
    giving me this opportunity and introduce our two new members,
    Raul Ruiz from California and Debbie Dingell from Michigan--
    both good members and I think will be good members for this
    committee.
        I want to thank the outstanding panel that's here today. We
    look forward to your testimony. As the chair said, we are here
    today to discuss reauthorizing the National Telecommunications
    and Information Administration, an agency charged with
    providing the president and the executive branch with fact-
    based expert policy recommendations on telecommunications,
    information, and internet issues.
        NTIA is also responsible for managing the federal
    government's use of spectrum and it has been instrumental in
    clearing government-held spectrum and making it available for
    commercial use.
        In the process, tens of billions of dollars have been
    raised for the federal government. NTIA is also working with
    federal agencies to find new and creative ways to share
    underutilized spectrum resources and that's important because
    maximizing our finite spectrum resources will be critical as we
    move to the fifth generation wireless networks and beyond.
        NTIA's Institutes for Telecommunication Sciences located in
    Colorado are key to this mission. Last year, the funding for
    this lab was 23 percent below the president's request. Our lack
    of investment here could have serious implications for this
    agency's ability to accomplish its mission.
        We want to ensure that this agency has the authority, the
    tools, and the personnel it needs to do its job. NTIA also
    plays a critical role in convening government agencies,
    industry experts and academics to tackle complex problems
    through their multi-stakeholder process.
        This process has been used to address evolving issues such
    as cybersecurity, the internet of things, UAVs, and many
    others.
        This is a well-managed, orderly, and inclusive process that
    enables the federal government to thoroughly grasp and
    effectively address complex issues, and more than that, this
    agency has repeatedly proved its worth beyond just clearing
    spectrum.
        Under the leadership of our panel, NTIA ran the DTV
    converter coupon program and the BTOP program to deploy
    broadband infrastructure and stood up FirstNet, the public
    safety broadband network authority.
        They have learned valuable lessons along the way. BTOP is
    now Broadband USA, a program to help communities expand
    broadband and promote its adoption.
        My hope is that as we talk about infrastructure investment
    in this country we look to agencies like NTIA which have
    extensive experience in this area to help manage and direct
    these investments for our future.
        My hope in reauthorizing NTIA is that we empower this
    agency to continue doing its job and that they continue to have
    a seat at the table and continue to provide fact-based advice
    to the president and others.
        Madam Chair, I'd like to ask unanimous consent to enter
    this letter from the Electronic Privacy Information Center into
    the record.
        Mrs. Blackburn. So ordered.
        [The information appears at the conclusion of the hearing.]
        Mr. Doyle. Thank you, and I would like to yield the
    remainder of my time to my colleague, Ms. Matsui.
        Ms. Matsui. Thank you very much, Mr. Doyle, for yielding me
    time.
        Today's digital economy demands that we bolster the
    invisible infrastructure supporting wireless connectivity.
    Spectrum is the building block for innovation.
        Working with NTIA we made significant progress in the last
    8 years to free up federal spectrum for commercial use.
    Congressional oversight and cooperation from the administration
    was critical. As a result, we made 300 megahertz of spectrum
    available for the wireless broadband.
        We must have continued leadership from both branches of
    government including leaders at the agencies like the
    Department of Defense to expand this progress.
        We all know there is much more work to be done. The United
    States must lead the world in 5G and I look forward to working
    with my colleagues to free up more of our nation's airwaves for
    the wireless economy.
        We have always been a nation of innovators and our spectrum
    policies should be no exception. With that, I yield back to the
    ranking member.
        Mrs. Blackburn. The gentleman yields back his time.
        Chairman Walden is not here for his opening. Is there any
    member that would choose to take a portion of his time? Then
    let me reserve that in case he makes it up and at this time--
    Mr. Pallone had requested time. Is that not correct?
        Mr. Doyle. Could I claim his time to yield for one more
    minute?
        Mrs. Blackburn. Absolutely you can claim the time and
    yield.
        Mr. Doyle. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it.
        Is there any member of the subcommittee that would like to
    have time?
        Mr. Ruiz. Chair.
        Mr. Doyle. Yes, I'll yield to Mr. Ruiz.
        Mr. Ruiz. Thank you, Chairwoman and Ranking Member.
        In today's digital age, access to broadband internet is not
    a luxury. It is a great equalizer that gives millions of
    Americans the opportunity to pursue their education, find a job
    and achieve their dreams.
        But the fact is there are severe disparities in the
    deployment of broadband in my district and across the U.S.,
    felt most acutely in rural areas and on tribal land.
        The National Telecommunications and Information
    Administration, or NTIA, has been instrumental in closing this
    digital divide and I am pleased to be here today to discuss how
    we can build upon their successes to better serve our
    constituents. And particularly, I want to highlight NTIA's
    Broadband USA initiative launched in 2015 which empowers local
    communities and tribes to expand their broadband capacity and
    promote broadband adoption through online and in person
    technical assistance, regional workshops and guides and
    toolkits with best practices for achieving success.
        This is a program that supports local solutions supported
    by evidence-based best practices and technical assistance and
    is a model that we should all be able to support.
        I thank the ranking member again for the opportunity to
    speak briefly about this critical program and look forward to
    working together with the members of this subcommittee to find
    solutions that move our nation forward into the digital age.
        Thank you, and I yield back.
        Mr. Doyle. Thank you. I'd like to yield some time to Ms.
    Dingell, too.
        Ms. Dingell. Thank you, Ranking Member, for yielding to me
    and I'd like to thank the chairman for holding this hearing
    today.
        I know this subcommittee oversees much of the new
    technology that's reshaping our great nation and NTIA in
    particular has helped usher in this new era of connectivity
    through its work supporting broadband deployment and clearing
    our airwaves. Every day new high-tech marvels are unveiled,
    including connected and automated vehicles, which I care a
    great deal about, which have the promise of reducing energy
    consumption and saving lives on the road.
        The continuing technological revolution is creating many
    new jobs and bringing other benefits to society. But for all
    the good this innovation brings to consumers in our economy, we
    have to ensure that no American is left behind in this new
    technological era.
        As this transition occurs, we have got an obligation to use
    every tool at our disposal to create jobs and get people back
    to work. We are going to need to train Americans for the new
    jobs that need filling and if any agency's up to the task of
    helping to solve this problem I know NTIA is.
        Keeping Americans on the job is critical to this new
    economy. It's going to be a major focus for me on this
    subcommittee. I thank the ranking member and yield back the
    time.
        Mr. Doyle. Thank you. Does anyone else seek time?
        Mr. McNerney.
        Mr. McNerney. Well, again, I thank the ranking member.
        The NTIA is the agency that's going to be advising the
    president on internet policies, on privacy and security. These
    are really important functions, especially in the age of our
    internet of things--the IoT.
        So I really advocate for a strong agency that has the
    resources to do the research and to develop policy
    recommendations that will make internet more competitive and
    will keep America's lead in the internet activities and
    telecommunications activities.
        So we have a couple of issues like the broadband map, I
    think, which needs to be updated so that we have the proper
    information, security and privacy. Very, very important.
        I've worked with the chairwoman of this committee on this
    issue and I look forward to working with you again on that. But
    again, I advocate that we have a strong NTIA to help us move
    forward working with the administration.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
        Mr. Doyle. I yield back. Thank you.
        Mrs. Blackburn. And this concludes our member opening
    statements. I do remind all members that you've got 5 days for
    submitting those opening statements.
        They are all going to be made a part of the record and we
    know that several of our members are on the member bus coming
    back from the prayer breakfast and they are not here at this
    time.
        We want to thank our witnesses for being here with us today
    and for taking their time and for submitting that testimony
    early. That's always a good thing.
        Our panel features three witnesses who are testifying today
    in their capacity as former administrators of the NTIA.
        They are the Honorable John Kneuer, who served as the
    assistant secretary of commerce for communications and
    information and administrator of NTIA from February 2006 to
    November 2007. Welcome.
        The Honorable Meredith Attwell Baker, who served as the
    acting assistant secretary of commerce for communications and
    information and acting administrator of NTIA from November 2007
    to January 2009. Welcome.
        And Ms. Anna Gomez, who was the acting assistant secretary
    of commerce and acting administrator of NTIA from February 2009
    to June 2009. Ms. Gomez continued to serve the NTIA as deputy
    assistant secretary and deputy administrator of the NTIA until
    2013.
         We appreciate all of you, each of you being here today and
    preparing for this. We will begin the panel with you, Mr.
    Kneuer. You are now recognized for 5 minutes to give an opening
    statement.

    STATEMENTS OF THE HONORABLE JOHN M.R. KNEUER, FORMER ASSISTANT
         SECRETARY FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, FORMER
    ADMINISTRATOR, NTIA, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, JKC CONSULTING; THE
       HONORABLE MEREDITH ATTWELL BAKER, FORMER ACTING ASSISTANT
      SECRETARY FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, FORMER ACTING
     ADMINISTRATOR, NTIA, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CTIA; ANNA M. GOMEZ,
       FORMER ACTING ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND
    INFORMATION, FORMER ACTING ADMINISTRATOR, NTIA, PARTNER, WILEY
                                  REIN

                     STATEMENT OF JOHN M.R. KNEUER

        Mr. Kneuer. Thanks very much.
        Good morning, Chairman Blackburn, Ranking Member Doyle,
    members of the committee. It was indeed my privilege to serve
    at NTIA as both the Deputy and the Assistant Secretary from
    2003 to 2007.
        Since that time in private life I have served as a board
    member, a consultant, and an advisor to various companies and
    institutions that have an interest in telecommunications and
    technology markets.
        But I want to stress I am here today in my personal
    capacity and all of my views are my own.
        So while NTIA has developed a diverse portfolio of issues
    over time, its core mission can really be broken down into two
    functions: the policy coordination and policy advisory for the
    president function and as the manager of the federal government
    spectrum.
        Because of this dual responsibility, NTIA occupies an
    important intersection of telecommunications policy in industry
    as well as our national and homeland security.
        But to be most effective I think any reauthorization
    statute should focus NTIA on those areas where its core
    competency can be leveraged to maximum effect.
        With regards to policy coordination and development, under
    the existing statute NTIA administrator serves as the
    president's principal advisor on telecommunications policies
    pertaining to the nation's economic and technological
    advancement and to the regulation of the telecommunications
    industry.
        This is a very, very broad mandate that can be read to
    include essentially policy area that affects the
    telecommunications and technology markets.
        However, in my experience at NTIA I think it's at its most
    effective when it focuses its policy coordination efforts on
    those areas of its unique responsibility, namely, this
    intersection of commercial and government interests.
        Now, one very obvious example is with regard to cyber.
    Cybersecurity is an issue that cuts across commercial interest
    as well as very important government equities. By providing the
    perspective of industry and the experience that NTIA has there
    into the interagency process, NTIA can help bridge the gap
    between the executive branch interests and executive branch
    entities that have national and homeland security
    responsibilities and the key private sector interests that also
    support our collective cyber defenses.
        Similarly, NTIA can serve as a conduit from government
    agencies with cyber experience back into the private sector so
    they have that information flow as well.
        With regards to spectrum management, I think as Secretary-
    designee Ross stated in his confirmation hearing testimony, the
    Department of Commerce has to work with Cabinet departments to
    free up more spectrum to meet our critical demand for
    broadband, and it's not just broadband but it's also autonomous
    vehicles, the internet of things, the range of spectrum-
    dependent industries that are proliferating across the economy.
    All have spectrum demand and we need to manage that properly.
    But this doesn't have to be a zero sum transaction where
    industry's gain is agency's loss.
        With thoughtfully crafted policies, Cabinet departments,
    and agencies benefit both from commercial industry
    technological developments that produce not only spectrum
    efficiencies but also new mission critical capabilities for
    government services, and then the revenue from spectrum
    auctions can also be used to fund these critical government
    facilities and ease budget pressure.
        Because of its exposure to both industry and government
    agencies, NTIA can help ensure that the spectrum relocation
    results in both positive benefits for industry and the
    government, and I think it had been mentioned by multiple
    comments the ITS labs in Boulder can also help with cutting
    edge research in that regard.
        There are, however, limits to NTIA's authority. As a sub-
    Cabinet agency in a single department it's beyond NTIA's
    authority to dictate to other Cabinet departments their
    spectrum and capital budget allocations and resources.
        However, there is one section of the existing authorizing
    statute that I think should be examined for potential
    clarification in any future reauthorization.
        Under existing law, NTIA is authorized to advise the
    director of OMB on the development of policies relating to the
    procurement and management of federal telecommunication
    systems.
        In the past, this authority has been effective in combining
    NTIA's expertise with OMB's government wide authority to
    promote spectrum efficiencies. I think there is untapped
    potential in that relationship.
