NTIA Deputy Dir. Michael Gallagher is widely expected to leave hi...

NTIA Deputy Dir. Michael Gallagher is widely expected to leave his post to become deputy chief of staff to Commerce Secy. Donald Evans, sources said. Intensified speculation about Gallagher’s pending move came as Commerce was continuing plans to merge NTIA, the Technology Administration and the e-commerce duties of the International Trade Administration. Evans had unveiled plans for the reorganization earlier this year as part of what would be a new agency headed by TA Undersecy. Phil Bond, formerly Evans’s chief of staff. A Commerce Dept. spokeswoman didn’t return a call for comment Wed. Despite Gallagher’s rumored move, several sources said it wasn’t immediately clear who would take his place, meaning he would be expected to keep an eye on at least some broad spectrum issues for a time in his new role. That may be the case because the NTIA Office of Spectrum Management has been without a permanent head for months, with Assoc. Administrator Fredrick Wentland in an acting capacity. Gallagher’s new post also is seen as another likely step in the proposed NTIA reorganization, which has been described by its proponents as consolidating communications and information policy issues into a “superagency” that would give them a higher profile. The plan would keep NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory as asst. secy. for communications & information, but reporting to Bond, instead of directly to Evans, as she does now (CD Feb 14 p1). Several sources said the White House Office of Management & Budget hadn’t yet released a legislative proposal on the plan, which originally was expected to be sent to Congress 45 days after Evans unveiled it Feb. 14. Gallagher joined NTIA in Nov. 2001 and has been closely associated with several spectrum policy issues, including development of the controversial ultra-wideband rulemaking, an area from which Victory had been recused.