Developing a National Spectrum Strategy
The U.S. Government needs access to spectrum for an array of critical missions that advance America’s economic prosperity, scientific endeavors, technology leadership, public safety, and national security.
This Strategy reaffirms existing U.S. policy, as set forth in relevant statutes, regulations, and Office of Management and Budget guidance, that—when feasible—the Federal Government will procure commercial products and services to support its operations. Similarly, some Government missions depend on nongovernmental, federally supported organizations, activities, and facilities, which also require access to spectrum.
However, when relying on nongovernmental entities or services is infeasible or would be materially detrimental to national interests, NTIA (in coordination with the FCC, as necessary) will ensure that sufficient spectrum resources are available to agencies and their supporting entities to conduct their missions and to protect their operations from experiencing harmful interference.
When Federal agencies identify requirements for additional spectrum access, NTIA, in collaboration with those agencies, will first assess the spectrum resources (both Federal and non-Federal) allocated to support the particular agency’s current and future spectrum-dependent operations. Through this process, NTIA will further consider:
- the agency’s operational requirements and the nature of its mission(s);
- existing authorities and conformity to international allocations for similar applications; and
- the potential for improved efficiency and mission effectiveness through new technological developments (such as compression and modulation technology) and coexistence techniques.
Several other considerations, in addition to the factors identified above, must be accounted for when making these spectrum requirements assessments. First, Federal operations often do not fully occupy their spectrum assignments at all times; however, the nature of an agency’s mission may require constant availability of a spectrum assignment for immediate use. Second, the metrics for assessing the “efficiency” of a Federal agency’s spectrum usage must be tailored to the operational requirements for the spectrum usage and the agency’s mission. Third, decision-makers would benefit from increased transparency and additional data regarding Federal spectrum usage when making these decisions—to the extent permitted by law and subject to necessary operational security protections.
Federal agency collaboration, as well as information and data sharing, is critical to the success of these evaluations. Accordingly, to engage fully in band assessments to ensure the agencies’ needs are met (including efforts to improve efficiency of use as well as potential sharing studies), agencies will prioritize and leverage available funding for assessing their spectrum requirements, as well as alternative funding sources where applicable (such as Spectrum Relocation Fund resources).