In a November 13 letter to congressional leadership, CTIA President & CEO Ajit Pai warned that Section 1564 of the version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that passed the Senate imposes an "unnecessary" restriction on NTIA's ability to migrate existing military spectrum users into the 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7-8 GHz bands – and thereby free up spectrum in other bands to be auctioned by the FCC for commercial use.
The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which called for the auction of 800 MHz of spectrum (and reinstated the FCC's spectrum auction authority through the end of September 2034), explicitly prohibits the auction of spectrum in the aforementioned bands.
Section 1564, which was added to the NDAA by Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chair of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, would go a step further and "[p]rohibit[] any modifications to DoD systems in key spectrum bands without joint certification from the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff" (emphasis added).
Mr. Pai is not the first to object to the inclusion of Section 1564 in the NDAA.
In a September 10 post to the FSF Blog, Free State Foundation President Randolph May (1) pointed out that the White House in a Statement of Administration Policy objected to Section 1564 because it "would hinder the President's executive authority," (2) agreed that "Congress cannot properly restrict a president's executive authority by handing over final decision-making authority to his subordinates," and (3) urged Senator Fischer to withdraw the provision.
Some additional examples:
- On October 16, Citizens Against Government Waste's Deborah Collier wrote that, should the Senate version prevail, "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."
- At a Punchbowl News event on October 9, House Commerce Committee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC) expressed similar reservations, stating that "I don't think we need to give any kind of veto authority to the Pentagon. I think that could be counterproductive."
- At NTIA's 2025 Spectrum Policy Symposium in September, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, reportedly cautioned that "[p]ractically speaking, this means NTIA would not even be able to move other federal operators to these bands – which it will have to do to clear the spectrum pipeline – unless first receiving approval from the sovereigns at the Joint Chiefs."
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