Network connectivity is crucial to building a smart grid that enables more efficient electric power use in the U.S., government and electric industry officials said at an FCC broadband workshop Tuesday afternoon. However, panelists disagreed about whether the public wireless network is robust enough to support applications that go beyond basic metering.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a notice announcing that seven Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) are seeking to recruit private sector members to advise the Commerce Department on the technical parameters for export controls applicable to dual-use commodities and technology and on the administration of those controls.
A draft revision of the cybersecurity bill offered by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., in April significantly tones down some of the government control provisions that had alarmed industry (WID June 29 p3). Internet Security Alliance President Larry Clinton circulated to ISA members a working draft from staff of the Senate Commerce Committee, which Rockefeller heads, dated Aug. 19 that he said appears to be “substantially improved” over the original.
The Department of Homeland Security has issued an interim rule, effective August 17, 2009, which amends its Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation (HSAR) to reflect statutory changes limiting the acquisition of products containing textiles from sources outside the U.S.
All options remain on the table for the 700 MHz D-block, Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett told reporters Thursday. Bureau officials said, meanwhile, that it’s unclear when the 800 MHz rebanding, ongoing for five years, will be completed. Barnett has been at the FCC only since late July.
National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes Wednesday proposed two alternative plans for the 700 MHz D- block in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. In the wake of the failed D-block auction, various public safety groups, supported by AT&T and Verizon Wireless, have instead urged the FCC to petition Congress to change the law so that the spectrum can be given directly to public safety to use, bypassing another auction. Fontes suggested that an auction remains a viable alternative.
Mischel Kwon, director of the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team at Department of Homeland Security, leaving agency Sept. 2 … Digital chief Cory Ondrejka leaving EMI Aug. 21 for unspecified “entrepreneurial” work … National Geographic Digital Media names Robert Murray, ex-Georgetown University, vice president of social media.
The next-generation 911 system is facing bureaucratic obstacles, Senate supporters of E-911 legislation told Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a letter. The New and Emerging Technologies Improvement Act passed last year required DoT to produce by April 20 a plan to move to a national IP-enabled emergency network. The law’s sponsors, Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Olympia Snowe, R-Me., haven’t received a report on a plan or proposed legislation to carry it, they said in the letter Thursday. They said they understand that National Highway Transportation Safety Administration “staff have worked very diligently to assemble the information required for the report -- and have faced a number of challenges during that process,” but added that “the delay threatens to imperil not just the next generation 911 transition, but also the reauthorization of the 911 Coordination Office.” Authority for the coordination office, created under the Enhance 911 Act, is set to expire Sept. 30. The letter asks DoT to tell the senators when the migration report will be delivered and explain the delay. The senators also want the department to state whether it believes it has authority to extend on its own the existence of the 911 Coordination Office after September.
On August 4, 2009, the Senate passed its own version of H.R. 2997, a bill that would make fiscal year 2010 appropriations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies programs.