        So, again, I appreciate the opportunity to testify and I'll
    remain available to the committee as you consider the
    authorization of this agency and I'll look forward to any
    questions.
        [The statement of Mr. Kneuer follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Mrs. Blackburn. I thank you, and Ms. Baker, you're
    recognized for 5 minutes.

                  STATEMENT OF MEREDITH ATTWELL BAKER

        Ms. Baker. Terrific. Good morning. My name is Meredith
    Attwell Baker and I'm President and CEO of CTIA.
        I first wanted to offer my congratulations to both Chairman
    Blackburn and Ranking Member Doyle on your new roles. We
    applaud your longstanding commitment to ensuring that all
    Americans have access to global-leading communications.
        As the head of an association that cares deeply about
    spectrum policy and as a previous acting administrator of NTIA,
    it's an honor to be a witness at this subcommittee's first
    hearing.
        Your focus today on the reauthorization of NTIA rightfully
    underscores the importance of this organization to so many of
    our shared and bipartisan objectives.
        Serving alongside my colleagues at NTIA was a distinct
    honor. I have the highest opinion of the extremely talented and
    surprisingly small staff. From the digital television
    transition that I helped lead to the AWS-1 and AWS-3 auctions
    they helped enable, NTIA plays a critical role in our nation's
    communication future in close collaboration and with guidance
    from this committee.
        While NTIA serves many important functions, I want to focus
    my remarks on spectrum. As a nation, we need to have advanced
    communication networks to support mission critical government
    programs and we need to continue to lead the world in
    commercial wireless services.
        NTIA plays a unique role seeking out win-win situations for
    government and commercial users. They leverage new technologies
    and auction revenues to provide government agencies more
    efficient and effective systems.
        In doing so they provide our industry with access to
    critical new spectrum to better serve all of us. I hope this
    reauthorization process can help empower NTIA to advance its
    mission and ensure government and commercial users have the
    communications resources they need. I believe we can benefit
    from the lessons learned from prior reallocation efforts to
    strengthen NTIA's role.
        First, we should ensure that NTIA has the technical
    resources and expertise it needs to serve as an impartial
    mediator of future spectrum disputes.
        For example, I hope we focus on NTIA's engineering lab,
    ITS, and its ability to do cutting edge research with both
    government and commercial partners. The lab has always played
    an important role in AWS-1 and AWS-3 reallocation efforts.
        Similarly, NTIA should be able to provide agencies with the
    R&D support needed to evaluate potential sharing and
    reallocation efforts. Hand in hand with those technical
    resources, NTIA would benefit from greater transparency tools
    to better hold agencies accountable for their spectrum use and
    to simplify this committee's important oversight role.
        In my mind, given the importance of our sector to the
    economy it is also overdue to elevate the NTIA administrator to
    an Under Secretary level to better reflect their role as the
    president's principal advisor on communications.
        Strengthening NTIA now is particularly important. We are
    about to have a revolutionary breakthrough in the next
    generation of wireless, known as 5G. These networks will be 10
    times faster and five times more responsive than today's
    networks.
        They will be able to support 100 times more wireless
    devices, from beacons to wearables, and that will unlock
    powerful benefits in communities of all sizes from Clarksville,
    Tennessee to McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
        America's wireless industry is ready to make significant
    new investments to bring these benefits to communities all over
    the country.
        One recent study estimates that wireless operators will
    invest $275 billion over the next decade to deploy 5G. That
    investment is projected to create a new 5G job for every 100
    Americans--three million total jobs.
        In local communities, increased 5G connectivity will mean
    officials can more quickly respond to emergencies. It will make
    our roads safer. Smarter energy solutions will lower our
    monthly bills and mobile health care systems will instantly
    connect patients with doctors. The speed with which these
    benefits reach all Americans will largely depend on decisions
    made here in Congress at NTIA and at the FCC. We need an
    infrastructure policy to support denser networks with new small
    cells, hopefully a future topic for another hearing soon.
        And we need a plan for 5G spectrum with a clear pipeline of
    new commercial spectrum under NTIA's steady hand. The wireless
    industry is ready to invest in what's next.
        We hope this committee will continue its record of helping
    make that happen, help us create jobs and, most relevant for
    today, help empower NTIA to provide for all Americans'
    communications needs.
        Thank you.
        [The statement of Ms. Baker follows:]
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        Mrs. Blackburn. I thank you.
        Ms. Gomez, you're recognized for 5 minutes.

                       STATEMENT OF ANNA M. GOMEZ

        Ms. Gomez. Good morning, Chairman Blackburn and Ranking
    Member Doyle, distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank
    you for the opportunity to appear before you to share my
    thoughts regarding the important work NTIA performs.
        I had the honor to serve as NTIA's deputy administrator
    from 2009 through March 2013 and a short stint as acting
    administrator as well. I am proud to have served our nation
    alongside the many committed professionals at NTIA and the
    Department of Commerce.
        Given technology's large and growing contribution to our
    broader economy, sound policy that supports investment and
    innovation is critical. NTIA has an important and often
    underappreciated portfolio in this regard.
        First and foremost, Congress and through this committee's
    efforts in 1992 enshrined NTIA's authority to serve as the
    president's principal advisor on telecommunications.
        As such, NTIA is responsible for formulating the
    administration's telecommunications and information policy, a
    role that has grown in importance and breadth with the
    evolution of a digital economy.
        NTIA enables the federal agencies to have access to
    spectrum to meet their mission needs and has played an integral
    role in making additional spectrum for wireless broadband uses.
    NTIA also provides valuable research and analysis to inform
    efforts to identify additional spectrum efficiencies and
    potential opportunities to increase spectrum access for all
    users.
        With increasing demand for wireless technologies showing no
    signs of abating, the need for an experienced and knowledgeable
    manager of our federal agency spectrum resources is ongoing.
        NTIA also play an important role in developing internet
    policy. American businesses in the digital space both large and
    small depend on an online ecosystem that has the confidence of
    all users.
        NTIA should continue convening multi-stakeholder processes
    to address policies that affect the internet and it's also very
    important that NTIA be at the table in policy discussions both
    domestically and internationally related to practices that may
    affect the digital economy and that it continue its strong
    voice in the internet domain name system.
        NTIA has also focused on increasing broadband access and
    adoption. The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program helped
    build lasting projects that increase access and adoption of
    broadband throughout the country.
        NTIA also co-chairs the Broadband Opportunity Council, an
    interagency effort to produce recommendations to increase and
    do remove barriers to broadband deployment, competition, and
    adoption.
        And through its Broadband USA program NTIA sponsors a
    series of publications, webinars, and conferences designed to
    help stakeholders overcome broadband access and adoption
    obstacles.
        NTIA also helps ensure that the nation's telecommunications
    resources adequately support the needs of public safety.
        NTIA administers grants to promote Next Generation 911 and
    works with FirstNet, an initiative that is near and dear to my
    heart. I believe strongly in its mission to provide broadband
    services to all first responders.
        NTIA also works with NIST on the public safety
    communications research program whose laboratories provide
    research, development, testing, and evaluation to foster
    nationwide interoperability in communications.
        These highly valuable programs will help provide the
    nation's public safety the technology they need to keep their
    communities and themselves safe.
        In conclusion, NTIA should continue its important role
    coordinating federal policies in areas such as spectrum,
    broadband, internet policy, public safety, and research. In an
    area like technology policy where there are many agencies with
    overlapping jurisdiction, it is critical to have an agency like
    NTIA to shepherd interagency activities and to bring some
    thought and rigor to priorities and interagency coordination so
    there is less duplication of effort.
        One example is with policies regarding the internet of
    things. Myriad agencies have oversight over different
    components of the IoT. IoT implicates spectrum policy,
    cybersecurity, privacy concern, among others.
        In the absence of a central approach to governance, we risk
    having inconsistent and burdensome requirements. NTIA can and
    should play an important role in convening and guiding the
    numerous agencies and ensuring consistent federal policies that
    promote innovation.
        NTIA also should continue its efforts to identify barriers
    to broadband deployment and to push interagency efforts to
    streamline processes or eliminate requirements that show down
    that deployment. In addition, NTIA is well positioned to manage
    any grants or other infrastructure funding that would promote
    broadband access and adoption. Any new program would benefit
    from the NTIA's prior expertise and experiences.
        I want to thank you again for allowing me to share my
    thoughts with you this morning and I look forward to answering
    any questions you may have.
        [The statement of Ms. Gomez follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Mrs. Blackburn. The gentlelady yields back and we thank you
    all for being here.
        We will now move to questions and Mr. Kneuer, I would like
    to begin my 5 minutes of questions with you.
        As I've reviewed the testimony from each of you and we have
    looked at the number of different funds, and you alluded to
    this in your testimony and all of you did actually, how it is
    spread out over different agencies. And I know Commissioner
    O'Reilly at the FCC has also commented on his concerns with the
    way sometimes we don't have one hand knowing what the other
    hand is doing or the agency across the street hasn't
    coordinated.
        And so as you were saying, Ms. Gomez, you end up with this
    duplication of effort. What I'd like to hear from you is how
    best can NTIA work to coordinate those funds and you touched on
    this when you talked about advising the OMB director.
        And then what would you propose for them as they look to
    coordinate those funds and utilize those dollars to the
    maximum?
        Mr. Kneuer. Sure. I think, as you pointed out and Mr.
    O'Reilly pointed out, lack of coordination is a fundamental
    challenge and problem where you've got so many different pools
    of money under different control.
        But I think there is also not just different institutions
    managing these pools of money. They sometimes have slightly
    different views and agendas. So some of these pools of money
    are for loans versus some are for grants, some are focused on
    underserved areas versus unserved areas.
        I think the path is, and particularly as you consider
    reauthorization of NTIA, taking a broader look and
    collaborating with other committees of jurisdiction, working
    with the executive branch, working with OMB to the extent
    possible to bring these under a single area of planning and
    oversight so that the money that we are spending is focused,
    it's accountable.
        It gets to with the highest priority on unserved area,
    places that really have no opportunity to take part in the
    broadband economy whether it is tribal lands or very rural
    areas but a consolidation and coordination of effort and I
    don't know if it'll be possible to make a singular place of
    focus. But the challenge is going to be to tighten it up as
    much as possible.
        Mrs. Blackburn. OK. So singular point of focus--if that's
    the goal then is NTIA the best place to house that?
        Mr. Kneuer. In the executive branch I would certainly think
    that.
        Mrs. Blackburn. You would say so? OK. That's great.
        Mr. Kneuer. You've got still the other options under the
    FCC. But NTIA, having the function of working directly with the
    FCC, is the one place in the executive branch that has the
    expertise. I think the logical locus would be NTIA.
        Mrs. Blackburn. OK.
        Ms. Gomez, I saw you making notes so I know you have
    something you want to add.
        Ms. Gomez. Actually, I was just making notes on what you
    said. But I agree that coordination is very important. One of
    the things that NTIA did with BTOP was it--as part of its stage
    of reviews of grants was to make sure that it got input from
    industry and from the local governments and from others to make
    sure there was not duplication of efforts or that they were not
    targeting already served areas. There is always room for
    improvement but I do think it's a good role for NTIA.
        Mrs. Blackburn. OK.
        Ms. Baker, I want to ask you a little bit about the 5G
    deployment. I see this is siting, utilization of health care
    informatics. I am from Nashville. This is something that people
    are working on every single day.
        This is something we want to go quickly and I am about out
    of time and I really want to get through this. Is there
    anything that NTIA can and should do that would help facilitate
    the 5G deployment? And about 30 seconds on that because I've
    got one more item.
        Ms. Baker. Absolutely. I am glad you asked the question. We
    can talk about health care in the future. But I think the core
    functions that NTIA serves to streamline siting would be very
    helpful, streamline and simplify siting these small sites that
    need to be put up for 5G is critical for the rapid deployment--
    --
        Mrs. Blackburn. OK.
        Ms. Baker [continuing]. And I think we are going to need
    more spectrum so we need to work on a spectrum pipeline for
    commercial wireless.
        Mrs. Blackburn. That is terrific. I appreciate that, and
    what I want each of you to submit, since I am out of time, if
    you were the one with the pen and the pad working out the
    reauthorization of the NTIA and modernizing the agency, what
    would you see as the five critical items and what did you see
    as the biggest stumbling blocks?
        If you'll submit that for the record then I will turn and
    yield 5 minutes to Mr. Doyle.
        Mr. Doyle. Thank you very much.
        Ms. Baker, I believe that spectrum like roads and bridges
    are part of our critical infrastructure and I am starting to
    work on some legislation to free up at least an additional 20
    megahertz of federal spectrum below 3 gigahertz available for
    commercial use. Would that be something your association and
    industry would support?
