Choice for Next WRC Ambassador Seen as Critical for 5G, but Unlikely Before Next Year
The next U.S. ambassador to the World Radiocommunication Conference, set for Geneva Oct. 28-Nov. 22, 2019, likely won’t be named until almost a year from now, officials predicted. U.S. preparation is well underway, but the ambassador is generally designated late in the game. WRC-19 is widely viewed as perhaps the most important WRC ever because of its expected focus on 5G and harmonizing spectrum bands for the new generation of wireless. Robert Strayer, deputy assistant secretary of state-cyber and international communications and information policy, told a Wiley Rein conference last week that President Donald Trump plans to appoint an ambassador to head the U.S. delegation to the WRC (see 1803050054).
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Decker Anstrom, ambassador to WRC-12, which started Jan. 23, 2012, wasn’t designated as ambassador until the previous April (see 1104210104), less than nine months before it started. Anstrom returned as ambassador to the next WRC in 2015 as well. Richard Russell was designated as ambassador to WRC-07, which started Oct. 22 that year, in January 2007, also about nine months before the conference.
By law, as a temporary appointee not confirmed by the Senate, the WRC ambassador can serve only six months, though for past WRCs the ambassador designee had several more months to prepare for the conference. Strayer is expected to play a key role in identifying the ambassador, working with the White House, NTIA, DOD and other senior officials with an interest in spectrum policy, former government officials said. The ambassador designee must pass various security clearances and be vetted by the White House, so the administration can move more quickly with someone already in the government, officials said.
Adequacy of U.S. preparation has been a concern. “In the past, the U.S. position on some items has remained unresolved until the eve of the conference, leaving the United States with little time to build preconference support for them,” the GAO said in a 2002 report.
“This is always a struggle for the United States, regardless of the administration, to get the leadership named as early as possible,” said David Gross of Wiley Rein, a former top State Department official on communications. “Sometimes we’ve done a better job than other times, but it’s always a struggle.”
The nature of the appointment creates problems, Gross said in an interview. Having a presidentially appointed head of delegation “requires a lot of bureaucratic check-off and process,” he said. Many nations have a bureaucrat as head of their delegation, he said: “We think it brings a lot of focus and attention and problem-solving skills to have a special ambassador named.” It can be helpful to identify the ambassador early, before the title is granted, he said. “That can be very useful and important. … It’s always tricky.” Other parts of preparation, completing the necessary studies, “that’s equally important, maybe even more important, and doesn’t have to wait for the head of delegation to be named,” Gross said.
The lack of time to prepare is a major challenge, said Gail Schoettler, U.S. ambassador to WRC-2000 and former Democratic lieutenant governor of Colorado. She told us she was appointed to a White House position for about six months before her formal appointment as ambassador “so that I could get started on the internal negotiations to get a U.S. position that everyone could support.” Finding consensus is difficult, she said.
“We spent lots of time negotiating, but ultimately had compromises on all the key issues that were in our proposals so that we didn’t have people going around the delegation’s back to other countries lobbying for what they wanted,” Schoettler said. “I think this is very important. I also spent a lot of time during that first six months traveling to WRC preparation meetings around the world so I could meet other delegation leaders and begin to build the relationships that were so important to our success in the 2000 WRC.” The rule on choosing an ambassador is “the sooner the better,” she said.
The ambassador has a significant role, since the WRC is a plenipotentiary conference and the president gives the ambassador plenipotentiary power, said Richard Beaird, former senior deputy U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy, at the Wiley forum. The ambassador “can speak for the United States and make commitments for the United States,” said Beaird, now at Wiley. “This is extremely significant, especially when you think about what is really the unique characteristic of these conferences from a point of view or worldwide development, of technology.” If you look at the WRC agenda “you essentially are looking at the evolution of technology,” he said.