No, the US government isn't likely to get into the wireless business. But the Trump administration's out-of-the-blue proposal to build a 5G network raises some legitimate concerns worth paying attention to.

President Donald Trump's National Security Council has discussed the possibility of building a 5G network to counter Chinese spying on US mobile devices, according to report by Axios. The government-run network would supposedly protect emerging technologies reliant on 5G and ensure the US remained a leader in wireless.

The idea got shot down almost immediately by analysts and experts as well as all five FCC commissioners, including the three Republicans. Chairman Ajit Pai said he opposed the federal government building and operating a nationwide 5G network. Fellow Republican Commissioner Michael O'Rielly called the proposal "nonsensical."

"I've seen lead balloons tried in DC before," O'Rielly said. "But this is like a balloon made out of a Ford Pinto."

Some financial analysts also dismissed the idea out of hand.

"This is so far-fetched that it doesn't deserve to even be discussed," said Craig Moffett, an analyst with MoffettNathanson.

The immediate pushback means the proposal is unlikely to get very far. Indeed, White House officials told Recode the plan is "dated." But as ridiculous as the idea sounds, it could reignite discussions about security concerns on 5G, the superfast fifth generation of wireless network technology, which is expected to connect everything from self-driving cars to the smart appliances in our homes.

"I agree there are serious concerns relating to the Chinese government's influence into network equipment markets," said Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, who is vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Intelligence. "I would look forward to working with the administration on a viable, cost-effective solution to begin addressing those risks."

Cybersecurity for 5G networks had been a top priority for the previous FCC under Tom Wheeler, a Democrat appointed by President Barack Obama. But the current Republican-led agency has taken the stance that the FCC has no authority to ensure wireless providers are building secure networks.

"This correctly diagnoses a real problem," FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, noted in her statement.  "There is a worldwide race to lead in 5G and other nations are poised to win.  But the remedy proposed here really misses the mark."

What are the security issues?

Wireless communications networks in general are not very secure by modern standards, because they were not designed to be, according to Travis Le Blanc, who was chief of the FCC's enforcement bureau during the Obama administration. He's also a partner at the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, where he serves as an expert in consumer protection, cybersecurity and privacy for telecommunications networks.

This is no fault of the wireless carriers that built the networks, LeBlanc said. At the time, no one could have predicted the security threats that would emerge decades later, and retrofitting the existing network to meet current security threats has proven difficult. This lack of end-to-end security is what makes it so easy for robocallers to use auto-dialers to spoof cellphone numbers and trick people into answering phone calls from numbers they think they know.

It's also what makes it possible for third parties, like police investigators, to launch so-called stingray attacks, which set up fake cellphone towers to intercept communications, allowing them to locate a target or listen in on calls.

All of these concerns are magnified with 5G, which is up to 100 times faster than current wireless technology and expected to connect even more devices around us. At its full potential, 5G will mean that information about almost every aspect of our lives could be recorded and stored in the cloud. This presents huge concerns for privacy advocates, who have been warning that government oversight is needed to ensure companies enabling this technology are keeping this information safe.

"Hopefully this will spark a much-needed conversation around privacy and security in our 5G networks," said Le Blanc. "What this memo shows is that cybersecurity isn't just a privacy or civil liberties issue, but a national security and competition issue."

Whose job is it anyway?

The previous FCC under Wheeler tried to make sure that security would be built into 5G networks. In December 2016, while Democrats were still in control, they sought comment from the industry on how best to build more-secure 5G networks.

When Republicans took over in 2017, they shut down the inquiry and stopped seeking comment on the issue. The Republican-led FCC also retracted a white paper written by the FCC about reducing cybersecurity threats.

The bigger problem is if even one carrier decides to skimp on protecting its equipment, it could jeopardize everyone, according to a white paper written by the FCC's Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau.

"Protective actions taken by one ISP can be undermined by the failure of other ISPs to take similar actions," the paper states. "This weakens the incentive of all ISPs to invest in such protections."

The agency argued that regulations are needed to ensure compliance.

"We now understand how important privacy and security are to the success of networks," LeBlanc said. "So we were trying to build that into 5G from the start. It's always harder to retrofit security later."

But Pai and O'Rielly, who served as commissioners when the FCC was controlled by Democrats, pushed back. They said that giving the FCC authority to impose security requirements on new or existing networks was an overreach of FCC authority.

Government takeover goes too far

It's the current FCC's resistance to any regulation on cybersecurity that makes the national security proposal seem so outrageous and out of step with the rest of the administration's agenda.

And that's just one reason policy wonks say it's highly unlikely that this plan will ever come to fruition. There are practical questions, like how the government would fund the work, where it would find the radio airwaves necessary to power the service and whether it could go from zero to a real network in just three years.

Legal experts say it's possible, but highly unlikely.

"Could the federal government seize wireless spectrum and network assets to build a 5G network? The answer is yes," said Trey Hanbury, a partner specializing in telecommunications law at the international law firm Hogan Lovells. "But it would be very complicated and expensive to do."

The wireless carriers, meanwhile, are already well on their way to building their 5G networks, with several companies including AT&T and Verizon planning to test their networks this year. What's more, 5G isn't a discrete new network but an evolution. And like all network evolutions, carriers will end up using existing infrastructure, equipment and spectrum for their 5G efforts.

"Thanks to multibillion-dollar investments made by American companies, the work to launch 5G service in the US is already well down the road," AT&T said in a statement. "We have no doubt that America will lead the 5G revolution."

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