The Wall Street Journal Letter to the Editor from Chief Technology Officer Stephen N. Miller

Re: "BEAD Broadband Program" by Arielle Roth (March 9, 2026)

Dear Editor,

The Wall Street Journal recently published an opinion piece from Assistant Commerce Secretary Arielle Roth which accused the District of Columbia government of wasteful spending on a federal broadband access program: trying to "connect a shed, a nonexistent building and an open field to the internet."

Here's the twist: these locations were identified by the federal government, not the District of Columbia.

The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program was created through the bipartisan infrastructure law. BEAD supports digital job training and education programs - things that our residents need. But to access BEAD funding, Congress requires that every eligible location be connected first. And the District doesn't choose those locations: the FCC does.

Operating under the rules approved by the current administration, we submitted proposals to connect a shed and a field - we didn't pick the locations, and we didn't pick the cost (competitive private bidding was required).

Did we want to prioritize these locations? No. Do we need access to a critical bipartisan program that supports opportunity for our residents? Yes.

We were glad to work with the Assistant Secretary's team (which has exclusive final authority to remove locations from the list) to remove unnecessary locations and focus on what really matters: digital futures for Washingtonians - just as we've been doing for over a decade.

Washington, DC has been named a 'Digital Inclusion Trailblazer' for eight years in a row. Our work to expand opportunity for residents, create new jobs, and ensure that technology serves all residents in every ward of the city is one reason why DC has been cited as the #1 state for technology careers. We're proud to continue that work.

In the end, our message to the Assistant Secretary and to Congress is this: Washington DC is excited to continue working together to expand our residents' access to job trainings, education, and opportunity in the digital space. But the rules could use a rewrite.

Stephen N. Miller
Chief Technology Officer
District of Columbia