The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) must move faster to ensure adoption by local first responders of interoperable communications equipment, numerous members of Congress told DHS Secy. Tom Ridge last week. Over the course of 2 days of hearings, more than a dozen members of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security raised the interoperability issue, with Rep. Weldon (R-Pa.) also pressing for more spectrum for public safety users. Ridge apparently got the message, because when asked by Rep. Lucas (D-Ky.) what he believed was the top priority for communities involving homeland security, Ridge responded: “What I've heard is, from just about everybody, it’s communications equipment.”
Asst. Energy Secy. Dan Brouillette will become the new staff dir. for the House Commerce Committee. Brouillette takes the position recently vacated by David Marventano, who left to take a post with the Fluor Corp. Brouillette worked for 7 years in Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin’s (R-La.) personal office, where he worked on the 1996 Telecom Act and the 1992 Cable TV Act. At the Energy Dept., Brouillette was senior officer for congressional and intergovernmental affairs.
Federal grants for Native American telecommunication must be put back on the Bush Administration’s list of priorities, speakers said at an oversight hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on the status of telecom in Indian Country. Sen. Johnson (D-S.D.) said improving telecom for Indians was “a matter of public safety, not luxury,” and Sen. Inouye (D-Hawaii) said the Administration had proposed eliminating outreach initiatives such as the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) and the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP), both of which helped increase the “hook-up” on Indian reservations, which still have the lowest telephone penetration rates in the nation. TOP has given $17.5 million to Native American tribes for “projects establishing networks that enhance access to education, health and government as well as build capacity for e- commerce, e-training and distance learning,” said Kelly Levy, assoc. administrator for the Office of Policy Analysis & Development in the U.S. Commerce Dept.
Changes at Lockheed Martin: Rick Masoni named vp- business development, Mark Pasquale appointed head of newly combined LMCSS govt. and commercial programs, Charles Krisch to head now-joined engineering and operations divisions… Andy Lange, ex-Sprint, named COO-mktg. vp, Handscomm… Elected to Broadcast Cable Financial Management Assn. board: William Fitzsimmons, Jeff Hinson, John Kampfe, Scott Mattox, Tim Pecara and Meredith Senter; Pamela D'Elia, Cox Bcstg., will represent BCCA on the board… Dan Brouillette, ex-Dept. of Energy, named staff dir., House Commerce Committee.
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.
David Marventano, staff dir. of the House Commerce Committee, was named senior vp-govt. affairs of the Fluor Corp., an engineering and construction firm based in Cal. He had been considered a candidate for a position in the NAB Govt. Relations Dept. -- where the chief lobbyist position has been vacant since Jan. when Exec. Vp James May resigned to become pres. of the Air Transport Assn. (CD Jan 6 p9). NAB Senior Vp John Orlando, former CBS lobbyist and top aide to Rep. Dingell (D-Mich.), is acting chief lobbyist and considered a top candidate to succeed May. NAB Pres. Edward Fritts said in late April that a successor to May would be named by “mid-May.”
Panelists at a round table on unlicensed spectrum Tues. differed on the potential of such spectrum to displace both landline broadband and voice offerings, with one panelist foreseeing an erosion in the ILECs’ voice market. Sponsored by NTIA, the FCC and the State Dept., the all-day round table featured numerous policymakers, but they were in moderator roles and said the event was designed to elicit industry input. Interestingly, when one panel was asked by NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory to offer advice to the policymakers in the room, only one of 8 panelists called for more unlicensed spectrum.
A 200-page sheaf of documents proposing to ease ownership restrictions on U.S. broadcasters was sent to each of the FCC’s 5 commissioners late Mon., setting off what promised to be 3 weeks of wrangling over how new ownership rules might shape the country’s media landscape. Several agency and industry insiders said this much was clear: On some big items -- national ownership and newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership, for example -- there already were at least 3 votes in favor of loosening the rules, all of them Republican. A vote is expected June 2.
The broadband challenge is spurring adoption, not deployment, a key Commerce Dept. official said Mon. As he did 18 months ago, Asst. Secy.-Technology Policy Bruce Mehlman told the National Summit for Broadband Deployment hosted by NECA and NARUC that the focus should be on the demand side of broadband, saying supply continued to grow. He said that the Technology Administration had been focusing on the demand side of broadband while the FCC and NTIA examined regulatory barriers.
Key challenge facing broadband is spurring adoption, not deployment, key Commerce Dept. official said Mon.