        Ms. Baker. Absolutely. I think the low-band spectrum is
    really critical. I think the FCC has done a good job this
    summer in bringing forth some high-band spectrum. But if you
    look at a place like Montana that hasn't been sited there is
    been a recent low-band spectrum that's been released there that
    has caused the deployment of siting in Montana.
        So I think that's--it is very important for the future that
    we have low, middle and high-band spectrum.
        Mr. Doyle. Great.
        Ms. Baker. So we absolutely support that.
        Mr. Doyle. Well, Madam Chair, maybe that's something we can
    make part of this reauthorization or perhaps as a standalone or
    one of the proposed infrastructure packages. I'd certainly be
    interested in working with you on that if you're interested.
    Thank you.
        Ms. Baker and Ms. Gomez, you both worked on spectrum
    issues. How important do you think it is that NTIA lab in
    Colorado is fully funded and tell us a little bit about what
    types of research the lab does and what role they play in
    freeing up federal spectrum and do you see that as critical to
    the future of federal spectrum policy?
        Ms. Baker. I'll be happy to go first.
        As I mentioned in my testimony, I think ITS is a critical
    part of future questions in spectrum. I personally think that
    spectrum is a scarce resource. It's becoming more and more
    difficult as we move forward.
        Some place like ITS can help us figure out how we can share
    where spectrum is critical and where it can be geographically
    shared or some other sort of sharing. It was very helpful in
    AWS-1 as well as AWS-3 to figure out how to move critical
    government agencies' missions to different spectrum.
        Mr. Doyle. Ms. Gomez.
        Ms. Gomez. I agree. ITS, which is the Institute for
    Telecommunication Sciences, served as a valuable resource to
    NTIA's Office of Spectrum Management in identifying spectrum
    and how it's being used.
        They perform spectrum surveys that assist with this kind of
    planning that we are talking about. Their deployable team and
    measurement system go to sites.
        They identify sources of interference. They, as Meredith
    mentioned in her opening statement, performed spectrum
    occupancy measurements in support of the AWS auction
    preparations, which helped industry better understand the
    nature of the federal operations.
        They perform system to system measurements. Basically, they
    are an objective and neutral arbiter of these issues--
    technology issues, technical issues--as we move forward with
    trying to identify more spectrum and trying to get more
    efficient usage of the spectrum we have today.
        Mr. Doyle. Thank you. Let me ask you also, Ms. Gomez, as we
    look at the challenges of repacking stations as part of the
    incentive auction, do you believe that public
    telecommunications and facilities program if funded could play
    a role in assisting public stations and making the investments
    necessary to continue operating?
        Ms. Gomez. Yes. As you know, that program was defunded some
    years ago and but it would have, if it were still funded, been
    able to provide valuable support to these public television
    stations.
        Mr. Doyle. And let me ask you all, too, during your time at
    NTIA what benefit did you see to having an agency act as an
    interagency coordinator on telecommunications and what can
    Congress do to strengthen that role to ensure that NTIA has a
    seat at the table when government agencies are discussing
    technology and telecommunications issues?
        If you could each just take maybe 10 seconds because I have
    one more question.
        Ms. Gomez. So NTIA is in this unenviable role of trying to
    herd other federal agencies, not just with spectrum but with
    other policies, and pull them away from their own missions to
    try to provide resources for the administration's
    telecommunications policy and spectrum policies.
        So anything Congress can do to help bolster NTIA's position
    vis-a-vis those other agencies would be very helpful.
        Ms. Baker. I think NTIA's coordinating and convening role
    is critical. I think three things really will help NTIA. I
    think an elevation of title to Under Secretary helps. I think
    transparency as to what they are working on will help and I
    think that being able to play the traffic cop for NTIA is also
    a very critical function that they perform.
        Mr. Doyle. And let me just close by saying that, Ms. Baker,
    I received a letter from not only your association but several
    associations and I know this isn't relative to NTIA
    reauthorization but asking us to use the Congressional Review
    Act to repeal FCC's privacy order.
        I just want to say for the record that I was disappointed
    to get that letter from these associations and that you would
    urge Congress to use such a blunt and untested tool to remove
    privacy protections for hundreds of millions of Americans. I
    think there is a better way to work on that issue and I look
    forward to doing that with you.
        Thank you, Madam Chair.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. Lance, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Lance. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
        To the entire panel, the Spectrum Pipeline Act updated
    existing law to ensure federal agencies have the necessary
    resources to undertake research and development activities that
    would result in freeing up more spectrum for commercial mobile
    broadband.
        The act provides very specific instructions on when and how
    the federal agencies may gain access to the $500 million
    provided under the act.
        To the distinguished members of the panel, how do you think
    NTIA could further safeguard the expenditure of this R&D fund
    so that it funds activities that would truly improve the
    efficiency and effectiveness of federal spectrum use?
        Mr. Kneuer. There was originally money for similar purposes
    in the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act as part of the
    relocation funds for agencies.
        So agencies would get some of the auction revenue for
    relocation purposes and I think one of the challenges with that
    process is that agencies had expenditures they wanted to make
    that they believed would give them the ability to be more
    efficient going forward but it wasn't tied directly to their
    immediate relocation efforts.
        They were looking for spending money on tools that they
    could apply in multiple scenarios with multiple different
    projects.
        I think the money in the Pipeline Act sort of fills that
    purpose. I think for it to be most useful, again, it's
    coordination, having some ability to test, OK, how is that
    money being spent and, again, I think the ability for NTIA to
    be effective in an arbiter of that is leveraging their
    relationship with OMB, that you can export the expert judgment
    of NTIA into the agency with the authority that can green light
    those projects, which would be OMB.
        Mr. Lance. Very good.
        Ms. Baker.
        Ms. Baker. So I think John is right. I think one of the
    lessons that he's learned is that the spectrum relocation fund
    shouldn't just fund the move.
        It should fund the planning that goes into what a future
    move should be and how that should be coordinated. So I think
    that's one of the lessons that we have learned that I think has
    been very good. I think that also the qualitative analysis that
    NTIA has done has been very good. But I think it's this
    committee that usually instructs.
        If you pick two targets that NTIA can fulfill then and
    focus on, I think that oversight of this committee has really
    been critical to future spectrum allocations.
        Mr. Lance. Thank you.
        Ms. Gomez.
        Ms. Gomez. I would say that the Spectrum Relocation Fund
    and the changes that were made in the Pipeline Act actually
    have helped motivate the agencies to think ahead and to plan.
    So it's an important process and I do think it was very
    important to provide the funding for that planning.
        The technical panel that reviews these investments, so to
    speak, is already providing a lot of rigor to the process in
    determining the funding is being utilized for the reasons that
    it should be and I would not want to add more process to that,
    given that you have the voice of NTIA, OMB and the FCC as part
    of that process.
        Mr. Lance. Thank you.
        Ms. Gomez, you noted that the NTIA plays a critical role in
    public safety communications including a role in the future of
    the FirstNet public safety broadband network.
        NTIA's role in public safety communications and in the
    FirstNet is relatively new. The last time NTIA was authorized
    there wasn't a FirstNet.
        Given that fact, on what should we focus as we reauthorize
    NTIA regarding this critical component, moving forward?
        Ms. Gomez. NTIA works with FirstNet. FirstNet is an
    independent agency but it's housed within NTIA, and then NTIA
    has some responsibilities that go hand in hand with FirstNet's
    responsibilities.
        It is the one that approves or provides grants to the
    states. If states decide not to participate in the FirstNet
    deployment then NTIA is the one that will run that process and
    they will also be the ones that approve spectrum leases for any
    states that choose not to participate in the FirstNet
    deployment within the states.
        So I think that NTIA will continue to have responsibilities
    to its overseers to respond to its particular role within the
    larger endeavor. It needs to support FirstNet to the greatest
    extent possible. It's a large undertaking. It's unprecedented.
    So this committee's oversight and support would be very
    important to it.
        Mr. Lance. Thank you very much.
        Madam Chair, I yield back two seconds.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Way to go. We are running on time today.
        Mr. Loebsack, 5 minutes.
        Mr. Loebsack. Thank you, Madam Chair.
        I do want to thank the subcommittee for holding this
    hearing today and thank the witnesses for your expert testimony
    regarding the important role NTIA has to play in our nation's
    technology policy.
        And again, I note that I can't believe it's been since
    1992, although knowing how Congress works I guess it's not
    surprising. But so many things have changed since that time.
    And so I really appreciate the chair's request that you provide
    in writing those five items regarding modernization.
        I think that makes complete sense, and then we can all have
    access to that so we know what we are talking about because so
    many things have changed, as Mr. Lance just said, with respect
    to FirstNet.
        We didn't really have any of that. We didn't have a lot of
    things in 1992. But I also want to make sure that I emphasize
    that when we do the reauthorization, assuming that we get there
    and that may be a big assumption, but when we get there make
    sure that we provide the funding for that reauthorization too
    because just going briefly over what NTIA does there is so much
    that it does and so the funding is going to be absolutely
    necessary.
        I am from southeast Iowa. I continue to harp on rural
    broadband. I'll do that until my dying days, no doubt, even
    when I am not in Congress and, of course, yesterday we had a
    great rollout of our bicameral bipartisan Rural Broadband
    Caucus.
        We all know that upwards of 49 percent of rural America
    really isn't adequately provided for when it comes to
    sufficient broadband.
        And we really know that, obviously, around the country, the
    beginning of the 21st century we have to have that kind of
    coverage out there in rural America. Rural America simply will
    not survive, let alone thrive if we don't have broadband.
        Everybody on this committee knows that. I appreciate even
    the folks who are from the urban areas here who do support this
    expansion of rural broadband.
        There has been a lot of talk on the infrastructure front,
    as we know, with the new president. I think we have bipartisan
    support for significant infrastructure improvements around the
    country and we are talking perhaps as much as $20 billion for
    broadband development.
        And I guess I'd like to ask all three of you, if you could,
    to weigh in. What are the lessons learned from NTIA's role in
    supporting broadband infrastructure development in the past?
        How can these programs be updated to bring more broadband
    to underserved communities, assuming that we--and, again, it
    may be a big assumption but assuming in the coming months
    perhaps we get a pretty significant infrastructure investment
    in broadband.
        Can you speak to that, all of you, please?
        Mr. Kneuer. Sure. I think one of the stats that Meredith
    referenced, close to $300 billion in new cap ex from industry
    over a decade.
        These industries are spending an enormous amount of money
    and they have incentives to spend a great deal of money. But
    that incentive is tied to places where they've got enough
    population density for their returns----
        Mr. Loebsack. Exactly.
        Mr. Kneuer [continuing]. On capital. So the challenge is to
    closely monitor and evaluate where those market failures exist.
        Mr. Loebsack. Right.
        Mr. Kneuer. All of these companies are in competition with
    one another. The value of the network increases to the extent
    it can reach other places. It's more valuable to us in
    Washington, D.C. if we know that we can reach people in every
    part of rural America.
        So there is certainly a will and a desire to spend private
    money. There is a manifest will and desire to lever the private
    money with government expenditures in those places that we can
    identify and I think it's going to be a combination of
    leveraging those two pools of capital in a focused way so that
    the money gets to people where it's needed and new incentives
    for the private sector to counter those market failures that
    may not be direct expenditures of grants but it could be tax
    benefits and other things. But it's measuring, focusing, and
    being deliberate about it.
        Mr. Loebsack. Thank you.
        Ms. Baker.
        Ms. Baker. So I think, as you know, I was privileged to be
    at the Rural Caucus roll-out----
        Mr. Loebsack. Thank you for being there.
        Ms. Baker [continuing]. And I support both the House and
    Senate bipartisan Rural Caucus. It's a wonderful endeavor to
    see and very important.
        As you said, 1992 is the last reauthorization. 1997 was
    when Steve Jobs first introduced the smart phone, and so that
    was 10 years ago.
        The computing power of the smart phone led to our 3G
    networks and in the 10 years that's now led to our 4G networks
    and what we have now is these data driven very fast and what I
    am talking about for 5G, which is coming probably in the next,
    we have trials all over America, 10 times faster network is
    going to be gigabit fast.
        So it will actually be a substitute for your wired
    broadband. So I think we need to be careful when we define
    broadband to make sure that we encompassed the fast growth of
    these networks and how quickly they are turning over and
    improving.
        I do want to say that the most important thing that NTIA
    can do and that we can do as in oversight and as an industry is
    to streamline the siting to make sure that these networks can
    roll out fast.
        Mr. Loebsack. Thank you.
        Ms. Baker. And they will also need more spectrum.
        Mr. Loebsack. Thank you.
        Ms. Gomez. If that's OK, Madam Chair.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Oh, yes.
        Ms. Gomez. OK. Some of the lessons that we learned, the
    importance of a broad perspective in the community--we want to
    make sure that we have both the deployment and the adoption and
    so those economics are very important.
