Georgetown-educated FCC leaders set Oct. 29 vote on cutting off Chinese test labs

By Helena Thorncroft

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission, led by a chairman who attended Georgetown as an undergraduate and including a commissioner with a Georgetown master’s degree, will vote Thursday on a package that would cut mainland China’s testing labs out of the U.S. device-approval system and open new spectrum for satellites and drones.

Chairman Brendan Carr set seven items for the Oct. 29 open meeting, according to the FCC’s meeting page, which lists a 10:30 a.m. start at the agency’s headquarters on L Street NE. Carr attended Georgetown University for his undergraduate studies before earning a law degree from Catholic University, his official biography says. Commissioner Olivia Trusty, confirmed by the Senate in June 2025 after a nomination by President Donald Trump, received her M.A. from Georgetown University, according to the FCC.

The test-lab order

The item drawing the most international attention would stop the FCC from recognizing test labs, certification bodies and lab accreditation bodies in countries that lack a mutual recognition agreement or comparable reciprocal trade agreement with the United States, the FCC said. It would require the substantive testing behind equipment approvals to occur in the U.S. or in reciprocal economies, with a uniform transition period ending Dec. 1, 2028.

The commission’s rationale is security and fairness. Carr said in announcing the item that the FCC will “insist on fair and reciprocal treatment in international commerce,” DroneXL reported. The draft order counts 609 FCC-recognized test labs, 25.1% of them in China and 17.9% in the United States, and says Chinese labs tested 82% of devices applying for FCC authorization in 2025 while U.S. labs tested less than 4%, according to the trade site’s review of the draft.

Opposition has been pointed. China’s Commerce Ministry said when the FCC advanced the proposal in April that it would “seriously undermine the international economic and trade order” and vowed to respond if it were implemented, AFP reported via The Straits Times. China has also filed an objection under the World Trade Organization’s technical-barriers agreement calling the rule discriminatory, and the Consumer Technology Association, the Information Technology Industry Council and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation opposed it, with several industry commenters seeking three to five years to adjust, DroneXL reported. The draft order calls industry’s reliance claims ones that “generally lack evidentiary support,” according to the same report. Reuters reported the vote when it was scheduled.

Spectrum for satellites and drones

Two items concern satellite service, a subject Trusty addressed last week. One proposal would make an additional 482 megahertz of spectrum available for supplemental coverage from space, the service that connects ordinary phones directly to satellites, and would ease related requirements, according to the FCC. Another would propose auction and licensing rules for 25 megahertz of mid-band spectrum in the 1675-1695 MHz and 2020-2025 MHz bands, usable for terrestrial service, direct-to-device service or a hybrid.

Trusty previewed the theme in London on Oct. 21. “Satellites need spectrum,” she told the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance’s global summit, according to a text of her remarks. “They need access to spectrum that is sufficient, predictable, and flexible.” She added that because satellites “do not stop operating when they cross a national border, they need compatible regulatory frameworks that can function across jurisdictions.”

A third order would lift a restriction that bars drone operations in the 800 MHz cellular band, opening 50 megahertz of licensed, nationwide low-band spectrum to drones, the FCC said. The agenda also includes rewritten security rules for international Section 214 authorizations, a proposal to carry out the Rural Broadband Protection Act enacted May 11, an accessibility rulemaking, and an unspecified enforcement action.

The Trusty record

Before joining the commission, Trusty was a staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee and a policy director on the Senate Commerce Committee under Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and earlier worked for the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, her FCC biography says.

The Inquisitor reported Saturday on Carr’s election-season guidance to broadcasters, which drew a public response from Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez, who urged broadcasters to push back.

The Inquisitor is seeking comment from the FCC’s Office of Media Relations, the offices of Chairman Carr and Commissioners Trusty and Gomez, the Consumer Technology Association, the Embassy of China and the White House. This story will be updated with any response.

Photo: FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty, official portrait (cropped). Federal Communications Commission, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.