Gov performance

The Federal Communications Commission’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) was dealt yet another blow when New York City CTO Miguel Gamiño Jr. resigned from the committee's Model Code for Municipalities Working Group, raising questions whether the BDAC is going to survive much longer. Gamiño said in a letter sent to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that the BDAC process has favored the interests of large service providers over the communities involved in crafting next-gen broadband strategies.  His departure comes at what has been a trying time for the BDAC.

[Commentary] President Donald Trump’s April 2 Sinclair tweet highlights the fact that in his administration, companies that favor the president seem to get treated one way, while those who appear to be neutral or even opposed to his administration risk getting publicly abused by him.  President Trump’s tweet in support of Sinclair dredges up this disconcerting history. But it’s also troubling on a deeper level.

A second member has quit the Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee, also suggesting it has been carrying water for industry rather than drawing on a well of other sources to grow broadband deployment. Miguel Gamiño Jr., CTO of the New York City, said in a letter to FCC chairman Ajit Pai that after participating in 100 hours worth of calls, attending one all-day meeting in D.C.

The Justice Department’s inspector general, facing increasing political pressure from Republicans in Congress and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, said that his office would investigate the surveillance of a former Trump campaign official. The inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, said he would examine whether law enforcement officials complied with the law and departmental policies in seeking permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap the former campaign adviser, Carter Page.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation did not exhaust possible solutions to unlock an iPhone connected to a gunman involved in a late-2015 shooting spree before seeking a court order to compel Apple to help access the device, a US Justice Department internal watchdog said. The conclusion may pose challenges for the Trump Administration in possible future litigation to force companies to help crack into encrypted devices.

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-PA) wrote to the Federal Communications Commission's Republican members to register their serious concerns about those members appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Feb. “Your willingness to attend and help promote a political rally raises serious concerns about your roles as leaders of an independent federal agency, and the potential of taxpayer dollars being spent towards political ends,” the Ranking Members wrote. They said they are look

[Commentary] In Feb 2018, the Federal Communications Commission released its most recent Broadband Deployment Report, which bases its analysis on 2016 data delivered by all Internet providers. At first glance, improvements in broadband coverage are noticeable; a national summary of the accompanying map indicates that over 95 percent of all Americans now have access to the official broadband threshold (25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream). The intuitive “fixed” technologies (DSL, Cable, Fiber) made up over 95% of all 25/3 entries in the 2014 and 2015 records.

In a letter to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rob Portman (R-OH), Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said that there is little the FCC can do to prevent public comments filed under false names, or under stolen identities or to prevent mass bogus filings in what is meant to be an open, public, process.

On Nov 9, Rep Paul Tonko (D-NY) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai expressing concern that, "the FCC is failing to bridge the digital divide because of faulty broadband data and inappropriately low baseline standards for rural service." 

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and federal agencies have taken steps to improve the management of information technology (IT) acquisitions and operations through a series of initiatives, to include (1) data center consolidation, (2) implementation of incremental development practices, (3) approval of IT acquisitions, (4) implementation of key IT workforce practices, and (5) addressing aging legacy IT systems. As of March 2018, the agencies had fully implemented about 59 percent of the approximately 800 related recommendations that GAO made during fiscal years 2010 through 2015.