        Secondly, the importance of sustainability--we don't want
    to have stranded investments. You want to make sure that it
    actually continues and one of the big successes of the BTOP
    program is that 98 percent of its projects continue to operate
    today.
        And then, finally, making sure that whoever gets funding,
    whether through the Universal Service program or through other
    grants, has the institutional knowledge and structure that it's
    going to be able to succeed.
        That's also part of sustainability. So these are all
    important lessons learned.
        Mr. Loebsack. Thank you for indulging, Madam Chair.
        Mrs. Blackburn. And the gentleman yields back, and Mr.
    Shimkus.
        Mr. Shimkus. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you also for
    holding this hearing in our conference and I think really on
    both sides part of our responsibility is just oversight and
    then the focus on addressing reauthorization of agencies is
    key. So your expertise is welcome and we look forward to moving
    forward. So it's the focus.
        So you all have been here before. We have worked with you
    closely for many, many years. So it's--for those of us who've
    been up here it's comfortable and we have got great trust and
    faith in your expertise in your sector.
        So let me start by going to Meredith. The committee
    received the management plan developed by NHTSA and NTIA for
    administering $115 million in grants to update public safety.
    You all know that I've been involved with Anna on the public
    safety 911 stuff.
        It appears that most of the actions are generic agency
    actions that each agency could perform separately or jointly.
    What specific expertise or contribution does NTIA bring to the
    table apart from what NHTSA brings to the table? Does the
    burden of coordinating with a separate agency outweigh the
    benefits of the added perspective of the second agency?
        Ms. Baker. Good question.
        Mr. Shimkus. Yes.
        Ms. Baker. Yes. I would say I think one of the most
    important things NTIA does is its convening role and I think
    some of the joint roles, whether it's been public safety
    interoperability with Department of Homeland Security or NHTSA,
    the future of these networks is health care.
        The future of these networks is Connected Cars. The future
    of these networks are financial institutions. So I think
    communications will cover every part of our lives and so this
    convening role only gets more important for NTIA.
        Mr. Shimkus. So I think that it's better to talk and maybe
    lose a little efficiency there but in the long run that's a
    better process?
        Ms. Baker. I think it's important for--we have a Connected
    Car Coalition that we work with the auto industry. I think it's
    important because our jurisdictions have traditionally been so
    different but yet our lives are now intertwined. I think it's
    important for us to understand both the history and the future
    of the industries.
        Mr. Shimkus. Thank you.
        Anna, could you discuss your experience and role of NTIA in
    the International Telecommunications Union?
        When I was doing other things involved in the sector I was
    not that excited about that. But there are some benefits that I
    am going to try to raise.
        As you know, this is an organization where international
    spectrum allocation decisions are made which to me makes it
    seem fairly important that the U.S. participate in a robust way
    to maintain a voice in those decisions.
        In your view, does the United States benefit from its
    membership in ITU and is it important that we have a forum like
    ITU?
        Is it able to accommodate our commercial, defense, and
    other interests and does NTIA have the appropriate authority
    and tools to participate in this new regime?
        In international discussions I think this might be more
    important. Do you want to comment on those?
        Ms. Gomez. Yes, absolutely.
        NTIA is very involved at the ITU both on the spectrum side
    for allocations. NTIA works closely with the FCC, with the
    Department of State to represent the federal agencies'
    interests and the administration's interests.
        It also participates in other areas, including internet
    governance. So yes, NTIA's role is very important and it should
    continue.
        The ITU is important to both the health of our spectrum
    management system as well as for companies, for example, that
    build to standards and to be able to have interoperability--
    global interoperability so that they can continue to
    participate in the global economy and not have that hindered by
    lack of participation.
        The U.S. voice at the ITU is very strong and it needs to
    continue to be strong to reflect the status of our economy
    versus, I guess, everyone else.
        Mr. Shimkus. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
        I am finished and I yield back.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back 53 seconds on the
    clock. We are doing well. Mr. Ruiz, you're recognized 5
    minutes.
        Mr. Ruiz. Thank you very much.
        In 2009, the NTIA was tasked with administering $4 billion
    in grants to increase broadband access and adoption in
    underserved and unserved areas of the country.
        I understand the NTIA invested $3.3 billion into
    infrastructure projects, which 98 percent of those funded
    projects still operating and serving communities across the
    country.
        I represent a remarkably diverse district with 11 tribal
    nations, underserved, desert farm worker communities like
    Thermal and Mecca, small desert communities like Chiriaco
    Summit and rural mountain communities like Anza. So no one
    solution will address the broadband needs of the people and the
    geography that I serve.
        So, Ms. Gomez, in your testimony, you referenced the
    Broadband USA initiative and how NTIA is using this program to
    continue helping communities and tribes across the country
    increase their access and adoption of broadband. Can you
    elaborate on how Broadband USA might be able to help the
    diverse set of communities I represent and in particular how
    tribal governments might be able to benefit from the Broadband
    USA initiative?
        Ms. Gomez. What NTIA did was as it starts winding down its
    BTOP program it has the staff that has this great expertise and
    knowledge now in both how to deploy infrastructure in unserved
    and underserved areas including tribal areas, as you mentioned,
    and also how to ensure adoption because, you know, if we build
    them and they don't come that's not a good thing.
        So we have this great staff now that has this technical
    expertise so their goal is to provide as much technical
    assistance as possible.
        Mr. Ruiz. How does a tribe or a school district get this
    support? What do they have to do?
        Ms. Gomez. Well, first of all, NTIA puts together webinars.
    They put together seminars. They can reach out to the NTIA or
    NTIA can do the opposite in order to make sure that they go to
    locations where these tribes are.
        They've put together a toolkit specifically for tribal
    broadband deployment and NTIA also, through the Broadband
    Opportunity Council, is working with the Department of Interior
    to also have programs to reach out to the tribes on these
    issues.
        Mr. Ruiz. Thank you.
        So on another topic, as an emergency medicine physician
    your testimony on the First Responder Network Authority, or
    FirstNet, was equally near and dear to my heart and in trauma
    situations communications between first responders and
    physicians in the emergency department can be critical to the
    survival and well-being of a patient.
        So what have you done and what is NTIA doing to ensure
    FirstNet's network deployment is patient centered and focuses
    on improving outcomes and saving lives?
        Ms. Gomez. FirstNet's mission is to deploy this network but
    there is no requirement that any public safety entity actually
    participate in it.
        So FirstNet has very wisely paid a lot of attention to the
    needs of every segment of the first response community and they
    need to continue to do so.
        They are engaging currently and will continue to engage in
    consultation with each state and territory to make sure that
    those needs are met because the only way they succeed is if in
    fact public safety sees the value of the network.
        Mr. Ruiz. And so what can Congress do to help EMS systems
    engage with FirstNet and help foster that kind of relationship
    and promote those services?
        Ms. Gomez. I think communication is very important. What we
    find is that the state at the high level is very engaged in
    FirstNet but it's not necessarily at the very local level.
        So the more we can reach into those localities and make
    sure that they understand that this is a resource and that they
    need to have a voice with the state point of contact that works
    with FirstNet on these issues the better.
        Mr. Ruiz. Well, it kind of sounds like a visit to my
    district would be warranted and we can get all the stakeholders
    together and start talking about how we can help build that
    relationship.
        Ms. Gomez. Yes. I am sure FirstNet is watching.
        Mr. Ruiz. Good. I yield back my time.
        Mrs. Blackburn. At 41 seconds. We are rolling. OK.
        Mr. Latta.
        Mr. Latta. I hope I don't get in trouble now.
        Madam Chair, thanks very much for having this hearing this
    morning and to our witnesses, thanks very much for being here.
    I've been very involved with the internet of things working
    group and also with rural broadband, and with the rollout
    yesterday, as was mentioned a little bit earlier from our
    friend and colleague from Iowa, that, you know, there is great
    interest out there because of what you have to have today.
        Ms. Baker, if I could ask you the first question. It's
    clear that wireless is the future and with limited spectrum
    availability NTIA has a vital role encouraging efficient use by
    federal users.
        What can NTIA do to ensure that there is sufficient
    spectrum available for both commercial and federal purposes to
    meet the needs of our increasing connected world?
        Ms. Baker. So I think NTIA plays a critical part,
    obviously, in managing the federal spectrum. I think they've
    just done a qualitative analysis, which I think is very helpful
    for us to take a look at what spectrum bands we need to focus
    on for reallocation next.
        We now have devised a system where it's a win-win. So the
    the spectrum comes to the commercial providers but yet the
    federal agencies get updated systems.
        It's a terrific tool for federal agencies to update their
    system to also become more spectrally efficient. I think with
    the help of this committee we can identify the next bands so
    that we can have more commercial spectrum and it can move this
    process.
        The FCC did a broadband plan but that was a while ago. So I
    think it's time to take a look and see what we need to do for
    the future and to build the spectrum pipeline.
        Mr. Latta. Thank you.
        Ms. Gomez, you spoke about overlapping jurisdiction in the
    federal agencies, specifically how it relates to the internet
    of things.
        As I am sure you are aware, NTIA has already taken an
    active role in the security of IoT by holding multi-
    stakeholders process meetings and recently releasing a green
    paper discussing the possibility of a national IoT strategy.
        Do you believe that NTIA could be doing more to address
    securing IoT as well as other policies that touch these
    connected devices such as spectrum policy and privacy concerns?
        Ms. Gomez. I think it's a very important role for NTIA to
    address these issues. The multi-stakeholder process in which it
    has been engaging is a very good process for addressing these
    issues that change so quickly in our technical system.
        So yes, I do think NTIA could be doing more. I will say
    they are very under resourced in this. So what they are doing
    right now is what they can do at their current capacity.
        If they could get some more capacity, absolutely. There are
    lots of areas that they identified in the IoT green paper that
    you mentioned in which additional multi-stakeholder processes
    would be able to develop policies to address these challenging
    issues that are probably better done via this consensus process
    than via regulations that become enshrined for long periods of
    time.
         Mr. Latta. Let me follow up.
        In addition, would it be harmful to the development of the
    IoT to have multiple agencies asserting jurisdiction and with
    that should it be more coordination?
        Ms. Gomez. Multiple agencies have jurisdiction because of
    the nature of the IoT. The IoT now touches the Department of
    Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Food
    and Drug Administration, the Health and Human Services, because
    it touches so much of our society today.
        But, yes, you are correct--we need more coordination to
    make sure that we are not having one segment be the tail that
    wags the dog of the entire IoT.
        Mr. Latta. Thank you.
        Ms. Baker, if I could ask, with my remaining time here,
    much of federal infrastructure is governed by agencies other
    than NTIA. How do you think NTIA could better work with
    agencies to accelerate and expand access to necessary inputs
    like leases of federal buildings or federal right of ways?
        Ms. Baker. So a great amount of land, as we know, is owned
    by the federal government and that is something that NTIA can
    absolutely help in citing federal government lands and
    expedite.
        At this point, it takes an average of 18 months to site a
    tower. In the speed of which we need to roll out 5G, there is a
    global race. America has won the race in 4G. We are the world's
    leader in wireless.
        For 5G, Japan, Korea--they are right on our tails and I
    think for us to win the 5G race, which is important for every
    aspect of our life and economy, we need to make sure that we
    can roll it out fast.
        NTIA can help in streamlining federal lands, siting on
    federal lands. They can also help in best practices and figure
    out--Ohio just passed a bill. I think at every level of
    government we need to pitch in to see if we can roll these
    networks out as fast as we can.
        Mr. Latta. Well, thank you very much and, Madam Chair, with
    4 seconds left I yield back.
        Mrs. Blackburn. He made it in under the wire. All right.
        Ms. Dingell, 5 minutes.
        Ms. Dingell. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
        First, I want to thank all of the witnesses for your public
    service. People don't thank people enough for putting
    themselves out there.
        NTIA has a critical mission that's going to be even more
    important in the coming years as technological advances promise
    to change the way we live our lives.
        Nowhere is that more evident than in my home state of
    Michigan where the development of connected and automated
    vehicles promises to transform the auto industry into the
    mobility industry.
        And while we all agree that we should be doing more to use
    spectrum more efficiently, we also have an obligation to ensure
    we allow connected and automated vehicles to be developed in a
    responsible manner. Over 35,000 people die on our roadways each
    year and this technology has the potential to save lives, plain
    and simple.
        NTIA has played a critical role here through its support
    for vehicle to vehicle and vehicle to infrastructure technology
    known as dedicated short-range communications, or DSRC. There
    are more initials in this.
        I'd like to thank NTIA for collaborating with the FCC and
    the DRT with really important work on establishing and
    executing the test plan to find the best possible sharing
    solution for the 5.9 GHz band of spectrum.
