Gov performance

US negotiators will push for a series of protectionist measures at negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement the week of Feb 26. The Rust Belt needs a better connection to the rest of the world. To make it in the digital economy, the first step is to plug in. Nearly 40 percent of residents in the rural US remain without access to broadband.

In the next fiscal year, we will continue to operationalize the network and interface with public safety. We have already begun work on service offerings like priority and preemption, and new capabilities will come as the FirstNet core network is launched in the first half of calendar year 2018. In addition,
we will see new device, application, and service offerings. We also will see the first phases of our RAN buildout to reflect increased coverage across the
country.

At a panel session at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai talked up the "entrepreneurial spirit of markets" over the "all-knowing vortex of government." Chairman Pai said it was that spirit that would get broadband to rural areas and entrepreneurs from the drawing table to the board, as well as promote advancements in healthcare and education.  He said his FCC recognizes the power of citizens rather than that of a few unelected bureaucrats.

Back in 2011 the Obama Federal Communications Commission announced the creation of a $300 million broadband map using the Form 477 data Internet service providers provide the agency. At the time the map was heralded as a novel way to highlight the coverage gaps and competitive shortcomings of what is pretty clearly a broken US telecom market.  But users quickly discovered that despite the project’s steep price tag and good intentions, the map itself was almost useless.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to ensure that innovative new technologies and services that would serve the public interest are encouraged and made available to the public on a timely basis. Specifically, the NPRM proposes rules and procedures to implement Section 7 of the Communications Act, which was passed by Congress in 1983 to require timely action by the Commission to encourage provision of new technologies and services to the public. Clear rules and guidelines on implementing section 7 are long overdue. While the

Inexplicably, in many instances, officials under your leadership failed to respond to our last request for 9-1-1 information on fee collection and allocation. At the very least, given the importance of this information, you should have been aware of the impending failure to respond....[S]ince your states and territories have either been a self-admitted diverter of 9-1-1 fees in the past or guilty of failing to respond to a previous inquiry, it can only be assumed that your state or territory diverted 9-1-1 fees for 2016. Neither of these outcomes is appropriate or acceptable.

[Commentary] President Donald Trump’s White House has been so scandal-plagued that controversies involving cabinet members and other high-level officials that would have been front-page news in any other administration have barely registered in the public consciousness.

In April 2017, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, led the charge for his agency to approve rules allowing television broadcasters to greatly increase the number of stations they own.

On Feb 13, all 24 Democratic Reps on the House Commerce Committee sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commissioners over how it reviewed the docket of 24 million public comments submitted in response to the agency’s repeal of its network neutrality rules.

The nation’s top intelligence chiefs testified Feb 13 that they fully expect Russia to seek to disrupt the 2018 midterm elections. Appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats said that Russia will continue using propaganda, false personas and social media to undermine the upcoming elections.