#555. FCC Chair Brendan Carr on Drone Dominance, Wireless Security, and the Satellite Race

📝 Podcast Introduction

In this episode, we cloned: Policy podcast "The Center Edge" **FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Drone Dominance, Wireless Security, and the Satellite Race**

In this program, host Evan Swarztrauber spoke with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr about the new role of the FCC in global technology competition, national security, telecommunications policy, and regulatory oversight. Many people still associate the FCC with broadcasting, media disputes, or telecom regulations, but Chairman Carr believes that today's FCC is at the forefront of U.S. economic and national security policies: from restricting foreign-manufactured drones and Wi-Fi routers, to cleaning up untrusted device certification laboratories; from requiring e-commerce platforms to remove banned communication devices, to approving hundreds of billions of spectrum transactions, driving satellite-to-mobile phone and next-generation wireless network development.

This episode is not just an interview on telecommunications policy, but also a significant shift in the U.S. regulatory mindset: on one hand, Carr emphasizes that the FCC is significantly reducing regulation through "Delete, Delete, Delete"; on the other hand, he also believes that the government must play a more active role in areas such as national security, public safety, labor protection, and industrial capacity building. The core question of the program is: In an era of accelerated drone warfare, cybersecurity threats, satellite communications competition, and comprehensive technological competition between the United States and China, should the FCC be merely a regulator that reduces intervention, or must it become an important institution shaping the market and protecting national security?

👨‍⚕️ Guest

Brendan Carr, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Carr has long been involved in issues related to U.S. telecommunications regulation, spectrum policy, national security, and infrastructure construction. During Trump's first term, he served as a Commissioner at the FCC; since becoming Chairman, he has pushed forward a series of policy agendas including drone regulations, router certifications, telecommunications equipment bans, satellite communications, spectrum auctions, deregulation, and the repatriation of the U.S. telecommunications industry.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 Introduction & Podcast Overview

FCC Takes the Lead on National Security

01:25 FCC in the Context of Sino-U.S. Technology Competition: From Broadcast Regulation to National Security Agency

03:05 Key Actions by Carr during His Tenure: Drones, Routers, Telecommunications Equipment Cleanup

04:34 Guests Appear: Opening Remarks by Host and Chairman Carr

Drones: Not Just a "Huawei with Wings"

04:49 Foreign-Made Drones Enter the Covered List: Why Can the FCC Ban Wireless Devices from Entering the U.S.

07:03 National Security Risks of Drones: Data, Intelligence, and Large Crowd Safety

09:28 DJI and Autel's Opposition: How Companies Respond to Espionage Risk Claims

10:43 Carr's Bottom Line: National Security Must Not Be Compromised, But Execution Must Maintain Economic Balance

11:35 U.S. Drone Dominance: From Ukraine Battlefield to Anduril and Domestic Manufacturing

14:02 Accelerating Testing Processes: Why Anti-Drone Technologies Can't Wait Another 6-9 Months

17:06 What Frequencies Do Drones Need? Unlicensed Bands, Dedicated Bands, and Cellular Networks

18:14 Drone Innovation Zones: Freeing Experiments in Low-Interference Areas

19:44 Can the U.S. Expand Drone Production? Advantages of Small Emerging Companies and Competitive Systems

Routers, Labs, and Device Security

21:27 Routers Included in National Security Review: Why Home WiFi Has Become a Risk Entry Point

23:05 Real Problems After Prohibiting Foreign-Made Routers: The U.S. Doesn't Have Large Local Capacity

24:21 How Exemptions Work: Offshoring, Production Locations, and Sensitive Components

26:07 Issues with Device Certification Labs: Why 75% of Test Labs Were Once in China

28:06 Cleaning Up Untrusted Labs: How the FCC Incorporates National Security into Pre-Market Device Processes

30:30 US Cyber Trust Mark: Helping Consumers Avoid Becoming Cybersecurity Experts

32:47 Operation Clean Carts: Platforms Removing Millions of Banned Devices

Satellite Connectivity for Mobile Phones and Reimagining the Wireless Market

33:54 EchoStar, AT&T, SpaceX's $42 billion Spectrum Transaction

35:44 Direct to Device: Next Generation Communication Imagining for Mobile Phones Connecting to Low-Orbit Satellites

37:59 Is Satellite Connectivity for Mobile Phones a Band-Aid Tool or a New National Operator?

39:31 Carr's Principle: Letting Consumers, Markets, and Technologies Determine Success, Not the FCC Creating Barriers

41:12 Can Smaller Companies Still Participate in the Satellite Communication Race? Reality of Scale, Capital, and Rocket Science

43:11 Rural Signal Gaps: Will Satellite Connectivity Change Traditional Broadband Subsidy Logic?