        I hope this continues to move forward and we keep finding
    common ground. As you know, the auto industry is near and dear
    to my heart, in case anybody missed that, and NHTSA has stated
    that DSRC has the potential to eliminate or mitigate the
    severity of up to 80 percent of nonimpaired crashes. But there
    are other ways NTIA could help enable the deployment of these
    technologies.
        As you all know, the president and many members of Congress
    have said it's a priority to pass an infrastructure bill maybe
    has high as a trillion dollars. And I would agree this is a
    good idea if we do it right.
        One thing that must be included is dedication to developing
    the vehicle to infrastructure technologies. We should be giving
    moneys to the states to help them build these systems up and
    giving them technical expertise as well.
        So my question is for all three of you. Given NTIA's
    successful history administering the Broadband Technology
    Opportunity Program, do you believe the agency would have the
    technical expertise and experience to effectively manage a
    grant program to help states and localities adopt the V2Y
    technologies and should this be something that Congress
    considers either in a comprehensive transportation bill or
    legislation reauthorizing NTIA?
        Mr. Kneuer. I think absolutely NTIA has that ability and
    there have been, you know, examples in the past. We worked very
    closely with the Transportation Department to authorize
    something as simple as EZ Pass, a single frequency allocation
    that would cover the entire world or the entire country and the
    entire highway system that resulted in probably trillions of
    hours of saved time with productivity gains across the economy
    by something seeming so small.
        You magnify that with the ability to essentially make it
    highly unlikely to die in a car crash on the nation's highways.
        It's not just the technical coordination but there is also
    a leadership function of being able to articulate the benefits
    of this, that there are huge benefits to the economy and to the
    nation by doing these things.
        So I think NTIA is sort of well situated in its dual role
    both in the spectrum side and as a communicator of a unified
    national policy.
        Ms. Baker. I think you're going to find agreement here that
    NTIA has effectively handled every single grant program that
    this committee has given it and you have given NTIA a lot of
    grant programs.
        The staff is amazing. They have developed expertises in
    places that I think they didn't think their core mission was to
    begin with. They have very effectively done a terrific job.
        It's a fair question for this committee to ask whether they
    want NTIA to continue in grant programs and I think that that's
    a conversation that is worth having.
        Ms. Gomez. I agree it's a very nimble staff that
    understands the importance of having a strong oversight
    mechanism and of working closely with other agencies like the
    Department of Transportation as well as with state and
    localities and tribes and making sure that the grant dollars
    are stretched to the furthest possible.
        Ms. Dingell. Thank you. I don't have enough time so I'll
    yield back my 20 seconds, Madam Chairwoman.
        Mrs. Blackburn. We are on a roll.
        Mr. Guthrie, see if you can continue it, for five minutes.
        Mr. Guthrie. Thank you. I'll definitely stay within the 5
    minutes. I appreciate that.
        Mr. Kneuer, thanks to everybody for testifying here today
    but I want to start with a question regarding top level
    domains.
        In 2013, the Obama administration sided with foreign
    governments and abstained from a vote at ICANN that led to the
    rejection of Amazon's application for the dot Amazon top-level
    domain, acting directly against the interests of a major
    American company which happens to have facilities in my
    district.
        Just made a major announcement that they are going to be
    locating a new part of their business at Cincinnati Airport,
    which happens to be in Kentucky across the river from Ohio, and
    a lot of people are constituents of theirs as well.
        Do you believe it would be appropriate for the Trump
    administration to take specific steps at ICANN to assist Amazon
    in its ongoing effort to resolve this matter and right the
    wrong?
        Mr. Kneuer. Absolutely. with the conclusion of the
    transition of the IANA contracts, without speaking to the
    substantive decisions of the Obama administration, the United
    States government can take counterintuitively, perhaps, a more
    proactive role in favor of domestic companies.
        I think there was at some point, when the U.S. government
    had its oversight or its exclusive contractual relationship
    with ICANN there was some hesitancy to be perceived as abusing
    that authority or overplaying that role.
        With the IANA functions being fully enshrined in the
    private sector, there are all sorts of examples where it is
    appropriate and wholesome for the U.S. government to
    collaborate with U.S. companies in front of myriad private and
    governmental bodies.
        So I think that's exactly the kind of role that you would
    expect to see the Commerce Department and NTIA in particular
    playing in this new environment with the full privatization of
    IANA.
        Mr. Guthrie. How strong do you believe the U.S. position
    would be in matters like this when advocating before the
    Governmental Advisory Committee?
        Mr. Kneuer. I think the comparative advantage the U.S.
    government has in the Government Advisory Committee is our
    expertise in the subject. All right. We stood up ICANN. We
    probably have the most dedicated and competent staff to work
    with the Government Advisory Committee.
        So while we are a nation of equals, our historic role and
    our expertise, I think, gives us a comparative advantage.
        Mr. Guthrie. OK. Thank you.
        And Ms. Baker, one of the things in your testimony focuses
    on ways to empower NTIA, especially as the agency has become
    more important in the spectrum debates.
        I'll leave it open ended if you'd like to expand on some of
    the points you made and describe what more can be done to
    empower NTIA on spectrum issues.
        But one idea that has been raised with me would have NTIA
    regularly collecting more information about how agencies are
    actually using their spectrum rather than conducting band-
    specific studies.
        So in addition to other ideas you may suggest, is it worth
    looking at giving NTIA a stronger coordinating role not just in
    initial frequency assignments but also in monitoring how
    federal spectrum is being used?
        Ms. Baker. Thank you for your question, and I think that
    that is a good idea. I think in my testimony I call it
    transparency and I think that it would help both to have
    federal government agencies be more transparent about what
    their use is of the spectrum as well as what NTIA might be
    looking forward to in relocation in the future and I think that
    would probably help this committee in its oversight abilities
    as well.
        I also would compliment you on your federal incentives bill
    because I think that also is a very good step.
        Mr. Guthrie. Well, thank you. Do you think the NTIA has
    sufficient stature to tell federal users that they need to be
    more efficient with allocations? Is there a problem with
    regulatory by larger and possibly more influential federal
    departments such as DoD, Homeland Security, FAA?
        Ms. Baker. I think NTIA punches above its weight in
    everything they do and I think that they do a terrific job in
    coordinating federal agencies.
        I do think raising NTIA's profile with the title of
    undersecretary would help. It would make them equal to their
    sister agency, NIST, and I think it reports directly to the
    commerce secretary. So I think that that is a natural. In this
    town, titles seem to matter and that seems like that might be a
    good addition to their----
        Mr. Guthrie. OK. Would the other two of you like--any ways
    to empower NTIA?
        Mr. Kneuer. There is the coordination with OMB is critical.
    So NTIA can use its expertise to gather information from other
    departments and agents. But Under Secretary or not, Under
    Secretary of commerce calls the Under Secretary of Defense,
    it's going to be a different story. The director of OMB calls
    and says, look, you've got a new requirement--if you want
    capital to spend on these things it's a different kind of
    conversation.
        Mr. Guthrie. I only have about 6 seconds. I am not going to
    run over because it appears that's the flow. So a couple of
    seconds? Oh, well, I'll catch you up later. Sorry, I am out of
    time. I yield back one second.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Yield back, and we can submit for the
    record. How is that? Because we do have a couple of things that
    are coming in.
        Ms. Clarke, you're recognized for 5 minutes.
        Ms. Clarke. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I thank the ranking
    member. I thank our witnesses today.
        Spectrum sharing in urban environments may pose particular
    challenges since population density and user demand for
    wireless services is very high.
        In the previous administration, NTIA and the FCC started
    work towards a model city program that would establish a pilot
    program in a major city or cities to serve as a test bed to
    evaluate and demonstrate spectrum-sharing technology for urban
    environments.
        Additionally, FCC Chairman Pai recently announced the
    formation of the broadband deployment an advisory committee
    that would provide advice and recommendations to the FCC on how
    municipalities can deploy high-speed broadband nationwide to
    close the digital divide.
        So my question is do you support the model city initiative
    and what are your thoughts on NTIA--what would you be doing to
    promote spectrum sharing in cities? And it's for the panel.
        Mr. Kneuer. I think there is a great benefit of those sort
    of model roll-outs. We conducted or we developed a spectrum
    initiative for the 21st century when Meredith and I were
    working together.
        And one of its proposals was a test bed where you could
    take potentially a block of federal spectrum that's under
    consideration for reallocation and a block of perhaps
    underutilized commercial spectrum and figure out what are the
    best ways to share and how they can be best deployed.
        The challenge in urban environments is the propagation
    characteristics and it's much more difficult to find low-band
    spectrum that you can do those sorts of things that would be of
    most benefit to an urban environment. But some of those
    propagation characteristics have made some spectrum lie fallow.
        And so I definitely think there are opportunities to
    combine those two to explore in the real world and develop the
    data that comes from that. So I think it's a fine idea.
        Ms. Baker. So a couple different things. Sharing, I think,
    is important. I think it's the future. But it has to work for
    all. It has to work for everyone.
        I think these questions are less policy questions than they
    actually are technical questions and I think that goes back to
    my plea for the importance of ITS and the labs in Boulder.
        The FCC is rolling out one test program now in 3.5. It's
    still to be seen if that's going to work or not. We are all in.
    We are trying it.
        We are going to see if it does work. I think in the future,
    whether it's licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, shared
    spectrum, we are going to need it all and I think model cities
    are terrific. A lot of our companies have focused on model
    cities and I think when a city sees that they are saving $160
    billion in energy costs by being a smart city then it does
    catch your eye and everybody wants to be one.
        So I think there is a cost to the build out but the savings
    is so exponentially great for smart city that I think the more
    we can illustrate the more rapidly they will deploy.
        Ms. Gomez. I can't say much more than that. I agree, smart
    cities are so important for our future in 5G as well. So
    anything we can do to support that is a good thing.
        Ms. Clarke. Very well.
        The next question is for you, Ms. Gomez. First, I want to
    say that NTIA is a very important government agency vital to
    growing our innovative digital economy.
        With the recent cyberattacks that have occurred over the
    past couple of months, a particular spotlight has been placed
    on creating secure cybersecurity policies.
        In 2015, NTIA began its cybersecurity multi-stakeholder
    process. What are your thoughts on this approach and how will
    it enhance NTIA's policy recommendations?
        Ms. Gomez. I'm a big believer in the multi-stakeholder
    processes. I think that they can be much more nimble and
    flexible than actual regulations and they pull in all of the
    stakeholders, not just whatever stakeholder a particular
    individual agency has jurisdiction over.
        So it's important to have these discussions, to have as
    many stakeholders as possible including government, civil
    society, public interest groups, industry, everybody together
    to come to consensus to try to address these issues as they
    change on almost a daily basis. So I would be a big supporter
    of what they are doing.
        Ms. Clarke. Very well, and I won't break the trend. I go
    back, Madam Chair.
        Mrs. Blackburn. We are on a roll.
        Mr. Olson.
        Mr. Olson. I thank the chair for the time. On behalf of all
    Texans, especially one of our witnesses from Houston, Texas,
    thank you for the opening comments, the strong statements about
    the best Super Bowl ever. Super Bowl LI, Falcons versus the
    Patriots, NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas, kickoff 5:30 p.m.
    Sunday, February 5th.
        Well, to our witnesses a special howdy to our Texan, Ms.
    Baker. Ms. Baker, in our home state bigger is better. Your
    testimony spent a great time talking about the deployment of 5G
    over moving up from 4G.
        In Texas, bigger is better. 5G is bigger. And Texans are
    excited about the flood of new services they will have with 5G
    deployment.
        You mentioned medicine, transportation. My question is,
    where do we stand right now with deployment of 5G in the
    spectrum. When do you think that will be truly available?
        Ms. Baker. Great question, and we are excited for the Super
    Bowl in our house, too.
        I think when you look at the Super Bowl, for instance, you
    look at the capacity of how many people are going to want to
    send videos and tweet and take pictures and send them.
        You see the importance of the capacity. It's grown
    exponentially and we are expected to see it grow six times by
    2020.
        So the data is just increasing so our network's capacity
    has to increase. I was in Dallas not too long ago and we have
    some trials going on there. I think there are about 117 trials
    of 5G across the country at this point.
        When I first started this job two and a half years ago we
    were not necessarily thinking that we needed 5G. The industry
    has changed that quickly to now we are seeing the rollout of
    field trials this year and I expect that we will see commercial
    roll-out of 5G by 2020.
        Mr. Olson. Great. Thank you.
        You talked about America leading development of 4G. We led
    the world in 4G. It appears we are losing some advantages with
    5G.
        In today's global economy, as you know, speed kills. You
    mentioned we are behind South Korea and Japan. I traveled there
    with Chairman Upton and Chairman Walden, Mr. Shimkus, Mr.
    Griffith, we saw it firsthand. We are falling behind those two
    countries. Who else is ahead of us globally?
