The main lesson from Wednesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on emerging technology was quite simple: The Pentagon needs to come to the table with industry.
Unfortunately, what should have been a slap on the wrist became a huge pat on the Pentagon’s back. The committee did not hold the Defense Department accountable for hoarding spectrum, such as the frequencies necessary for 5G. Currently, our networks are not able to handle the imminent onslaught of 25.1 billion new Internet of Things devices. If our networks are not upgraded to 5G, their integrity will be degraded and more vulnerable to foreign cyberattacks. If the Pentagon and lawmakers on this committee continue to make 5G political, then we forfeit our leadership in the space to those who seek to cause us harm and make our nation’s security less secure. At the hearing, Microsoft President Brad Smith opened his statement by rightfully stating that “innovations in cloud and edge services, artificial intelligence, and 5G are already having a direct and practical impact on the nation’s defense.”
Those with the best technology are those best equipped to fight off enemies. This makes developments in the technology sector a significant factor in ensuring our national security. Due to our private technology and telecommunications sector, the good news is that the United States is a global technological leader. Still, our enemies are gaining on us fast. The Pentagon understands this and has been developing strategies to implement more nascent technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to combat the threats we are seeing from China and Russia.
It is still unclear as to whether China is ahead of us in 5G, but that doesn’t mean we should rest easy.
In fact, it means quite the opposite. China is aggressively building out 5G infrastructure throughout the world. Ryan Ding, president of Huawei’s Carrier Business Group, claimed that Huawei has built over half of the 140 commercial 5G networks in 59 countries as of this week. The threat from China in 5G is very real and quite alarming, but the Pentagon’s response is defective. It seems content to fight with industry to control our 5G networks as opposed to figuring out real solutions. This is demonstrated by the Pentagon’s disrupting companies from building out meaningful infrastructure.
Instead of having an actual dialogue with private stakeholders, the Pentagon engages in stall tactics by citing frivolous and vague interference issues when carriers get anywhere near its operations. Even after expert agencies vet the interference issues and find that there are none, the Pentagon will continue making the same baseless assertions. Officials also make outlandish claims, such as asserting that 5G will sink naval warships.
We need the Pentagon and lawmakers to stop politicizing 5G and put our nation’s security first. They need to coordinate with industry to advance the expeditious deployment of expanded networks and the emerging IoT technologies that will run over the top of them. If the Pentagon doesn’t stop serving as an unwavering backstop to industry, then our prominence in both 5G and the IoT will be nothing more than history. Success here is a national security concern as well as an economic one.
If the Pentagon truly has technical concerns, it should work with industry to develop technical solutions. But it must stop stonewalling the incredible progress the private sector has made in 5G. Industry has come to the table on 5G. It’s time that the Pentagon take a seat.
Joel Thayer is an attorney with Phillips Lytle and a member of the firm’s telecommunications and data security and privacy practice teams. He has served as policy counsel for ACT | The App Association, where he advised on legal and regulatory issues concerning spectrum, broadband deployment, data privacy, and antitrust matters. He has also held positions on Capitol Hill, as well as at the FCC and FTC. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect those of Phillips Lytle or its clients.
