WASHINGTON – In keeping with a pledge, Sen. Chuck Grassley today asked for documents from three companies that make or use Global Positioning System devices regarding their communications with the Federal Communications Commission on an agency waiver granted to the wireless company LightSquared.
Grassley’s letters to Garmin, Trimble and John Deere come after he asked LightSquared and Harbinger Capital for documents regarding their interaction with the FCC and the White House. LightSquared and Harbinger declined to provide documents, saying Grassley had not made a similar request of the GPS community.
In October, Grassley’s office said that if it meant LightSquared and Harbinger are going to respond fully to Grassley’s request for documents, then Grassley would make document requests to Garmin, Trimble and John Deere. After weeks of negotiations, LightSquared and Harbinger agreed to comply with Grassley’s document request. However, LightSquared and Harbinger have delivered only a portion of the documents so far.
Grassley is working to gauge whether the FCC is doing its job in the public interest to vet the LightSquared proposal. The agency has generated questions over its rush to grant approvals to the company for a proposal that would create broad and in some cases dangerous interference with the GPS devices used widely by the U.S. military, aviation, agriculture, and first responders. The GPS community has already indicated its willingness to comply fully with the requests.
Grassley’s letters to the GPS companies are available
here,
here, and
here.