        Ms. Baker. I'm hopeful we're not too far behind at this
    point and we are catching up.
        Mr. Olson. OK. Great.
        Ms. Baker. Our companies are really working hard and they
    are investing the money and they are working hard to overtake
    that because of the importance of--the reason the app community
    is in the United States is because we lead the world in
    wireless. The reason that 98 percent of operating systems are
    from the United States is because we rolled our networks first.
        So I think we understand how important it is and we are
    working hard to that end.
        Mr. Olson. OK. Thanks.
        Who's behind? Who should be considered as behind us but
    catching up quickly maybe we should be worried about in the
    rear view mirror?
        Ms. Baker. I think we are doing well. Well, our LTE
    networks are covering 99.7 percent of America. So we have a
    good head start to build on.
        Mr. Olson. OK. One further question--as former NTIA
    administrators speaking only for yourselves, not for the
    organization, is NTIA being helpful with the 5G rollout and
    where can we help them with deficiencies with the
    reauthorization of the agencies? One minute and 20 seconds. Ms.
    Gomez, you're up.
        Ms. Gomez. 5G rollout, as Meredith has mentioned, is a huge
    undertaking. I think continued support of their interagency
    processes to get relief from the barriers to infrastructure
    deployment is the most important thing.
        Mr. Olson. OK. Ms. Baker.
        Ms. Baker. More spectrum and streamlined siting.
        Mr. Olson. Mr. Kneuer.
        Mr. Kneuer. Because of our lead in 4G, we have the highest
    economic incentives to roll out 5G. The barriers are going to
    be in policy and so making sure that we have the spectrum
    available, that everybody's pulling in that direction, the
    industry's going to take care of it and we will be first in
    that.
        Mr. Olson. Well, thank you. I yield back my time with 45
    seconds.
        Mrs. Blackburn. And he is under the wire.
        Mr. Olson. I yield back.
        Mrs. Blackburn. And I will remind the gentleman from Texas
    that his Houston team left and came to Tennessee and became
    Tennessee Titans.
        And with that, Mr. McNerney, all yours for 5 minutes.
        Mr. McNerney. Well, first, I want to congratulate the
    chairwoman on assuming the chair. I look forward to working
    with you and the ranking member as well.
        My first question goes to Ms. Gomez. The rapid growth of
    the IoT devices creates immense opportunities but also raises
    serious concerns about issues like privacy and data security.
        Multiple federal agencies have recently been involved in
    examining the challenges raised by these questions. Can you
    explain the NTIA's role and why that might be important?
        Ms. Gomez. So the NTIA is, of course, the principal policy
    advisor for administration policy on telecommunications and
    information issues, which includes the issues that you raised--
    privacy, cybersecurity, any other issues raised by the internet
    of things.
        In that role it serves a convening function in two ways.
    One, it coordinates interagency activities that lead to
    whatever policies are implemented for the IoT and hopefully the
    removal of barriers to deployment so that we can get to the
    rollout of 5G in a timely fashion.
        And then, secondly, it's a multi-stakeholder process in
    which it convenes stakeholders from all walks of life in order
    to develop consensus policies to address issues like cyber
    security and privacy issues writ large, both for the IoT and
    for others.
        Mr. McNerney. Thank you.
        I am going to follow up on a question that the ranking
    member asked Ms. Baker. Industry groups like the CTIA have been
    on the Hill, sent a letter around asking Congress to use the
    Congressional Review Act to overturn existing rules. This
    letter makes no mention of the fact that the CRA could prevent
    the FCC for making substantially similar rules in the future.
        Now, are you aware that the CRA could prevent the FCC from
    making future rules regarding data breach notification or
    working with industry to create new privacy rules in the
    future?
        Ms. Baker. So we are absolutely 100 percent committed to
    consumers' privacy and as such we distributed privacy
    principles on Friday.
        I think what we are looking for is a uniform and common set
    of rules that apply to the entire ecosystem so that everyone is
    competing with the same rules.
        Mr. McNerney. But are you aware that the CRA could prevent
    the FCC from making new rules regarding privacy and data breach
    notification, for example?
        Ms. Baker. We're looking for any tool that will allow
    privacy rules to be the same for the entire ecosystem.
        Mr. McNerney. Ms. Gomez, it's been 2 \1/2\ years since the
    National Broadband map was updated. Although the NTIA is no
    longer responsible for keeping the map up to date, individuals,
    businesses and state and local governments still rely on this
    map. Is having an accurate map important for identifying
    geographical areas that are underserved or unserved by
    broadband providers?
        Ms. Gomez. Yes. As you know, NTIA is no longer updating the
    map. That function has been moved over. But it has not been
    updated since 2015 and that was using 2014 data.
        I do believe it's important to have data-driven decisions
    and so having an updated map would be a good thing, just not
    the current state.
        Mr. McNerney. How fast does that map change?
        Ms. Gomez. The map changes constantly. We have deployment
    change every day. As Meredith mentioned, there is a lot of
    capital expenditures every year, every day to get the
    infrastructure deployed.
        Mr. McNerney. So, in terms of the digital divide, having
    this map up to date is important and should be funded.
        Ms. Gomez. The map was an important tool and it would be
    good to fund the map in the future.
        The FCC also has the ability to do it. It just doesn't have
    the funding.
        Mr. McNerney. So is the NTIA the right organization to do
    that?
        Ms. Gomez. If the NTIA gets its grant program again that
    would be the right way to do it or it would be a good way to do
    it, I should say. The way that the map was developed was a
    bottoms-up process in which the states provided the information
    to NTIA and NTIA worked with the FCC to create the map.
        One way or another, you need to have that input and you
    need to have the funding to be able to have an accurate map
    because if it's not accurate then it's not useful.
        Mr. McNerney. I'm just going to ask a question, and you
    won't have time to answer it. Mr. Kneuer, you indicated that
    the NTIA is the most effective when it's the working
    intersection between business and private and government
    sectors and also can be effective in advising the Office of
    Management of Budget.
        I'd like you to elaborate on that in writing, since I am
    running out of time. Thank you.
        Mrs. Blackburn. And he made it before he went into
    overtime.
        Mr. Johnson, for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Johnson. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and I to want to
    congratulate you on your chairmanship and looking forward to
    this session, working with you.
        I want to thank our panel for being here today, too. Really
    appreciate that.
        I represent a district that struggles with the issue of the
    digital divide, particularly when it comes to talking about
    broadband access. I've got high school students in my district
    that have to go a public library or to a neighboring town in
    order to do their school research or to check out the internet,
    to do things that most of us, you know, just take for granted.
        So broadband access is a very, very important issue for the
    721,000 people that I represent.
        Ms. Gomez, one important component of effectively
    allocating resources for broadband deployment projects is
    accurate comprehensive data regarding the current level of
    broadband service across the country ideally at a granular
    level.
        How can NTIA, in your opinion, be helpful in developing
    this information?
        Ms. Gomez. There are a couple of ways that NTIA has been
    involved in this type of information. The first is with this
    tool that we were talking about before, which is where NTIA
    administered grants to get the data necessary to populate the
    map that the FCC actually put together. They worked on that
    jointly.
        It's not something that's currently funded by if it was
    that would be a very valuable way to get more accurate data and
    give the localities of tool that is visual and that provides
    them good planning tools.
        The second way is also with the work that NTIA does in
    working with the Census to get accurate adaption information.
    That is a very useful way to understand where we might have our
    deployment but not necessarily the take-up. So understanding
    from a demographic perspective who is using the internet, how
    they are using the internet, also helps with this type of
    planning to support localities that need to get broadband
    infrastructure and adoption.
        Mr. Johnson. OK. Continuing with you--I appreciate that
    answer--you were at NTIA during the broadband technology
    opportunities program when NTIA administered more than $4
    billion in grants to promote broadband employment and adoption.
        What are some of the lessons that we can draw from that
    program as we move forward and what role is appropriate for
    NTIA to play in future broadband deployment efforts?
        Ms. Gomez. We learned a few things from the BTOP program.
    As I mentioned before, we want to make sure that the funding is
    sustainable and continues.
        The importance of providing the technical assistance to the
    grantees and to the communities to make the full usage of the
    grants and to make sure that the grants not just benefitting a
    specific deployment but also had ripple effects throughout the
    communities in both the adoption as well as the access for
    other providers to be able to link to whatever infrastructure
    was being deployed.
        The importance of a strong both team to both select the
    grantees as well as to manage and oversee them. It really
    requires a lot of resources and a lot of attention to make sure
    that the grant dollars are well used and used in a timely
    fashion.
        So there is still a lot of that expertise within NTIA
    because that staff that became very expert at managing the
    grants have now pivoted to the technical assistance they are
    providing through the Broadband USA program.
        So absolutely NTIA could continue to provide the grant
    management that you might seek. Understanding that whatever
    enabling statute is very important in setting parameters of the
    program.
        A lot of the criticisms of the program came from concerns
    about the fact that, for example, the grants went to fund both
    unserved and underserved areas.
        The definition of rural was very important to managing the
    grant program. So attention to the statutory language that NTIA
    would use to implement the programs is also very important.
        Mr. Johnson. OK. Well, thank you.
        Madam Chair, I yield back just under the wire.
        Mrs. Blackburn. I tell you, we are rolling.
        Let's see. Mr. Pallone, you're recognized 5 minutes.
        Mr. Pallone. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
        And, again, I know this is your first hearing so I want to
    congratulate you and Mr. Doyle for being the chairman and the
    ranking member.
        Ms. Gomez, I've reviewed NTIA's most recent budget request
    asking for only $50 million total, and given the recent growth
    in the communication networks that the agencies oversees, that
    amount seems reasonable.
        NTIA has also provided strong justification for their
    request. So can you just tell us briefly what an authorization
    of $50 million would allow the agency to do for the American
    people?
        Ms. Gomez. From my experience, NTIA is a very resource-
    constrained agency. It is surprisingly small, considering the
    breadth of its portfolio. And with the evolution of the digital
    economy and the new and innovative uses, its role is only going
    to get bigger.
        So new funding can be used in a variety of ways. Spectrum,
    spectrum, spectrum. Our innovation is very much centered on
    wireless and we need to have both the staff that can manage day
    to day the federal agency's use of spectrum but also continue
    to plan for the future, continue to plan for the pipeline and
    continue to work within the interagency process to identify
    more spectrum for wireless broadband uses.
        On the internet policy front, we need to continue our
    strong voice at the governmental advisory committee before
    ICANN. That is going to continue to be important for
    international and domestic internet presence but also
    addressing cyber security and privacy issues is going to be
    important in the multi-stakeholder process. Particularly with
    cyber security, we need staff that has security clearances that
    understands the issues so that they can convene and shepherd
    these multi-stakeholder processes to develop these policies.
        Both with the multi-stakeholder process as well as
    intergovernmentally to work with the other agencies as they
    develop their own security policies.
        And on research, it's important for supporting the spectrum
    initiatives as well as other agencies and also industry.
    Industry relies on the laboratory for some of its measurement
    and testing.
        And so bolstering their ability is going to be very
    important. I think the National Foundation found that they are
    actually seriously underfunded. So that would be very helpful
    in that regard.
        Mr. Pallone. Thank you.
        Ms. Gomez mentioned the privacy issues. So let me ask Ms.
    Baker, NTIA found last year that around half of American adults
    limited their economic activity online because they were
    worried about their privacy and data security.
        A Pew study also found that a full 91 percent of adults
    believe they have lost control of how personal information is
    collected and used by companies. And that's why I have been
    disappointed in CTIA's recent attacks on consumer privacy
    protections. I am hopeful we can still find some common ground
    though. So I think we may agree that the Federal Trade
    Commission should be a strong protector of consumer privacy.
        Let me ask you, would CTIA support democratic efforts to
    strengthen the FTC's ability to protect consumers by lifting
    the common carrier exemption, given the FTC Rulemaking
    authority, giving the FTC more privacy staff. Would you comment
    on that?
        Ms. Baker. First, I think that CTIA believes strongly in
    privacy and in consumers' right to privacy and data security.
    It is a priority for all of our carriers and companies.
        I think that we believe that consumers are served better
    when their privacy protections are based on the type of
    information as opposed to the company that holds it.
        And for that reason, we would like to see the FTC's
    jurisdiction on privacy be consistent across all of the
    companies. The mechanism is to how to get to that. I would have
    to get back to you on the languages too.
        But yes, the idea is to having the FTC have jurisdiction
    over the privacy of consumers' data. All companies would be
    consistent with what we believe.
        Mr. Pallone. All right. I've run out of time but I wanted
    to ask you a local question. Well, it's not really local. But
    Ms. Gomez, one of my priorities is promoting public safety
    communications and network resiliency, and I have been a strong
    supporter of FirstNet, which is housed at NTIA.
