The U.S. military is failing to speedily develop and deploy electronic warfare equipment amid a global competition for electromagnetic spectrum supremacy, according to a congressman who served in the Air Force for more than two decades.

After years of putting electronic warfare on “autopilot,” troops’ ability to now jam and spoof and spy from afar has “withered,” said Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and former director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance strategy, plans, doctrine and force development.