Washington D.C. – Today, Congressman Mike Turner, Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces was joined by five additional members of his Subcommittee in calling on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (OGR) to conduct an investigation in the role of the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the White House, and the Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund, in a short-circuited rule making process which threatens to jeopardize national security.
This comes as the FCC earlier this year, by a mere waiver of its own long established rules, approved an expansive proposal by LightSquared to build out a national broadband network even after the Deputy Secretary of Defense warned the FCC Chairman of interference to national security interests.
The Subcommittee members noted that, “It is troubling to see reports of high dollar donors being given unusual consideration in the regulatory process, especially when the consequences entail what Air Force General William Shelton called ‘significant interference to military GPS.’”
“Additionally, we have received reports that numerous witnesses before our committee, and likely therefore other committees, were asked during the administration’s testimony coordination process to include language with which many of them disagreed, and that some ultimately declined to include. We are concerned that this language shows an administration bias in favor of LightSquared. Such disturbing reports cannot go ignored by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. We urge your prompt attention,” the signers concluded.