Cruz: Improper Secret Service, Navy L-Band Use Near Airport Caused False Collision Alerts
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, revealed during a Thursday hearing that multiple commercial aircraft landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) March 1 received false traffic alert collision avoidance system (TCAS) alerts because the Secret Service and U.S. Navy were “improperly testing counter drone technology” in the area on the L-band, “the same spectrum band as TCAS.” The disclosure also factored into Senate Commerce's confirmation hearing for NTIA nominee Arielle Roth (see 2503270065), which examined her spectrum policy views.
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Secret Service and Navy testing on the L-band caused “the interference and faulty” TCAS warnings and happened “even though the FAA had previously warned” both federal entities “against using that specific spectrum due to interference risks,” Cruz said during the Thursday hearing, which focused on the deadly midair collision of American Eagle Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter Jan. 29 near DCA. The disclosure happened amid Cruz’s escalating battle with DOD over military officials’ vehement opposition to an airwaves bill that would mandate reallocation of Pentagon-controlled bands (see 2502190068). Cruz pressed DOD earlier this week for documents supporting his claim that military officials during the Biden administration circumvented federal restrictions by pressuring defense contractors to lobby against spectrum legislation (see 2503260075).
Cruz told acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau it was “deeply disturbing” that, just more than a month after the collision, “the Secret Service and Pentagon would inadvertently cause multiple flights to receive urgent cockpit alerts recommending evasive action. It is inappropriate for such testing to occur at DCA given the facts of what occurred, and I expect [Senate Commerce] to investigate why precisely that happened.”
Cruz and Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., used the L-band interference issue during the Roth hearing to illustrate their respective positions on using a coming budget reconciliation package as a vehicle for moving spectrum legislation (see 2503120068). Cantwell cited the interference as a lead to arguing that NTIA, “DOD and other agencies must complete" studies of the 3.1-3.45, 7 and 8 GHz bands ordered in the Biden administration’s national spectrum strategy “before making a decision to reallocate that spectrum.” Cantwell and other Democrats oppose moving on spectrum legislation via reconciliation in part for that reason.
Cruz said his 2024 Spectrum Pipeline Act, which would require NTIA to identify at least 2,500 MHz of midband spectrum to reallocate within the next five years, would necessarily require interagency “technical feasibility” studies. “What it doesn’t do is give DOD the ability to slow-walk studies into eternity and block spectrum from being made available for job creation and to ensure that America beats China in 5G and 6G,” Cruz said.