On July 25, 2011, the White House released a “Transnational Organized Crime Strategy” that includes 56 priority actions. The White House also issued an Executive Order and proclamation to further the new strategy.

Spectrum legislation to authorize voluntary FCC incentive auctions for broadcast spectrum appears to have become inextricably enmeshed with the debate over raising the debt ceiling. With no clear path in sight for compromise between President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress, industry and government officials said Tuesday it’s unclear whether the debt reconciliation will emerge as the key lever for getting the commission the auction authority it seeks as part of the National Broadband Plan. Broadcasters said a debt limit amendment unveiled late Monday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., could hurt the industry.

AT&T filed two papers at the FCC addressing key questions raised about the company’s proposed buy of T-Mobile. One paper addresses the importance of local competition, while the second explains why carriers of all sizes will be able to get “cutting edge” LTE handsets at “reasonable prices” to sell to their subscribers. Both papers were heavily redacted for public release. Neither relates to the new competitive model recently offered by AT&T, which led FCC staff last week to halt the 180-day “shot clock” on the merger. AT&T is to release that model early this week, a spokesman said Monday.

The International Trade Commission announces that a Section 337 patent-based complaint has been filed regarding certain light-emitting diodes and products containing same.

The $6.5 billion in deficit reduction estimated by the Congressional Budget Office for Senate spectrum legislation (S-911) failed to win over at least two of four Commerce Committee Republicans who voted against the measure in markup. However, a recent statement by Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., may imply that Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, is reconsidering her opposition. Meanwhile, lobbyists are debating the accuracy of the CBO estimate Wednesday that S-911 would reduce net direct spending by $6.5 billion from 2012 to 2021 (CD July 21 p1).

S-911, the spectrum act, would reduce net federal direct spending by $6.5 billion from 2012 to 2021, the Congressional Budget Office said late Wednesday. That’s $3.5 billion less than was estimated by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who has touted his bill’s deficit reduction benefits. CBO’s calculation is based on the FCC raising $24.5 billion from spectrum auctions and the bill increasing direct government spending by $18 billion. The bill also would increase discretionary spending by $43 million from 2012 to 2016, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO said. A debt ceiling deal proposed Tuesday by the Senate so-called “Gang of Six” would direct Rockefeller’s committee to find $11 billion in savings (CD July 20 p1).

The FCC set its hard date for the last DTV switch, saying low-power stations must turn off analog signals in just over four years. The deadline is Sept. 1, 2015, for all TV stations that broadcast at lower power levels than the several thousand full-power outlets that went all-digital in 2009. All low-power stations must vacate the 700 MHz band by the end of this year. That will clear that band, “allowing for the successful deployment of wireless services” by companies and public-safety agencies,” Commissioner Robert McDowell said. Friday evening’s order seemed to have no major changes from an earlier Media Bureau draft (CD June 24 p4).

Frequent updates at the FCC by News Corp. and the addition of internal watchdogs are good ways to guard against the kind of illegality in the U.S. that continues to swirl around the company and its newspapers in the U.K., said industry executives. News Corp. closed its News of the World newspaper two Sundays ago after it was revealed its reporters hacked into the phone systems of politicians and private citizens. The FBI and Justice Department have reportedly opened investigations into the scandal after several U.S. lawmakers pushed for increased scrutiny based on potential violations of the Federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (CD July 14 p7). News Corp. recently hired Williams & Connolly, a prominent Washington, D.C., criminal defense firm, as the legal stakes of the scandal continue to grow.

The FCC set its hard date for the last DTV switch, saying low-power stations must turn off analog signals in just over four years. The deadline is Sept. 1, 2015, for all TV stations that broadcast at lower power levels than the several thousand full-power outlets that went all-digital in 2009.

The State Department’s final rule amending Parts 124 and 126 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to exempt from approval requirements, under certain conditions, intra-company, intra-government, and intra-organization transfers of defense articles to dual or third-country national employees, takes effect on August 15, 2011.