Scott Harris Seen a Front-Runner to Head NTIA

Scott Harris of Harris Wiltshire appears to be the front-runner for NTIA administrator, communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. The Biden administration may announce its NTIA pick as soon as next week. The Senate Commerce Committee voted down 14-14 Wednesday a bid by ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., to attach his Improving Spectrum Coordination Act (S-1472) to the Endless Frontier Act (S-1260) amid Democrats' belief a permanent administrator needs to be in place before lawmakers consider major changes to spectrum policymaking. Senate Commerce advanced an amended version of S-1260 24-4 (see 2105120063).

Harris and the White House didn’t comment Wednesday. He recently ended his term as Harris Wiltshire chairman and is a senior member of its communications practice. (See personals section, May 6 issue and here). Harris was the Department of Energy general counsel under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2011. During part of the Obama administration, he co-chaired the White House National Science and Technology Counsel’s Broadband Subcommittee. He chaired the FCC World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee, which developed industry positions, for the 2015 and 1997 meetings. Harris was FCC International Bureau chief 1993-96. He was previously Neustar general counsel and a past Wilkinson Barker co-managing partner.

Harris donated $13,476 to Biden’s primary and general election presidential campaigns and a joint Biden-Democratic National Committee fundraising committee during the 2020 cycle, Federal Election Commission records show. Harris campaigned for Obama and Biden, noted New America’s Open Technology Institute Wireless Future Program Director Michael Calabrese.

Harris has met with White House officials about the NTIA role, though lobbyists cautioned that his nomination isn’t finalized. Civil rights groups want Biden to select a person of color to lead NTIA instead of Harris, who is white, officials said. Joseph Wender, senior policy adviser to Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., is known to have also met with the White House about the administrator position, lobbyists said. Markey began urging Biden to nominate Wender soon after the November election.

Officials and lobbyists believe this administration has been eyeing Harris for NTIA administrator with an expectation that official will have a stronger role in Commerce Department operations than during former President Donald Trump’s administration. Evelyn Remaley, head of NTIA’s Office of Policy Analysis and Development, is temporarily leading the agency (see 2101210067). NTIA had a permanent head for only about 18 months during the Trump administration. That official, David Redl, resigned in May 2019 amid disagreement with other Commerce officials (see 1905090051). Spectrum policy infighting among the FCC, NTIA and other federal agencies continued through Trump’s term (see 2010260001).

Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us she’s not aware of any imminent NTIA nominee. “There’s a couple positions” the administration needs to fill soon given the spectrum policy implications, including NTIA head and FCC chair, Cantwell said. “These are big issues and there are key players missing.” Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is considered a front-runner to permanently lead that agency, while some Congressional Black Caucus leaders back DLA Piper’s Smitty Smith (see 2104280057).

Cantwell emphasized during the Senate Commerce meeting the need for Biden to nominate -- and the chamber to confirm -- an NTIA boss before Congress makes any substantial changes to spectrum policy. S-1472, which Wicker and other committee Republicans filed in late April (see 2104290078), would require the FCC and NTIA update their spectrum memorandum of understanding, including to add language on a process for addressing interagency policy differences and instituting a resolution process. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., also opposed attaching S-1472 to S-1260.

“I don’t believe” S-1472’s text is an “appropriate” addition to S-1260 at “this moment,” Cantwell said. Enacting the language now would “jump ahead of a larger discussion and force the FCC and NTIA to renegotiate the MOU defining their agencies’ spectrum coordination activities before permanent heads of those agencies have been nominated.” Those talks “would have to occur on a very accelerated time frame,” Cantwell said. “There was a lot of chaos in the last administration in spectrum policy” discussions and “I hope we can rectify” those issues now.

“I don’t think” Cantwell made “a valid argument” against attaching S-1472, Wicker told us. “The agencies need to be coordinating as quickly as possible. There’s leadership in place” at the FCC and NTIA and “an MOU dating back to 2013 that needs to be updated. We need these spectrum issues resolved.” He said during the meeting an update to the MOU is “overdue.” Communications ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., also backed Wicker’s amendment.