By Patience Haggin
America's publicly funded emergency-communications network has sometimes failed during the exact disasters it was built to endure, prompting a bipartisan push for tighter oversight.
During a 2024 nationwide network outage for AT&T, which operates the FirstNet service, ambulance crews couldn't transmit electronic medical records to hospitals. They also struggled to dispatch vehicles because they couldn't use GPS, said Matt Zavadsky, an emergency medical technician in Fort Worth, Texas.
When deadly wildfires raged in Maui in 2023, residents couldn't call for help and first responders were unable to communicate with one another, a report from the Commerce Department's Office of Inspector General found late the next year.
And when FBI agents responded to the Christmas Day 2020 bombing that damaged an AT&T facility in Nashville, Tenn., their phones had no service as they searched the rubble for survivors, said Matthew Foster, then an FBI assistant special agent in charge for Nashville.
Those outages on the FirstNet network, coupled with yearslong spats over who is in charge of the $25 billion public-private partnership, are coming to the fore as a congressional reauthorization vote approaches. A House bill to reup the program -- with new accountability measures -- recently passed out of committee with unanimous support.
Some lawmakers and the Commerce Department's watchdog office say the multibillion-dollar program has suffered from mismanagement, network failures during emergencies and a lack of oversight. The reauthorization bill will dictate the future operations of a network created as a dedicated lane for emergency responders.
"The public-safety community has spoken time and again about the success of the FirstNet program," said an AT&T spokesman.
Giving priority to first responders
AT&T secured the first 25-year contract to operate the service for the First Responder Network Authority, or FirstNet, in 2017. It received $6.5 billion over several years in public funds from spectrum auction proceeds to stand it up and agreed to pay the government $18 billion over the life of its contract to lease airwaves for FirstNet. The government, in turn, sends those funds back to AT&T for meeting operational milestones.
AT&T has since contributed some additional funding for network upgrades and discounted some rates for the government. In recent months, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has sought further investment in FirstNet from AT&T, striking a deal in March valued at up to $2 billion. The carrier agreed to invest in additional network upgrades on top of its prior commitments, and the Commerce Department said it would accelerate approvals for the upgrades.
AT&T is responsible for maintaining the network nationwide, even in places where service isn't commercially viable, and gives priority to first responders over other cellular usage.
Around 31,000 public-safety agencies subscribe to FirstNet, and it has successfully kept first responders connected through several major emergencies. On the day of the July 2024 assassination attempt on President Trump, law enforcement using FirstNet didn't have notable connectivity issues, while those using other carriers did, according to a House report.
"They [FirstNet] have really done what the system was set up to do, which is to give us solid communications in times of crisis," said Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, a law-enforcement union.
Still, for years, critics -- including AT&T rivals Verizon Communications and T-Mobile US -- have argued that the FirstNet program is a $25 billion boondoggle that benefits AT&T but doesn't adequately serve the public. Verizon and T-Mobile operate their own competing services for public-safety agencies, without federal subsidies. Neither bid on the original FirstNet contract.
Several Commerce Department inspector-general reports have criticized FirstNet Authority for holding AT&T to lenient network standards. AT&T declined to comment on the reports.
A FirstNet Authority spokesman said the standards represent minimum requirements, and in practice the network operates above those levels. "The FirstNet Authority is working every day to deliver for public safety by expanding the network, investing in coverage, and enhancing the reliability and quality of service," he said.
FirstNet's governance is complicated. An independent FirstNet Authority was created by Congress within the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration to manage the public-private partnership. FirstNet Authority has at times acted against instructions from its own board, the board's acting vice chair said at a House hearing in February. The House bill would bring the program explicitly under NTIA oversight. AT&T, which also has its own leadership dedicated to the program, said it supports the bill.
Both Verizon and T-Mobile have lobbied for Commerce to have more explicit authority over the program, people familiar with the matter said. They have also pushed for FirstNet to allow several carriers to participate.
Maui failures
One topic that came up several times in the House hearing on the reauthorization: Maui.
"There's some things that we just sometimes miss or are unprepared for," Sheriff Michael Adkinson Jr., acting vice chair of the FirstNet Authority board, said in his testimony in February. He didn't respond to requests for additional comment.
A 2024 inspector general report on the fire response found that both AT&T and FirstNet fell short, concluding that the program didn't have a solid enough emergency plan in place and took too long to restore service at affected cell sites. (Other cell carriers also suffered outages during the fires.) It also found that AT&T altered some data in its own report to FirstNet Authority after the fires, which made its response appear more robust.
"FirstNet Authority must improve its oversight of AT&T," the report determined.
AT&T said that some data were updated to increase accuracy and clarity. FirstNet Authority said it has improved its oversight mechanisms and has announced plans to keep more dedicated emergency equipment in Hawaii.
AT&T's FirstNet President Scott Agnew said in a published response to the inspector general report that the carrier fulfilled its contractual obligations during the fires and the report didn't meet government-audit standards.
The network failure during the Maui fires triggered an internal feud at FirstNet Authority.
After a FirstNet employee provided the inspector general with an internal report criticizing the Maui response, the authority's then-executive director and CEO Joseph Wassel allegedly retaliated against the employee by threatening to terminate him, according to people familiar with the matter.
Wassel also allegedly ordered a FirstNet employee to gather compromising information on then-Inspector General Peggy Gustafson and attempt to get Congress to investigate her, according to the people. Wassel left in 2025.
Wassel didn't respond to questions about the allegations but said it was an honor to serve public safety at FirstNet and that he retired last year. Gustafson declined to comment.
The Wassel allegations -- and the broader history of network failures detailed in inspector general reports -- set off alarm bells within Commerce's NTIA and motivated its leaders to seek more control over FirstNet Authority, said people familiar with the matter.
"Our job today is to take the lessons of nearly 15 years and make FirstNet even better," Rep. Richard Hudson (R., N.C.) said at a February House hearing discussing reauthorization. "That starts with fixing its shortcomings, especially in transparency and accountability."
Write to Patience Haggin at patience.haggin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 15, 2026 20:00 ET (00:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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