The Trump administration is divided over the deployment of a new 5G cellular network, with the Pentagon, NASA and others at odds with other government agencies.

The five-member Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted in late April to approve the deployment of a 5G cellular network by Ligado Networks.

Opponents of the plan argue that it would use spectrum that could potentially disrupt frequencies used for commercial and military Global Positioning System (GPS) signals.

The FCC decision has received the backing of Attorney General Bill Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

But Pentagon chief Mark Esper, NASA, the Commerce Department, Department of Homeland Security and major airlines have voiced their opposition.

On Wednesday, top Pentagon officials pleaded their case before a Senate committee.

"There are too many unknowns, and the risks are too great to allow the proposed Ligado system to proceed in light of the operational impact to GPS," said Dana Deasy, the top advisor to the defense secretary for information technology.

Senator Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, also voiced his opposition to the project by Ligado, a Virginia company formerly known as LightSquared.

"I do not think it is a good idea to place at risk the GPS signals that enable our national and economic security for the benefit of one company and its investors," Inhofe said.

"After extensive testing and analysis, experts at almost every federal agency tell us that Ligado's plan will interfere with GPS systems," he said. "Interfering with GPS will hurt the entire American economy."

Inhofe said he had raised the question with President Donald Trump and that the FCC decision had been made "without cluing the president in on any of this."

Deasy said the Pentagon would lodge an appeal in a bid to have the FCC reverse its decision.

Defense top brass criticize Ligado's 5G proposal
Washington DC (UPI) May 06, 2020 - Top Pentagon officials told lawmakers Wednesday that a proposed nationwide network to provide 5G and internet-of-things services was "too risky to be worth it."

"This is fundamentally a bad deal for America's national and economic security," said Dana Deasy, the Department of Defense's Chief Information Officer, at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the recently-approved Ligado proposal and its implications for national security.

In April the Federal Communications Commission approved a proposal that would allow Ligado Networks to deploy technological services using the L-band spectrum that runs adjacent to the spectrum used for global positioning systems, which form the basis for most mapping software.

The Department of Defense has repeatedly criticized the proposal, saying it would disrupt defense operations as well as significant aspects of civilian life.

At Wednesday's hearing defense leaders warned that the Ligado plan would disrupt the accuracy of weapons systems, first responders' 911 navigation ability and shipping systems.

"GPS has also long been a critical technology that has supported the Nation's public safety, law enforcement medical and medical responders. It literally saves lives. While Americans at home are typically not under threat of purposeful electronic attack, the GPS services they depend on every day for life and livelihood are also threatened if the GPS signal and its environment are not protected from disruption," said General John W. Raymond, head of the newly-created United States Space Force.

Retired U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad W. Allen criticized the lack of transparency in the process by which the decision was made, as well as the likely technological consequences.

"In the case of Ligado Networks, FCC did not follow the normal regulatory process for reasons that remain unclear," Allen said, drawing a contrast from the process of issuing a license to Dish Networks to convert satellite service spectrum to terrestrial mobile broadband spectrum.

Ligado wrote a letter to the committee, which was read Wednesday, defending its technology as critical to 5G development.

"We now look forward to the opportunity to build a network that will advance our Nation's progress on the race to 5G," the company wrote.

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