Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and 2019 Wash100 Award winner, told attendees at a recent Atlantic Council event that the Department of Defense will conduct a series of experiments on 5G communications technology, Defense One reported Monday.
The DoD’s research and engineering arm will oversee the experiments scheduled for later this year. Discoveries may help the Pentagon’s advisory boards develop policy recommendations in line with 5G implementation. According to Lord, the department’s 5G research and development activities will focus on latency, interference and related equipment.
“5G is a national security issue for us, especially because we have to rethink our industry base as we move forward,†she noted.
Previously, Lord and other defense officials expressed concerns over Chinese telecommunications companies such as Huawei using their products to obtain U.S. data.
The Wash100 award, now in its sixth year, recognizes the most influential executives in the GovCon industry as selected by the Executive Mosaic team in tandem with online nominations from the GovCon community. Representing the best of the private and public sector, the winners demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement and vision.
Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2019 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2019.