Leaders Attack Spectrum Woes

Signal, May 2008 by Lawlor, Maryann

Summit momentum instigates top management rapid response.

Pentagon officials are aggressively tackling the spectrum supportability problems that plague the U.S. military both in the United States and abroad. In response to discussions at the Defense Spectrum Summit in December, personnel in the offices of the Joint Staff and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration hammered out details and approved a long-awaited update to the department's official instruction on management and use of electromagnetic spectrum. A number of new initiatives have been put into motion, and military leaders agree that if the momentum of the summit continues, severe problems with spectrum management could be a thing of the past.

The diversity of issues raised at the Defense Spectrum Summit (SIGNAL Magazine, March 2008, page 79) is an indication of how complex the challenges have become. For example, while the need for solutions on the battlefield is urgent, bypassing required processes to put them there can result in devices that cannot be used once they arrive. Whether the problems are frequency clashes or other incompatibilities, the outcome is the same: Equipment sits on shelves while warfighters go without. To resolve these conflicts, spectrum managers at the summit explained that they do whatever they can, but they need the help of decision makers to ensure that rules designed to prevent these problems are followed. In addition, industry chimed in to propose that closer collaboration from the requirements-development stage through the final paperwork would enable many companies to deliver truly usable solutions.

Among the most significant and immediate steps since the summit is the publication of a new Defense Department Instruction 4650.01. Titled "Policy and Procedures for Management and Use of the Electromagnetic Spectrum," the document updates the department directive of a similar name last updated in June 2004. It serves as the governing document for spectrum management, and the services already have begun revising their policy and guidance documents to ensure compliance with the policy.

Policy enforcement has been one of the roadblocks to spectrum supportability. According to John G. Grimes, assistant secretary of defense for networks and information integration, and Defense Department chief information officer, it is expected that these policies will be understood and enforced from the lowest level of management to the most senior-level leaders within the department. Reporting requirements may be levied at the combatant command level to ensure compliance and, where appropriate, to identify process weaknesses and gaps to be addressed and corrected. In addition, the acquisition community must support and enforce the spectrum supportability requirements at each critical milestone review. "The combination of new technology and updated policies moves us closer to a net-centric way of conducting spectrum management," Grimes says.

Vice Adm. Nancy E. Brown, USN, director, Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems (J-6), the Joint Staff, says that comments heard at the Spectrum Summit became the impetus for moving policy matters forward. "I think every DOD instruction that we cited [at the summit] that had been laying around getting dust on it is now on Mr. Grimes' desk and has been signed or is ready to be signed. I believe that's because we raised it as an issue at the conference; we got everybody's attention," Adm. Brown states.

The physical reality that spectrum is a finite resource pervades any discussion about auctions and the economic versus security balance that must be reached. Grimes emphasizes that the importance of collaboration between industry and the department increases significantly as spectrum is reallocated from the military to the commercial sector. Working together, they can develop dynamic spectrum access technologies to enable continued support of the national security mission, he says.

Grimes adds that as the amount of spectrum dedicated to security activities drops, the need for federal, state, local and civilian organizations to cooperate also increases. "We share the same challenges and goals and are working more closely together. A good example is the U.S. delegation to the World Radiocommunication Conference [WRC], which includes representatives from the NTIA [National Telecommunications and Information Administration], FCC [Federal Communications Commission] and industry," Grimes explains.

Adm. Brown shares that discussions at the WRC late last year revealed an emerging aspect of the auction issue brought to her attention by Richard M. Russell, U.S. ambassador to the conference. "He commented that the current spectrum auction is bringing in much more revenue than was anticipated. One concern is that other countries may see this and start auctioning off spectrum, which could have a real impact because they won't ask us [the United States], and there will be no give-and-take as far as helping us get into a different band or whatever else we need to do. So that's really an area that we're going to have to focus on," the admiral notes.