DOD creates spectrum chief

Amid continuing jousting between the Defense Department and the public sector over the wireless spectrum, the Pentagon has created a position for overseeing spectrum allocation.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Jan. 4 named Steven Price as the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for spectrum and command, control and communications policy. Price will head the new office, which is responsible for establishing policy and providing direction for DOD frequency spectrum issues.

Price will report to John Stenbit, the DOD assistant secretary and chief information officer.

DOD officials said that Price's appointment is the first time spectrum issues have been raised to the senior leadership level.

As DOD's use of the electromagnetic spectrum for communications grows, the department has increasingly run into potential competition, interference and coordination requirements for international and commercial frequencies.

The private sector has been eyeing DOD's bands of spectrum, which are prime territory for third-generation, or 3G, and ultra-wideband wireless devices.

Sufficient spectrum and bandwidth is essential to network-centric warfare and information superiority, two key transformational tenets of joint operations such as Enduring Freedom, DOD officials said.

In a statement, Price said his vision is to "help DOD build a global secure wideband network, with wireless access, for warriors in the field so that bandwidth does not limit or impede U.S. military capability."

"Transforming toward a network-centric military that decentralizes decision-making by allowing access to information anytime, anywhere and without concerns of bandwidth or interoperability will help create the flexible, reliable and effective joint command and control systems that will be needed in the future," Price said.

Price, a lawyer by profession, most recently was the president and chief executive officer of LiveWire Corp., a provider of software and outsourcing services. He has degrees from Brown University and Columbia University School of Law.

He served as a special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to the START Talks, under former President Bush.