Sen Schumer asks FCC for waiver to trace Jewish center bomb threats

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) asked the Federal Communications Commission for a waiver to unscramble anonymous phone numbers that had been used to call in bomb threats to a New York Jewish Community Center. A wave of anti-Semitic acts, including bomb threats to JCCs and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, has drawn concern in Washington and around the nation. Since the start of 2017, there have been roughly 100 threats to 81 JCCs across the US.

Sen Schumer's letter specifically referred to a series of bomb threats that were made on Feb 27 to 11 JCCs, several of them in or near New York. Sen Schumer called on FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to issue a waiver that would allow law enforcement to trace the anonymous calls. Sen Schumer recalled former Chairman Tom Wheeler granting a waiver to handle a bomb threat problem at a school in Long Island (NY). “The access enabled critical school personnel and law enforcement officials to coordinate with one another in their attempts to quickly respond to swatting calls made to the School District,” Sen Schumer said.