Staffing is a growing problem at emergency call centers, with 36% of those surveyed having fewer positions filled in 2022 than in 2019, said the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch Monday. Citing a joint study it did with the National Association of State 911 Administrators, IAED said its survey found 13 centers with 70% or more positions unfilled, 92 with a vacancy rate of 50%-69% and 166 with vacancy rates of 30%-49%. It said nearly every respondent reported losing employees in 2022 -- a total of 3,952 staff departures across the 774 surveyed centers.
Providers signaled a note of caution in response to letters from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel asking the nation’s nine largest providers of wireless emergency alerts about sending alerts in languages beyond English and Spanish (see 2302140059). “If alert originators and FEMA originate and hand off multilingual alert information in a format consistent with Commission rules and relevant technical standards, Verizon could support them,” the carrier said, posted Tuesday in docket 15-91. Revisions in the alerting process “will require collaboration and consensus among stakeholders responsible for originating, delivering and presenting alerts to consumers, and a feasible period of time to incorporate the new capability into networks and handsets,” Verizon said. “Any modifications to the current, broadcast-based model of WEA must be made under structured conditions and rigorously hashed out through technical standards bodies, otherwise the FCC risks fragmenting a well-functioning international alerting system,” AT&T said: “Further, the more significant the modification, the less likely that current and legacy handsets will be able to support it.” T-Mobile urged the FCC to work with its Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) and the ATIS Wireless Technologies and Systems Committee (WTSC) on any changes. “With regard to potential modifications to the WEA system and WEA-capable wireless devices referenced in your letter, T-Mobile supports CSRIC and WTSC evaluating whether these solutions are compatible with the cell-broadcast technology that underpins the successful WEA system,” the company said. “While technical evaluations about the issues raised in your letter are on-going” the FCC and FEMA “should encourage alert originators to use the embedded link capabilities of WEA to ensure that emergency information is accessible to as many language communities as possible,” T-Mobile said. The FCC must “engage device manufacturers to effectively enhance WEA messaging,” C Spire said. The company “is not aware of existing machine translation technologies that are sufficiently reliable for use in emergency situations,” it said: “To make such functionality a reality, C Spire believes that the FCC must initiate a proceeding prompting a designated standards body, … vendors, and device manufacturers to develop standards for such technologies.” Google Fi said as an mobile virtual network operator it “relies upon underlying network partners to provide WEA capabilities. The network partners push WEA notifications directly to Fi users without any modification by Google Fi.”
There's a lot of government interest in fortifying U.S. internet traffic routing security, but it's less clear what it can and should do, said Wilkinson Barker cybersecurity lawyer Clete Johnson Tuesday on an FCBA cybersecurity committee webinar. Noting the FCC's open proceeding on routing security that was launched in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he said routing security doesn't line up well with traditional regulatory tools and their focus on prescriptive compliance. Johnson said the complexity of the issue doesn't necessarily match that approach.
Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, a citizen of Lebanon and Belgium, and Talal Chahine, a Lebanese citizen, were charged as part of a conspiracy to launder money, cause U.S. citizens to conduct illegal transactions with a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and conduct illegal transactions with a sanctioned terrorist, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced Feb. 24. Each charge carries the possible punishment of up to 20 years in prison.
Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi, a citizen of Lebanon and Belgium, and Talal Chahine, a Lebanese citizen, were charged as part of a conspiracy to launder money, cause U.S. citizens to conduct illegal transactions with a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and conduct illegal transactions with a sanctioned terrorist, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced Feb. 24. Each charge carries the possible punishment of up to 20 years in prison.
Federal agencies need better coordination on AI as the U.S. works toward a national AI policy, said Lynne Parker, former director of the White House National Artificial Intelligence Office, on a Center for Data Innovation webinar Thursday. Experts said the Biden administration should do more to follow up on initiatives started under President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, a new survey by NVIDA found that 95% of industry respondents said they’re looking at or using AI, though most use is at an early stage.
The State Department this week released its long-awaited revised arms transfer policies (see 2111040056), outlining how the Biden administration will assess arms transfer risks while also promoting U.S. defense trade. The Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) Policy formalizes the “priorities and rationale” the administration has been using to adjudicate arms transfer decisions, which it said includes a heavy focus on human rights issues.
Japan and other G-7 countries should use the group’s trade ministers meeting later this year to push for a common set of export control standards across member states, which could help allied export control systems better respond to modern security and human rights issues, export control and technology policy experts said. In comments recently submitted to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the experts said plurilateral controls by G-7 countries and other like-minded “techno-democracies” can address some issues the existing multilateral control regimes are hindered from tackling because of Russia’s membership (see 2211210005 and 2009290042).
The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council raised concerns after FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel sent letters to the nation’s nine largest providers of wireless emergency alerts last week seeking information on how alerts can start to support languages beyond English and Spanish (see 2302140059). MMTC reminded the FCC it sought changes to the emergency alert system in 2005, in a petition never addressed by regulators. Reports are that the commission’s focus on the issue of multilingual emergency alerts has shifted from the emergency alert “Designated Hitter” system proposed by MMTC to a model based on WEA, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 06-119. “If true, this shift represents an unfortunate step backward from the Commission’s goal of ensuring that people from a variety of language backgrounds are armed with critical information during and in the immediate wake of a life-threatening emergency,” MMTC said: “Although wireless providers generally do a good job of relaying multilingual emergency information in advance of anticipated disasters, cell towers and other systems making up wireless infrastructure are often compromised or taken entirely offline when disaster actually strikes, leaving radio stations with back-up generators among the few sources of mass communications still operating during such events.” The group asked the FCC to focus instead on its designated hitter proposal.
A new report by the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) recommends “urgent action” and presidential-level focus on cyberthreats. NSTAC members approved the “Strategy for Increasing Trust in the Information and Communications Technology and Services Ecosystem” during a telephone meeting Tuesday. Administration officials said they will soon release an updated national cybersecurity strategy.