{"id":25672,"date":"2020-06-12T22:03:51","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T22:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/12\/house-members-call-for-ig-investigation-tied-to-ligado\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:08:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:08:31","slug":"house-members-call-for-ig-investigation-tied-to-ligado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/06\/12\/house-members-call-for-ig-investigation-tied-to-ligado\/","title":{"rendered":"House members call for IG investigation tied to Ligado"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A trio of House Armed Services Committee members<\/a> are asking for an inspector general-run investigation into a company that tested whether Ligado Networks\u2019 potential use of a radio frequency will interfere with GPS<\/a>. The lawmakers want to know if consulting company Roberson and Associates, which submitted its finding to the Federal Communications Commission, has a conflict of interest in the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the core of the members\u2019 concerns is Dennis Roberson, the chairman of the FCC\u2019s Technological Advisory Council. The TAC is a group of technology experts whose role is to help the FCC \u201cidentify important areas of innovation and develop informed technology policies,\u201d per the commission website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberson is also the head of Roberson and Associates. Ligado wants to use the L-band spectrum, and it hired Roberson and Associates in 2016 to perform a technical study on the potential interference to GPS. The lawmakers said this raises \u201ca \u201ctroubling appearance of a conflict of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roberson, however, denies any conflict of interest. \u201cThe inspector general can review this, and I\u2019m sure they will find it to be without merit as well because of the way in which the FCC conducts its business,\u201d he told C4ISRNET on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an April 20 vote<\/a>, the FCC unanimously supported Ligado\u2019s request to use the L-band spectrum, despite heavy opposition from the Defense Department and other government agencies, as well as commercial trade groups, which believe the Ligado plan will damage the usability of GPS. On May 22, the federal government formally requested<\/a> the FCC reconsider its position, but analysts do not expect such a reversal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter<\/a>, dated June 11, is addressed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and signed by Reps. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., the chairman of the HASC Strategic Forces Subcommittee; Mike Turner, R-Ohio, the ranking member on that same committee; and Elise Stefanik, R-NY., the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The members noted that the study done by Roberson\u2019s company \u201cis referenced more than eighty times in the [FCC\u2019s] approval order and was clearly a significant factor in the Commission\u2019s decision.\u201d In addition, the members noted, Roberson has written several public pieces supporting the FCC\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congressional staffers, speaking on condition of anonymity to C4ISRNET, argued that together those actions raise questions about whether Roberson gave impartial technical advice to the FCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to rely on this one test \u2014 and this one test is in opposition to the unanimous opinion of those entities that are … most likely to be negatively impacted by this \u2014 [then] that test really has to be unassailable. There shouldn\u2019t be things about it, or how it was put together, or the standards it should meet, that strikes anybody as odd,\u201d said one HASC staffer. \u201cIt\u2019s just irregular that you had somebody involved on both sides of the spectrum here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Said a second staffer: \u201cIt looks strange. It\u2019s raising a lot of questions, and so I think we need answers to these questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t