December 2009

Open government? There's an app for that. Or so the Obama administration proposes, rolling out a "transparency, participation and collaboration" directive for all federal departments and agencies at 11 a.m. ET today. "We are fundamentally committed to changing the way government works," says Aneesh Chopra, the federal government's chief technology officer. Further "open government" initiatives will follow, showcasing federal data already public and seeking comment starting Thursday on whether all federally funded research, other than what's classified, should be free. The effort means that, for the first time, the public will soon have immediate access to information such as hospital report cards, dangerous workplaces, airport delays, wildfires and even calories in foods. Bush administration secrecy, agency rules and old technology had hindered its release until now, says Gary Bass of OMB Watch, a government-watchdog group. "I couldn't have written it better," Bass says.

Just how independent may a government agency be? In a spirited argument at the Supreme Court on Monday, the justices considered whether Congress had violated separation-of-powers principles in 2002 when it created a board to regulate the accounting industry. The problem, critics of the law say, is that the board is too insulated from presidential oversight. The board, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (sometimes called peekaboo by accountants), is overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission, itself an independent agency. Under the 2002 law, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, board members are doubly insulated from presidential control. The S.E.C., but not the president, can remove them, and only for cause. One level up, the president can remove S.E.C. commissioners, but again only for cause. "In other words," Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said at the argument, "the president can't remove the S.E.C. commissioners at will. They can't remove the P.C.A.O.B. commissioners at will." The net result, the chief justice said, was two layers of insulation — "for-cause squared," he called it. He suggested that Congress had gone too far in telling the executive branch how to conduct its business.

As part of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), the nation's next generation of emergency alert and warning networks, the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the adoption of the design specifications for the development of a gateway interface that will enable wireless carriers to provide its customers with timely and accurate emergency alerts and warnings via their cell phones and other mobile devices. The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) is one of many projects within IPAWS intended to provide emergency mangers and the President of the United States a means to send alerts and warnings to the public. Specifically, CMAS provides Federal, state, territorial, tribal and local government officials the ability to send 90 character geographically targeted text messages to the public regarding emergency alert and warning of imminent threats to life and property, Amber alerts, and Presidential emergency messages. The CMAS is a combined effort of the federal government and cellular providers to define a common standard for cellular alerts. This announcement marks the beginning of the 28-month period, mandated by the FCC in August 2008, for commercial mobile service providers who have elected to participate in the design specifications known as CMAS to develop, test and deploy the system and deliver mobile alerts to the public by 2012.

The important thing to remember about the U.S. National Broadband Plan is that it's not going to fix everything. Blair Levin, a former Federal Communications Commission chief of staff who's returned to run the FCC's broadband initiative, and Carlos Kirjner, senior adviser to the FCC chairman, spoke at an informal gathering of about 50 people, organized by Silicon Valley's Churchill Club. It wasn't just a techy kiss-up session, though. The tone was candid as Levin and Kirjner summed up the major areas the Plan is addressing so far: The need for more wireless spectrum, IPTV and other IP-related changes to TV markets, Developing ways to let users quantify how well broadband is working, Security and privacy, "Universalization," bringing broadband to institutions like schools and hospitals, and Lowering broadband costs by addressing issues such as right-of-way. But the broadband plan won't fix every contention that exists around broadband issues. Net neutrality is a good example. It came up in audience Q&A, but Levin and Kirjner said the plan won't be answering that issue simply because that's the job of other people at the FCC.