44:23 Universal Service Fund and BEAD: How Government Subsidies Evolve with New Technologies

Worker Protection, Deregulation, and Changes in Republican Regulatory Thinking

45:39 Tower Climbers and Telecom Workers: Why Carr Values Frontline Laborers in Communication Infrastructure

47:15 Labor Protections in Mergers and Acquisitions: Wages, Safety, and Preventing Cheap Foreign Construction Teams

48:44 A New Path for a Republican FCC: Not Just Reducing Regulation, Also Concerned About National Security and Workers

50:41 Delete, Delete, Delete: Massive Deregulation and Minimal Critical Regulation Coexisting

52:08 Bipartisan Cooperation within the FCC: Consensus Issues Beyond Media Coverage

Future Agenda and Conclusion

53:41 Build America Agenda: Restoring U.S. Wireless Leadership

53:55 Restarting Spectrum Auctions: First Auction in Four Years, Upper C-Band and 2028 Planning

54:35 Space Economy and FCC Space Agency Modernization: Making Low-Orbit Satellite Approvals Faster Like a Production Line

55:15 Light-hearted Ending: What Programs Carr Recently Watched

🌟 Highlights

🛡️ "We won't compromise on national security."

Carr repeatedly emphasized that the FCC's actions regarding drones, routers, communication devices, and certification labs are not ordinary industry regulations, but part of the nation's security defense line. Once a category of devices is covered under the FCC's Covered List, these devices will lose access to the American market.

"We won't compromise on national security."

🚁 Don't Want a "Huawei with Wings"

When discussing foreign-made drones, Carr summarized his concerns with a very direct statement: Drones are not only flying machines but may also serve as data collection, intelligence transmission, and public safety threats carriers. Especially in large gatherings, Olympics, World Cups, etc., drone safety has become a serious issue for the U.S. policy department.

"At bottom, you don't want a 'Huawei with wings.'"

🏭 From Prohibition to Reconstruction: U.S. Drone Dominance

The episode does not just discuss "disabling foreign drones," but rather how Carr views the construction of the domestic drone industry capability in the U.S. He believes that the FCC can accelerate open testing frequency bands, shorten anti-drone device test approval times, establish innovation zones, allowing U.S. companies to quickly iterate products and compete with state-supported foreign enterprises.

📡 Satellite Connectivity for Mobile Phones: Potential Game Changer for the Wireless Market

FCC's recent approval of EchoStar selling spectrum to AT&T and SpaceX is viewed by Carr as an important node in the future of wireless communication. Direct to Device technology may allow ordinary smartphones to directly connect to low-orbit satellites, providing connectivity in remote regions, rural roads, national parks, and even globally.

"Ultimately, success should be determined by consumers, markets, and technologies, not by making the FCC a man-made obstacle."

🧪 Untrusted Labs and Device Authentication Security

Previously, many electronic devices needed to pass through tests at FCC-certified labs before entering the U.S. market. However, Carr pointed out that if these labs were located in untrustworthy legal jurisdictions, or even associated with foreign militaries or governments, the device certification process could become a national security vulnerability. Therefore, the FCC is incorporating national security reviews into pre-market device processes and promoting the return of testing capabilities to the U.S.

🛒 From Rules to Enforcement: Cleaning Up Banned Devices on E-commerce Platforms

Even though Huawei and ZTE have been added to the ban list, consumers may still search and purchase related products on large e-commerce platforms. Carr stated that the FCC collaborates with companies like Amazon and eBay to push platforms to establish automatic and manual review mechanisms, currently removing millions of Covered List device items.

"Every time you broadly prohibit a certain device or service, vulnerabilities always emerge. You might need to play whack-a-mole for several years."

👷 Behind Communication Infrastructure: Tower Climbers and Labor Protection

Carr frequently visits wireless communication tower workers, fiber construction personnel, and telecommunications infrastructure teams. These experiences influenced his policy judgments in merger reviews. Therefore, in acquisitions like Verizon, Frontier, T-Mobile, and US Cellular, he advocated for conditions related to wages, safety, and labor protection.

"If I hadn't spent so much time with them, we might not have done this."

⚖️ Minimal Regulation, Significant Deregulation

In response to the debate over the Republican FCC's role changes, Carr said: The FCC is both deregulating on a large scale and taking necessary regulatory actions in key areas such as national security, public safety, labor protection, and media policy. He mentioned that the Delete, Delete, Delete project has removed about 130,000 words from federal regulations and reduced the number of FCC employees to their lowest levels in decades.

"We have some regulatory actions and a lot of deregulatory actions."

🌐 Podcast Information Supplement

This podcast uses the original voice tone for audio production, and there may be some places where it sounds strange.

Using AI for translation, so there may be some awkward parts;

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