Order Code RS21469
Updated April 11, 2005
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
The National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA):
Budget, Programs, and Issues
Glenn J. McLoughlin
Specialist in Technology and Telecommunications Policy
Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Summary
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a part
of the Department of Commerce, is the executive branch’s principal advisory office on
domestic and international telecommunications and information issues and policies.
Congressional policymakers generally have supported the NTIA’s mandate through the
appropriations process. Because of its role in setting telecommunications policy for the
federal government in the information age, the NTIA has a significant impact on both
the public and private sector. Still, this role is changing. In FY2005, Congress agreed
with President Bush’s request to terminate funding for NTIA’s Technology Opportunity
Program; for FY2006, Congress is considering whether to also agree with the
Administration to terminate NTIA’s Public Telecommunications Facilities, Planning and
Construction Program. In addition, the Administration is seeking to seek a larger role
for NTIA’s spectrum management and domain name registration. Some congressional
policymakers see this proposed change as streamlining policymaking; others are
concerned that the important functions and mission of NTIA will be subsumed and lost
in the merger. The total funding for NTIA in FY2005 is $38.7 million. For FY2006, the
Bush Administration has requested $23.5 million. This report will be updated as events
warrant.
Background
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a part
of the Department of Commerce, is the executive branch’s principal advisory office on
domestic and international telecommunications and information technology issues and
policies. Among its objectives, it has a mandate to provide greater access for all
Americans to telecommunications services; to provide support for U.S. attempts to open
foreign telecommunications and information markets; to advise the Secretary of
Commerce, the President, and Vice President and the executive branch in international
telecommunications and information negotiations; to fund research grants for new
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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technologies and their applications; and to assist non-profit organizations in converting
to digital transmission in the 21st century.1
Generally, congressional policymakers have supported the NTIA’s mandate and
objectives through the appropriations process. The recent history of the NTIA budget,
FY2000-FY2006, is as follows:
Table 1. NTIA Funding FY2000-FY2006
(in millions of dollars)
Request
Appropriations
FY2000
$ 72.3
$ 52.9
FY2001
$423.0
$100.4
FY2002
$ 73.0
$ 73.0
FY2003
$ 44.0
$ 73.6
FY2004
$ 25.4
$ 51.1
FY2005
$ 27.6
$ 38.7
FY2006
$ 23.5
To Be Determined
It should be noted that in FY2001, the Clinton Administration requested additional
funding for digitizing existing public broadcasting transmissions and construction of new
public digital broadcasting facilities. While the final appropriations did not match the
Clinton Administration’s request of $423 million, it represented a substantial increase in
NTIA’s historical budget. Congress has generally maintained consistent funding for
NTIA in its appropriations, regardless of the request.
For FY2006, the Bush Administration has proposed a continued reduction in the
NTIA budget, primarily reflected in eliminating functions (see below). In addition,
Secretary of Commerce Evans has proposed merging NTIA with the Technology
Administration and the e-commerce functions of the International Trade Administration,
both part of the Department of Commerce. This move would be intended to reduce
program salary costs and streamline policymaking decisions. Congress will likely hold
hearings on both the proposed budget as well as the proposed move of NTIA into the
Technology Administration.
Programs and Budgets
Until FY2004, the NTIA budget had three major components: salaries and expenses;
information infrastructure grants programs; and public telecommunications facilities,
planning and construction. However, the infrastructure grants program was eliminated
1 See [http://ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/ntiafacts.htm].

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in FY2005, and the Bush Administration is requesting, and Congress considering, ending
funding for the public telecommunications facilities, planning and construction program.
Salaries and Expenses. This portion of the NTIA budget includes funding to
maintain ongoing programs for domestic and international policy development, federal
spectrum and related research. For FY2005, Congress appropriated $17.2 million for
NTIA’s salary and expenses. For FY2006, the Bush Administration has requested $21.4
million. According to the Administration, this increase would be used to further develop
basic research, analytical, and management topics of interest to the U.S.
telecommunications and information sectors of the economy.
Other administrative and policy responsibilities that fall to NTIA but are not separate
program functions include domestic and international telecommunications policymaking.
The NTIA advises the President, Vice President and Secretary of Commerce on
international telecommunications treaties and represents U.S. positions and policies at
international conferences, such as the World Radio Conference held by the International
Telecommunication Union. The NTIA also advises the executive branch on ways to
implement the 1996 Telecommunications Act (P.L. 104-104), further competition in
telecommunications and develop “technology neutral” telecommunications policies. At
the same time, it has produced a series of reports on the “digital divide” in America —
who comprises this divide and what policies may help close the divide.2 The NTIA also
is overseeing the transition of the management of the Internet domain name system to the
private sector.3
Spectrum Policy. Among the many administrative functions that also fall under
salaries and expenses is management of the U.S. spectrum for federal use. The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) has the primary role of managing the non-federal
portion of the spectrum, which not only includes private sector use, but state and local
government use of the spectrum as well. The NTIA also advises the President and
executive branch on national spectrum policy, manages the federal portion of the
spectrum for public safety use, and encourages policies that provide greater private sector
use of existing broadcast spectrum.4
Domain Names. The NTIA is the accredited U.S. representative to the International
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Government Advisory
Committee (GAC). ICANN’s members are working to make it into a fully privatized
entity, responsible for managing the domain name system for all stakeholders, including
2 “Digital divide” commonly refers to those who have access to the Internet and those who do not.
While some contend that the “digital divide” is a political, not policy, issue, the NTIA has
published a series of Department of Commerce reports on the status of Internet use in the United
States by demographics. See The National Telecommunications and Information Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce. A Nation Online: How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of
the Internet. February 2002.
3 For more on domain names and the role of NTIA, see CRS Report 97-868, Internet Domain
Names: Background and Policy Issues, by Lennard G. Kruger.
4 For more on spectrum management and auction issues, see CRS Report RL31764, Spectrum
Management: Auctions, by Linda K. Moore.