        And getting better technology in the hands of first
    responders is really important. So I understand you were at
    NTIA when FirstNet was formed, and from that perspective how
    would you assess FirstNet's progress in starting up the
    nation's public safety broadband network?
        Ms. Gomez. I think FirstNet has made great progress. It is
    a huge undertaking as well and it is very close to getting the
    contract in place to be able to start the actual deployment in
    services and working with the states.
        So I, too, am a great supporter of FirstNet.
        Mr. Pallone. OK. We have run out. Thank you, Madam
    Chairwoman.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Well, actually, you went 3 seconds over but
    who's counting?
        Mr. Kinzinger, you're recognized 5 minutes.
        Mr. Kinzinger. Thank you, Madam Chair, and running a tight
    clock. That's good. That's good. I am excited. It's going to be
    a good couple years.
        Quickly, just to all witnesses, since 2010 NTIA's office of
    spectrum management has been tasked with executing a
    presidential memorandum to make available a total of 500
    megahertz of federal-nonfederal spectrum by 2020. We are
    quickly approaching the end of that 10-year window and do you
    all think there is a need for the NTIA and the FCC to jointly
    establish and carry out formal planning activities for the next
    decade through a new national spectrum plan?
        Mr. Kneuer. Yes, I think it's vital to have a pipeline to
    have to have long-range visibility as to where the next
    spectrum bands are going to come from to meet the growing needs
    that I think we have all been talking about.
        I think there is a challenge when you set numbers of
    megahertz to be freed without some more detail and concept
    about what that means.
         If the agencies are put in a position to find spectrum,
    they may find spectrum that is in the cupboard but is not very
    useful and say we have met our obligation.
        So the focus less on specific targets and more on holistic
    policies that will be deployed across the entire government
    that this is part of your job, day in day out.
        As a steward of these resources you need to account for
    them and make sure you're taking steps that they are used
    across the economy and not just held for isolated purposes. So
    I think long-range planning is very important. I think the
    spectrum pipeline bill is important. But yes, we have to keep
    looking down range.
        Ms. Baker. I think goals are important and I would
    certainly welcome this committee, asking NTIA and the FCC to
    have set another goal for 10 years. I think that the focus of
    this committee is very helpful.
        You have brought the AWS-3 auction. You have brought the
    600 megahertz auction to bear. And I think that the guidance
    from this committee is very important and we would love to see
    that.
        Mr. Kinzinger. Ms. Gomez, do you have anything to add?
        Ms. Gomez. Sorry. The only thing I would add is I agree,
    planning is I agree planning is very important. Goals are very
    important. I also want to make sure that NTIA continues to
    focus on what it's doing today because it still has a lot of
    work to do.
        So whatever resources they need it would be good to bolster
    those resources so they can in fact engage in thoughtful
    planning for the future.
        Mr. Kinzinger. Mr. Kneuer and Ms. Gomez, how can the NTIA
    most effectively promote the interests of the United States in
    international discussions on internet and communications
    policies?
        Mr. Kneuer. Well, I think Mr. Shimkus asked about ITU and
    our role there. That has been the vehicle in the world radio
    conference where NTIA works with our colleagues in the State
    Department. Aggregating all of the equities of the spectrum-
    dependent agencies is very heavily focused on the Defense
    Department, as you would imagine.
        So maintaining a robust role and making sure that we
    collaborate across those areas. With regards to internet
    governance and those sorts of subject matters, the multi-
    stakeholder model has been very, very productive.
        It was productive in collaborating and coordinating the
    IANA functions. Some of these broader internet governance
    issues probably don't belong.
        The nontechnical issues don't belong in a technical body.
    But the model of the multi-stakeholder model to bring diverse
    coordinated interests and equities together for U.S. promotion
    in a variety of international forums, NTIA plays an important
    role in that.
        Ms. Gomez. I absolutely agree with John. NTIA's strong
    voice and role in the governmental advisory committee is very
    important, may even be more so important today to ensure that
    the internet remains a free and open resource and that other
    bodies don't take over trying to manage the architecture that
    so far has been so successful and open.
        Mr. Kinzinger. And let me just ask you very briefly, Ms.
    Gomez, one of the NTIA administrator's important roles is to
    represent the administration and the United States and the
    multi-stakeholder decision process, particularly when it comes
    to settings like ICANN and the internet governance issues. Do
    you see any obstacles to doing this?
        Ms. Gomez. I would agree with what Meredith said earlier,
    which is that this is--or maybe it was John who said it. Sorry.
        This is probably the best staff, the most expert staff and
    the strongest and most strategic staff that we have to
    participate in this body.
        So it's important to continue to support that resource and
    support their needs as we move forward with a U.S. presence and
    voice in these meetings and associations.
        Mr. Kinzinger. OK. Thanks.
        And I yield back now.
        Mrs. Blackburn. With military precision, yields back.
        Mr. Butterfield, 5 minutes.
        Mr. Butterfield. Thank you, Chairman Blackburn and Ranking
    Member Doyle. Thank you for holding today's hearing on NTIA
    reauthorization.
        There is no doubt that NTIA will play a critical role as
    this administration contemplates its goals related to our
    nation's telecommunications policy.
        By any definition, NTIA is critical in the communication
    space. NTIA's past and ongoing work with FirstNet--and I
    appreciate the ranking member's comments a few moments ago--
    work with FirstNet as well as their work with the National
    Highway Safety Administration to develop and implement next
    generation 911 services is to be commended.
        NTIA also plays a critical role in safeguarding our nation
    from cyber threats. There is no higher mission from members of
    Congress than doing all that we can to protect our constituents
    from potential threats.
        At this point, it is underscored by the intervention of
    Russia in last year's election and their state-sponsored
    hacking of the Democratic National Committee.
        Those incidents highlight that cyberattacks that threaten
    our country can be carried out by highly funded and even state-
    sponsored actors.
        In response to that type of attack on our democracy, we
    must take steps to investigate all potential cyber security
    threats including those posed by state sponsors like Russia,
    and I am confident that NTIA will do just that.
        Also important to my district and my constituents is
    identifying ways to increase broadband adoption and reduce
    barriers to broadband deployment.
        In this regard, I understand that NTIA continues to engage
    in several initiatives aimed to increase adoption. For example,
    NTIA has engaged local communities through the Broadband USA
    initiative to provide technical assistance and guidance on how
    best to increase access to affordable broadband.
        It has also been a key participant of the broadband
    opportunity council which was created to ensure federal
    agencies take specific steps to encourage broadband investment
    and remove regulatory barriers.
        Just one or two questions, Ms. Gomez. Do you think that the
    new administration should continue these activities and why?
        Ms. Gomez. Absolutely. All the activities that you
    mentioned are important and especially to the continued
    innovation and deployment of these new and important
    technologies.
        So I would say NTIA is front and center in a lot of them
    and these are initiatives that should continue.
        Mr. Butterfield. Aside from the increase in the budget from
    40 to 50, are there other things that we can do legislatively
    to enhance the work of NTIA?
        Ms. Gomez. I do think that there are ways that you can
    empower and promote NTIA as it continues a lot of these
    interagency discussions.
        As we have discussed before, it's a small agency with a
    mandate to push and prod its fellow agencies throughout the
    federal government to lead to, for example, removing barriers
    to infrastructure deployment.
        That requires dedication and focus from other agencies that
    NTIA sometimes doesn't have the muscle to force other agencies
    to make a priority as part of their mission.
        So to the extent Congress can help with bolstering NTIA's
    ability to successfully get the other agencies to cooperate,
    that's always very helpful.
        Mr. Butterfield. Thank you very much.
        Madam Chairman, I yield back.
        Mrs. Blackburn. And gentleman is competing for first prize
    in yield back.
        Ms.----
        Mr. Butterfield. I was told that you would be in the chair,
    Ms. Blackburn. Your real title in the time is when I was a
    judge in the courtroom.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Absolutely.
        Mr. Butterfield. I understand the importance.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Yes, sir. Ms. Walters, five minutes.
        Ms. Walters. There is a lot of pressure.
        First of all, there's a lot of pressure. First of all, I'd
    like to thank the chair for holding this hearing and for the
    witnesses being here today.
        Cybersecurity continues to be a growing threat and I'd like
    to get your thoughts on what role the government should play in
    this area as this becomes a bigger concern to all stakeholders.
        With that, Ms. Baker, with regard to cyber security, there
    seems to be several agencies that are staking a claim of
    leadership--FCC, DoD, DHS, NTIA.
        With respect to the commercial sector, do you have opinions
    as to which agency should run point?
        Ms. Baker. I'm glad you asked. It's a great question.
        We do have an opinion here. Cybersecurity is critical.
    These networks are going to change everyone's life every job,
    our economy. But they have to be safe.
        And so cyber security is the most important thing that we
    work on every day. I feel strongly that this needs to take
    place within the administration, not an independent agency.
        So I think there's a coordination role that needs to happen
    between DHS, NTIA, NIST. I think we probably prefer DHS to be
    the lead with coordination from the others. But I do think one
    way or another it needs to take place in the administration,
    not in the FCC. Thank you.
        Ms. Walters. Ms. Gomez, one of the primary challenges we
    face in securing our nation's communication infrastructure and
    networks from cyber threats is the rapidly evolving nature of
    these threats.
        Does NTIA have the ability to adapt quickly enough to
    adjust to new and emerging threats in its efforts to drive
    interagency cybersecurity practices?
        Ms. Gomez. In keeping with your prior question, it is
    important that we have some kind of a balance of the economic
    and national security concerns in cybersecurity practices.
        The point that you're making is it is a challenge to keep
    up with changes in technology and that is why you need an
    agency that can convene processes that are able to be flexible
    enough to be able to address those changes.
        NTIA could use more expert staff. They have very good
    expert staff. But as we look forward to continuing and
    increasing challenges and new and novel issues in these areas,
    it would be helpful to be able to bolster them.
        As I mentioned before, they also need the security
    clearances, which is part of the reason why they need
    additional budget to be able to get those clearances for their
    staff.
        Ms. Walters. And Ms. Gomez, you have the most recent tenure
    at NTIA. And how would you describe the relationship between
    NTIA and DHS and in this cybersecurity framework? And do you
    think NTIA and the FCC have sufficient authority and ability to
    represent the interest the interests of the commercial sector
    in this conversation?
        Ms. Gomez. NTIA and DHS has had a very good relationship
    both on cybersecurity as well as on public safety. There are
    established processes in place. There are interagency groups in
    which they participate. So that is very helpful.
        I think having specific authority is always helpful to
    bolster an agency's jurisdiction and I think NTIA does have a
    very good jurisdiction writ large but it always is helpful to
    give them that specific jurisdictional authority in
    reauthorizing legislation.
        Ms. Walters. And Ms. Baker and Mr. Kneuer, do you have
    anything to add, either one of you?
        Mr. Kneuer. I think there is value in NTIA's role with its
    interface with the private industry. There is the response part
    of dealing with the cyber initiative which is probably not
    going to be NTIA's role.
        But one of the greatest lines of defense in cyber is to
    share information on the nature of threats and the nature of
    attacks.
        Private industry sometimes is hesitant to share that kind
    of information because they are admitting to a vulnerability or
    they are exposing a vulnerability or they are concerned about
    litigation exposure.
        NTIA can play that role, taking some of the information of
    the information from the private sector, bringing that into the
    interagency and taking the best information from the
    interagency and taking the best information from the
    interagency and distributing it back into the private sector.
        Ms. Baker. I think you've covered it.
        Ms. Walters. Thank you, and I yield back the balance of my
    time.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Mr. Costello for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Costello. Thank you.
        Continuing on the cybersecurity issue, could you share your
    thoughts, Ms. Gomez, and I would open up to the other panelists
    as well, on NTIA's role in assisting FirstNet plan and its
    cybersecurity strategies.
        We spoke on the commercial side already.
        Ms. Gomez. Great. Well, cybersecurity is a very important
    component of FirstNet. Again, we need to have public safety's
    trust and confidence in the security of the nationwide public
    safety broadband network to get them to actually sign on to the
    service.
        FirstNet has its own cybersecurity staff. I would start
    with that. So to the extend NTIA is supporting FirstNet I would
    say that's probably it's biggest role.
        NTIA also participates with NIST in the public safety
    communications research program and through that program is
    able to coordinate support for FirstNet as well on
    cybersecurity issues.
        But this is fundamental to the success of the network will
    be the ability to have a very secure network.
        Ms. Baker. I would just add probably that I think FirstNet
    it has probably one of the very most important missions of any
    government agency.
        And as I just stated, I think cybersecurity is one of the
    most important jobs that we have as network providers. So I
    guess you get double importance there.
        Mr. Kneuer. I think that's right. I think there is an
    opportunity for potentially a virtuous cycle to come into
    effect as a customer. FirstNet probably has higher cyber
    requirements than a typical large enterprise company, right.
