Blog Editor’s Note: Another great job of reporting by Dee Ann Divis. The letter referenced in the article is available on the FCC site here. 

Several interesting things to note about this:

• As mentioned by parties on both sides of the issue, it took an exceptionally long time for NTIA to forward a position to the FCC.
• NTIA Asst Secretary David Redl and NTIA Legislative Affairs lead Mike Platt abruptly resigned in May amid reports of confusion and dissension within the administration over spectrum issues. 
• NITA’s job is to send the FCC the executive branch’s recommendations on issues. This letter from NTIA to the FCC does not make a recommendation. It says “Despite the considerable efforts to find a satisfactory solution, NTIA, on behalf of the executive branch, is unable to recommend the Commission’s approval of the Ligado applications.”
• Rather than taking an affirmative position one way or the other, the NTIA letter forwards along a year-old letter it received from the National Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee, and a November 2019 letter from the Secretary of Defense to the FCC chairman, both of which strenuously opposed the Ligado applications.