Steven Price, a software company executive and lawyer, will serve as the first deputy assistant secretary of defense for spectrum and C3 (command, control and communications) policy.

The Department of Defense cited "potential competition, interference and coordination requirements" as reasons for creating the new position. Price said he wants to "help DOD build a global secure wideband network, with wireless access, for warriors in the field so that bandwidth does not limit or impede U.S. military capability."

The Pentagon has resisted efforts by Congress and the wireless industry to relinquish spectrum that would be used for new mobile applications. The government has delayed a decision on whether to proceed with the transfer of the spectrum.

Price, a former arms control negotiator in the first Bush administration, will work with the Federal Communications Commission and the Commerce Department to help resolve the spectrum debate.