Michael Gallagher, new deputy chief of staff for policy and couns...

Michael Gallagher, new deputy chief of staff for policy and counselor to Commerce Secy. Donald Evans, said the scope of his new job would involve communications issues as well as other policy areas under the department’s purview, ranging from the U.S. Census Bureau and international trade to NOAA and NTIA. Gallagher had served for 18 months as NTIA deputy dir. before recently moving to the job on the 5th floor at the Commerce Dept. He told us last week his new position involved “integrating and making sure that we have successful coordination with the White House” on the issues in his portfolio. Gallagher said his policy areas now would include a broader slate than at NTIA, including everything from environmental issues such as water policy in the Northwest to weather prediction issues at NOAA. “I will continue to keep a watchful eye and a steady interest in telecommunications and spectrum issues. That’s because those are the issues that brought me to Washington, D.C., and that I spent so much time on over the last 18 months,” he said. Before joining NTIA, Gallagher had been vp-state public policy at Verizon Wireless and earlier as an aide to then-Rep. Rick White (R- Wash.). “A number of those issues are continuing in nature,” he said, citing ultra-wideband, 3G spectrum, 5 GHz bands for radio local access networks and the ENUM numbering protocol: “They are all in stages of development. None of them are completely finished.” Asked about the NTIA reorganization that Evans proposed in Feb., Gallagher said work on that plan was continuing. “I am looking forward to assisting from the position that I hold now,” he said. The plan would merge NTIA, the Technology Administration and the e-commerce duties of the International Trade Administration into a single agency. NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory would remain as asst. secy. for communications & information but would report to TA Undersecy. Phil Bond, formerly Evans’s chief of staff, instead of to Evans, as she does now (CD Feb 14 p1). “I believe I have a significant amount to add to the process or to the structure of the combined entities,” Gallagher said, noting his role at NTIA essentially had been that of a chief operating officer, giving him in-depth knowledge of how the agency worked. “The combined enterprise will be larger than the sum of its parts in effectiveness,” he said.