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governments. By FY2006 the GAC is expected to funded by contributions from its
members, including NTIA.
In 2005, the Department of Commerce ordered companies that administer Internet
addresses — domain names — to stop allowing customers to register “.us” domain names
anonymously using proxy services. This policy was announced in a letter sent to a U.S.
company that had been registering domain names by proxy for other firms.5 Civil
liberties and privacy advocates are concerned that such a change in policy was made
without public comment, and impacts First Amendment rights to anonymous free speech.6
Public Telecommunications Facilities, Planning and Construction
(PTFPC). The PTFPC program in NTIA assists public broadcasting stations, state and
local governments, Indian tribes, and non-profit organizations construct facilities to bring
educational and cultural programs to the U.S. public using broadcast and non-broadcast
telecommunications and information technologies.7 The program provides competitive
grants to public broadcasting organizations to plan, buy and employ new broadcast
equipment and services nationwide. The public broadcast system had a mandate to
convert all of its television broadcasts to digital by May 31, 2003. The Corporation for
Public Broadcasting has reported that most, but not all, of its public broadcast members
have me that goal.
For FY2005, Congress appropriated $21.4 million; for FY2006, the Bush
Administration has requested $2 million, to close out existing digital construction and
conversion projects and to end NTIA’s role in this area. The Bush Administration is
seeking to place all funding for construction of public broadcasting facilities and
conversion of analog broadcast to digital in the federal funding for the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting, so it can expedite digital conversion.
Technology Opportunity Program (TOP). In FY2005, the Bush
Administration requested the termination of NTIA’s information infrastructure grants
program, called the Technology Opportunity Program (TOP). Congress agreed with this
request and eliminated funding for this program.8 TOP was a competitive, merit-based
matching grant program that was started in FY1994 to provide emerging
telecommunications and information technologies to grant recipients in new and
innovative ways.9 The Bush Administration and Congress agreed that this program had
successfully served its purpose of creating new pilot programs in areas not served or
underserved by telecommunications and Internet technologies. While some policymakers
5 Kim Zetter. Domain Owners Lose Privacy. Wired News. March 4, 2005.
6 CRS Report 97-868, Internet Domain Names: Background and Policy Issues, by Lennard G.
Kruger.
7 See [http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome.html], visited April 11, 2005.
8 Before 2000, the TOP program was called the Technology Information Infrastructure Assistance
Program (TIIAP).
9 The TOP program was funded between $17million to $21million in the years preceding its
termination. For more information on the funding history of this program, see
[http://www.osec.doc.gov/bmi/budget/06BIB/ntia.pdf], visited April 11, 2005.

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have called for new funding for this program, no new legislation authorizing
appropriations has been introduced to date.
Conclusions
Policymakers continue to examine the proper role of NTIA in supporting its
programs and policies, as well as the overall budget for NTIA to support its mission.
According to some, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 set into law a de-regulatory
environment that requires less, not more, federal direction of telecommunications and
information technology use. The explosive growth of the Internet since the mid-1990s
has reached nearly every part of America, and Internet access is virtually ubiquitous.
Therefore, beyond budget issues, the role of NTIA has changed in some policy areas.
Two important issues facing NTIA’s administration of public telecommunications
policy are domain name registration and use of spectrum. Regarding domain names, the
NTIA policy has raised concerns that NTIA has created a new domain name registration
policy without public comment, and that this policy violates First Amendment rights to
anonymous speech. Second, some are concerned that NTIA is seeking to develop a larger
and broader policy role in spectrum management as a result of losing funding in other
program areas, such as the TOP program and perhaps eventually the PTFPC program.
Because spectrum and its use is an important alternative to terrestrial communications
transmission and reception, federal policy regarding its use and applications is an
important national issue. Some question whether NTIA’s evolving role in spectrum
management is being fully coordinated with other federal institutions, such as that of the
Federal Communications Commission.10
Concerns about changes in NTIA’s mission and objectives also has been raised
regarding the Bush Administration’s elimination of funding for the TOP program and
reducing funding for the PTFPC program. The Administration contends that the efforts
of the former will be picked up by the private sector, and the latter by the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting. Some still contend that it is not clear whether all of the possible
areas of information infrastructure development have been saturated through the TOP
program; or if not yet saturated, whether industry will find it profitable to provide the “last
mile”11 of telecommunications and Internet connections in areas not yet served. For
public telecommunications and facilities planning and construction, an issue may arise
as to whether the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has the resources to administer a
facilities construction program. The ultimate question may be whether this change will
fundamentally affect the pace at which national broadcasting is converted to digital
transmission.
10 To alleviate these concerns, the Bush Administration has announced that the Assistant
Secretary of NTIA will chair an interagency committee, the Policy and Plans Steering Group,
which will seek to implement the President’s November 30, 2004 Spectrum Policy Initiative.
[http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/gallery/ppsg01242005.htm], visited April 11, 2005.
11 The “last mile” is a term that applies when an entire telecommunications network is in place,
except for the final connection, or “last mile,” to the user.

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