DOD Must Not Be Allowed to Veto Spectrum Availability
Spectrum is critical to licensed and unlicensed communications; however, it is also a limited resource. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act requires the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) to locate 800 MHz of spectrum for auction and provided the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with spectrum auction authority until September 30, 2034. While this may seem like great news for the future of telecommunications, the majority of spectrum that is unallocated for private use is held by the federal government, particularly the Department of Defense (DOD). Finding the necessary 800 MHz of federal spectrum to be auctioned will be difficult at best without the swift cooperation of agencies to give up or share their spectrum, and any obstacles to that objective should be eliminated.
The already tough battle over federally-head spectrum was exacerbated during the Senate Armed Services Committee markup of S. 2996, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The committee agreed to an amendment offered by Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) that would allow the DOD to veto any recommendations by the NTIA to either relinquish or share its spectrum allocations with other federal agencies. The House-passed version of the NDAA, H.R. 3838, which passed on September 10, 2025, does not include a similar provision.
Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) raised alarms about this special veto authority. He warned that, “Tucked into the Senate’s NDAA is Section 1564, which gives the Joint Chiefs a veto over any modifications to the lower 3 GHz and 7-8 GHz bands. To be clear, this is not consultation or collaboration on spectrum management, which as we saw on the lower 3 GHz previously has its own set of very substantial and very real problems. No, this is a veto. If this became law, it would be a further upending of the nation’s spectrum policy, jettisoning Senate-confirmed civilian management in favor of marching orders from the defense-industrial complex. What’s more, the language in Section 1564 doesn’t just give the Joint Chiefs a veto over defense-related items; it gives them a veto over any modification in these bands.”
On October 10, 2025, the Senate passed S. 2296 by a vote of 77-20. House conferees must disagree with the Senate amendment and force conferees to strike Section 1564 from the conference report on the NDAA. Otherwise, the Pentagon will be given the absolute authority to veto the sale or shared use of DOD-controlled spectrum, jeopardizing the ability of the U.S. to remain the global leader in telecommunications and stymie the FCC’s ability to auction more spectrum for wireless communications.
