Congress wants big National Security exemptions for spectrum inventory

The Radio Spectrum Inventory Act, as now amended by the House Commerce Committee, would give Federal agencies and private license owners a national security pass on publicly disclosing information about their spectrum holdings or related data.

The proposed bill would let government agencies duck out on releasing such intel if they can prove that doing otherwise "would reveal classified national security information or other information for which there is a legal basis for non-disclosure and such public disclosure would be detrimental to national security, homeland security, or public safety." If a Federal department chair decides there's a national security concern with releasing agency related spectrum data, the proposed law requires the release of a "summary description, suitable for public release, of the classified national security information or other information for which there is a legal basis for non-disclosure," and the actual information in a separate document. A private sector licensee seeking the pass must offer the same materials, but "bears the burden of justifying the exemption and shall provide clear and convincing evidence to support such an exemption," the bill adds.