America’s first responders deserve the best communication system available. We depend on them to save lives every day. Following the 9/11 terror attacks and the accompanying communications failure, our country established FirstNet to provide a streamlined system to police, firefighters, and paramedics.
This system has worked well and made the country a safer place. But there’s now a push to change it and put it in the hands of foreign-owned entities. Two former congressmen who now work as telecom lobbyists are pushing Washington to change how FirstNet operates. Greg Walden, a Republican, and Henry Waxman, a Democrat, recently penned an op-ed urging Congress to open up FirstNet to foreign-owned service providers. Walden currently represents the Swedish-owned Verizon, while Waxman represents the German-owned T-Mobile. The op-ed is meant to provide the illusion that this is a bipartisan effort to reform a well-functioning system.
What it really is are two anti-Trump lobbyists acting on behalf of corporate interests, not the interests of first responders.
There are a few facts to know about FirstNet. One, it’s a public-private partnership that’s self-sustaining. That means it provides no cost to the taxpayers. It’s currently operated by AT&T, an American company that won a competitive bid process during the first Trump administration. Neither Verizon nor T-Mobile chose to bid when they had the chance. Now these foreign-owned companies want the spoils for themselves.
The system is endorsed by many leaders in the first responder community. One of them is former New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly. “FirstNet ensures that during a hurricane, wildfire, mass shooting, or terrorist attack, firefighters and EMTs can coordinate search and rescue, and police can communicate across jurisdictions in real time,” he wrote in a recent op-ed opposing any major changes to the system. “It’s what keeps lines open when commercial networks crash under pressure.”
FirstNet is a rare government success story. It’s bipartisan and delivers results without punishing taxpayers. The system gives first responders a seat at the table to shape the network. If FirstNet isn’t reauthorized by 2027, that voice could disappear. The decisions could be determined by corporate and bureaucratic interests rather than by the first responders themselves.
The network is built, it works, and Congress shouldn’t mess it up with any changes.
Greg Walden is meant to sell the reform to conservatives, but he’s the wrong guy to pitch anything to MAGA. Walden was hardly a Trump fan while in Congress. He disavowed Trump right before the 2016 election over the Access Hollywood tape and promised not to campaign for him. During Trump’s first term, he routinely voted against the president’s agenda and tried to avoid association with his party’s leader. In particular, he was opposed to Trump’s efforts to protect free speech online. He said it was wrong for the federal government to tell tech giants to avoid censorship and allow free expression. Unsurprisingly, he began working for Big Tech interests when he left Congress.
Now, Walden wants conservatives to think he’s on their side when he’s pushing for FirstNet to be completely changed. He’s someone who’s fine with standing with the left against the interests of the MAGA base.
It’s never a wise idea to dramatically transform something that’s not broken. FirstNet works as is. Only telecom lobbyists working for foreign-owned companies feel it needs to be significantly altered.