        So as they put those requirements into the provider and the
    contractor for FirstNet, those cyber requirements populate into
    the commercial networks more broadly and as those technological
    developments take place in response to FirstNet, we get this
    loop where the requirements get put in, the technology gets
    developed and it's an improving cycle.
        Mr. Costello. This could be a philosophical or a technical
    question or both.
        We are obviously dealing with a very massive network that I
    think we can all agree needs to remain agile because as you get
    new security technologies you want to make sure that you don't
    have to sort of go back in time to reengineer.
        How does NTIA remain relevant and make sure that it remains
    agile and nimble as new security technologies enter into this?
        Ms. Gomez. I think, again, this goes back to NTIA's
    convening role. It both has the external expertise and also the
    interagency expertise between NIST and DHS.
        But, more importantly, it also needs to rely on the
    stakeholders to come in and to educate it and the multi-
    stakeholder processes on these new technologies and that's a
    large part of what they do.
        Mr. Kneuer. I would just build on something Meredith said
    earlier about the administration being the best place for some
    of these issues.
        I think the danger in pursuing a regulatory approach to
    cyber is that the incentives shift from network protection to
    regulatory compliance and that creates a sort of sporadic
    function that you're concerned about, that how do you stay
    relevant.
        Enshrining things in regs is the quickest way to delay
    rapid changes. So levering the coordinating function,
    leveraging and taking advantage of the incentives that both
    industry and the government have to protect themselves is the
    best way for us to keep it as something that's top of mind
    rather than always backward looking at a regulatory structure.
        Mr. Costello. The state and local implementation grant
    program--the education and outreach to a state's local
    emergency personnel is obviously extremely important. And the
    guidance--the NTIA can offer in the decision making process for
    states weighing challenges and how to opt in or opt out, can
    you sort of explain, moving forward, how NTIA should approach
    that--particularly in my state of Pennsylvania, where it's an
    extremely important issue?
        Ms. Gomez. Yes. Congress was very wise to include what we
    call planning funding, just generally, in creating this state
    and local implementation grant program because FirstNet needs
    to get the input from the bottom up, from the cities and
    communities and localities up through the state up to FirstNet,
    and that takes dedicated resources. That's what the grant
    program does.
        What NTIA does is administers that grant program and
    support FirstNet's efforts to reach out to those individuals so
    they can have a voice in the network.
        Mr. Costello. Thank you.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
        Mr. Cramer, you're recognized 5 minutes.
        Mr. Cramer. Thank you, Madam Chair, and congratulations on
    the gavel.
        Thanks to all of our witnesses for this hearing and your
    time--time that is getting late.
        Now, I've sat here a long time and I've listened to pretty
    much everything and there have been a couple of passing
    references to smart cars or autonomous vehicles. But I am going
    to bring up a completely different topic so a completely
    different context at least for a similar topic.
        So my home state of North Dakota is home to the Northern
    Plains UAS test site, one of the six FAA-designated test sites
    designated in 2013.
        And as you likely know, remotely-piloted aircraft are
    playing an increasing role in important duties like disaster
    recovery, monitoring pipelines, precision agriculture.
        Obviously, there are the obvious military applications. And
    as a result of our test site, we have a rather unique enhanced
    use lease at the Grand Forks Air Force Base where there is a
    private sector business park at the same place on the air base,
    with the appropriate security divisions and what not.
        It's quite unique, and for military applications for
    defense contractors, which we have attracted to the park,
    spectrum is fairly easy. Of course, it's a military issue.
        But for the private sector where I think the real
    opportunity and real growth lies for testing, aircraft testing
    equipment, training pilots, research and development, there has
    been a challenge as it relates. And, in fact, there was a
    specific situation not that long ago where a company was
    testing and wanting to illustrate, demonstrate the use of their
    cameras and video. And they literally could not do it because
    of a fairly basic spectrum issue.
        All of that being said, going forward, how do you see
    spectrum allocation as it relates to UAS and how do you see it
    being resolved, improved upon? NTIA--obviously, their role in
    other agencies and what can we as Congress do to help clarify
    it? And I throw that to all of you and that will be my only
    question, Madam Chair.
        Ms. Gomez. So spectrum is going to be very important for
    unmanned aircraft in a variety of ways. First of all, the
    command and control of aircraft, particularly if you start
    looking at beyond line of sights uses.
        And there is going to be different types of needs depending
    on the type of aircraft and the operations themselves. So right
    now, you can fly using unlicensed but that's not going to be
    true for the longer range flights.
        So the spectrum is going to be very important. The FCC is
    going to be important because they are going to have the rules
    for commercial uses.
        The FAA's going to be important because they are the ones
    that are going to try to regulate to make everything safe and
    make sure that they meet requirements to make them safe. And
    NTIA is important because there is going to be interagency
    coordination.
        And so spectrum is something that the agencies are very
    focused on currently. There is internationally allocated
    spectrum for unmanned aircraft and it's specific aeronautical
    spectrum, and then there is also other spectrum that can be
    utilized that will also be very significant for the expansion
    of this industry that is moving so quickly and, as you've
    noted, the North Dakota test site is an important part of that.
        Mr. Cramer. So Ms. Gomez had beautifully described the
    complication of the issue. So as a result going forward, how
    can we help streamline? Because you articulated perfectly how
    difficult this is, especially command and control, which is
    where the real opportunity rests.
        Ms. Baker. I would highlight, many of the things that we
    have talked about today, the future of our communications
    networks, overlapped jurisdictions, and I think what we need to
    encourage is to make sure that we remain on the cutting edge of
    innovation and I think UAS is one where they are using them in
    England. We are not using them really here.
        So I think its own place where--I think with Congress'
    oversight we can make sure that we don't over regulate budding
    innovations and budding industries so that we can maintain our
    innovative edge and competitive edge against other countries
    around the world.
        Mr. Kneuer. The only thing I would add apart from the long-
    term deployment of unmanned vehicles, with regards to the test
    site, there are private test sites. There are military test
    sites that are typically in very remote areas and those remote
    areas are typically not at all spectrum constrained in the real
    world but they're spectrum constrained by the issuance of those
    licenses.
        We issue licenses on national bases or wide geographic
    areas and you can turn on a spectrum analyzer and say there is
    no one here. But the authorities are held by someone else.
        Creating governance processes where there are the
    opportunity and the ability of diverse carriers to say you know
    what, I am not out there, and, here's how we can collaborate
    and here's how you can use my spectrum, how you can have
    transactional agreements in those areas, I think, clarifies or
    will get the regulatory out of the way of the technological in
    those test areas.
        Mr. Cramer. Thank you all very much, and Madam Chair, I
    yield back.
        Mrs. Blackburn. Gentleman yields back.
        Mr. Engel, we will get you in before we get called to votes
    and be able to dismiss our panel and not have to come back.
        Mr. Engel. OK. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, and
    briefly, before I begin, I want to say how excited I am to be
    rejoining this subcommittee after having served on it a number
    of years ago and how much I am looking forward to working with
    you, Madam Chair, and all the members here on these important
    issues of Congress.
        Thanks to our witnesses. I wanted to focus on cybersecurity
    and particularly the role NTIA plays coordinating our national
    cybersecurity response between government and industry.
        Last year, when Russian operatives breached the Democratic
    National Committee and broke into John Podesta's emails, they
    attacked our election, the very core of our government.
        But even that attack never hit a government agency or
    government-owned computer. The DNC is a private organization
    and Mr. Podesta kept his e-mail on a Google g-mail account.
        So the Russian hacking story is at least in part a story
    about how cyber threats leave us vulnerable in these places
    where governments and the private sector meet.
        NTIA has emerged as a vital cop on that beat in its role at
    the IPTF and as a liaison between industry, Commerce
    Department, defense and intelligence communities, DHS and the
    rest of the government.
        So let me ask Ms. Gomez and Mr. Kneuer, I wonder if you
    could talk a bit about what would happen to this multi-
    stakeholder approach to cybersecurity, particularly on the
    government side if there wasn't an agency to fill that role.
        Ms. Gomez. So what would happen if there wasn't an agency
    to fulfill the role of coordinating with other agencies, as we
    talked there's a lot of overlapping jurisdiction and interests
    throughout government.
        As I mentioned, I think it's very important that as we
    continue to look forward to securing the networks that we make
    sure we balance economic and national security interests
    because each agency's mission is a little bit different.
        The national security agency's interest is in protecting
    the internet. That could lead to very draconian measures that
    would not allow continued innovation.
        So an NTIA is important because they are a convener and
    they provide a balance. It's also important because it convenes
    the multi-stakeholder processes to ensure that we have methods
    of addressing a lot of these vulnerabilities and without having
    rules enshrined in regulations that would then not be flexible
    for to take into account changes in technology.
        Mr. Engel. Mr. Kneuer, do you have anything to add?
        Mr. Kneuer. I think I agree largely with all of that.
        The legal and authorization structures around structures
    around cyber touch everything. This is Title 50 authority
    Defense Department--it's Title 10 Authority under Espionage and
    you've got all of the various law enforcement authorities on
    the response side of things.
        I don't think it's ever going to be NTIA's role or whether
    it would be wise for it to be NTIA's role to be in the response
    change.
        However, it does play an important role in, as we have
    talked about earlier, sharing information that is developed
    from some of those other expert agencies that are really
    designed to respond to foreign and domestic threats.
         Its role is best suited, I think, to making the commercial
    industry aware of these threat vectors, what they can do to
    practically defend themselves. And should the attacks come, the
    response is going to be focused, I think, in other agencies.
        Mr. Engel. Thank you. Let me ask Ms. Baker.
        How valuable is the institutional expertise at NTIA and IST
    and these other industry facing agencies that work with all of
    you in cybersecurity--what would happen to our national
    cybersecurity strategy if we lost that expertise at that
    junction between industry and government?
        Ms. Baker. I think it's critical. I mean, I think expertise
    as these networks evolve is having that housed in both in the
    private sector and having that in the government so that they
    can convene the private sector I think is integral to our
    protection, going forward.
        Mr. Engel. Thank you. So let me just say, in conclusion,
    that I am convinced that one of the biggest problems we are
    facing now in confronting cyber threats is that everything is
    spread out.
        There are precious few clearinghouses where actual
    decisions are made about the best way to protect American
    interests.
        We have this opportunity here with NTIA to build on and
    expand our capability at this intersection of industry and
    government.
        I believe it is very important to overcoming part of this
    problem. So I want to urge my colleagues and chairwoman to keep
    that in mind while this subcommittee moves forward with this
    reauthorization process.
        Thank you, Madam Chair, and I yield back the balance of my
    time.
        Mrs. Blackburn. The gentleman yields back and there are no
    further members waiting to ask questions. So we will thank our
    witnesses.
        We are so pleased to have had you with us today. I remind
    members you've got 5 days to submit opening statements. You
    have 10 days to submit further questions to our witnesses.
        We would ask for written responses within 10 days, and
    there being no further business to come before the committee
    today, it is adjourned.
        [Whereupon, the hearing concluded at 1:01 p.m.]
        [Material submitted for inclusion in the record follows:]

                     Prepared statement of Hon. Greg Walden

        I had the honor of chairing this subcommittee for 6 years
    and still care deeply about the issues under its jurisdiction.
    There is never a dull moment in this exciting industry. The
    communications and technology sector is a bright spot in the
    American economy as it continues to innovate, compete, and grow
    despite the recession of 2008. I have always argued that this
    industry deserves a fair, transparent government agency to
    oversee the rules of competition. Moreover, this industry
    deserves a government that understands modern technology and
    recognizes that these innovations are a critical underpinning
    of the domestic economy. Our hope today is to ensure that the
    agencies overseeing this dynamic industry have the tools they
    need to set an environment that fosters innovation and
    competition.
        I applaud Chairman Blackburn for kicking off this Congress
    with a close examination of NTIA. This agency plays a critical
    role in determining how spectrum is allocated. We will be
    looking increasingly to our government agencies to determine
    where spectrum can be re-purposed for ever increasing
    commercial needs without compromising the safety of our
    infrastructure.
        This agency also plays an important role in assessing
    policy challenges in securing our networks. We should consider
    how its role should evolve in this day and age, when threats
    include everyone from nation states to teenage kids. I am also
    mindful that additional work must be done on public safety
    networks in general. NTIA's responsibilities include not only
    the incubation of FirstNet but also the distribution of grants
    intended to incentivize states to deploy and support public
    safety answering points that can receive IP-based texts, voice,
    and video. This work hasn't exactly gotten off to a roaring
    start, and it is high time we looked into moving that forward.
        I appreciate the work that this subcommittee has done to
    date on these issues, and I know that under Chairman
    Blackburn's leadership, you will continue to do good work. I
    thank the witnesses for their time today and look forward to
    their testimony.
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