Policymakers

Former US attorney Preet Bharara talked about the three times Donald Trump called him, and the one time he didn't answer. Bharara was a US attorney until March, when the President fired him after Bharara refused to resign along with a raft of other Obama-era Justice Department attorneys. The sudden showdown came after several interactions with Trump during his transition to the presidency, when Bharara said he had two "unusual phone calls" with him. "When I've been reading the stories of how the President has been contacting (former FBI Director) Jim Comey over time, felt a little bit like deja vu," Bharara said. In the interview June 11, Bharara said he thought there is enough evidence to open an investigation against President Trump for obstruction of justice, but he warned people from jumping to a conclusion either way.

James Comey may have sucked up all the oxygen June 8 on Capitol Hill, but NTIA Administrator-nominee David Redl, previously senior counsel for the House Commerce Committee, addressed several issues of interest to technology and telecommunications folks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee:

On striking the right balance for spectrum: "One of the core jobs that NTIA has is balancing the need for spectrum for government users to meet their very important needs and balancing that with the need for spectrum in the commercial sector ... there's always an opportunity for more efficient use of spectrum."
On the ICANN transition: "The reality is that we're in the situation we're in ... We're going to have to move forward and be a vigorous representative of U.S. interests before ICANN. It would have been very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle."
On FirstNet: "The statute is clear, that NTIA is to work with FirstNet and the states, to make sure there is deployment, particularly in rural areas."
On expanding rural broadband: "Everyone in America should be able to benefit from the economic value of broadband ... I would want to look across all the different challenges facing individual states, particularly rural areas, and try to find individual mechanisms that will help support private sector investment in those places."
On 5.9 GHz spectrum and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications: "As we go forward and look at ways to increase use of that band ... we need to ensure that those systems that are planned for and incumbents are protected as we look at additional uses."

After a nationwide search for the American Library Association’s (ALA) new Associate Executive Director (AED), Washington (DC) Office, ALA has announced the appointment of Kathi Kromer to the role. Prior to joining ALA, Kromer was with The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association for 11 years where she was their Vice President, Strategy and Outreach. While with ALS, Kromer created and executed public policy and outreach strategy for ALS, with the goals of raising awareness, improving the lives of people with ALS, advancing ALS research, increasing organizational and government funding, and creating strategic partnerships. She worked collaboratively in cross-functional teams to integrate mission priorities of advocacy, care services, and research.

Kromer has a Master of Arts, International Commerce and Policy from George Mason University, Fairfax (VA) and a Bachelor of Arts, History and Political Science from University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown (PA). Kromer has more than 20 years’ experience working with Congress as well as with state governments.

The Mozilla Foundation launched a new Tech Policy Fellowship.

The program is designed to give individuals with deep expertise in government and Internet policy the support and structure they need to continue their Internet health work. The fellows, who hail from around the globe, will spend the next year working independently on a range of tech policy issues. They will collaborate closely with Mozilla’s policy and advocacy teams, as well as the broader Mozilla network and other key organizations in tech policy. Each fellow will bring their expertise to important topics currently at issue in the United States and around the world.

Fellows include: Gigi Sohn, Alan Davidson, Linet Kwamboka, Amina Fazlullah, Camille Fischer, Caroline Holland, Terah Lyons, Marilia Monteiro, Jason Schultz, and Cori Zarek.

President Donald Trump could soon fill the two open slots at the Federal Communications Commission, by tapping Brendan Carr, currently the general counsel to current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, and Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat who previously served at the agency.

At the moment, those two seasoned telecommunication policy experts are seen as the front-runners to fill the remaining seats at the five-member FCC, apparently, though President Trump has not yet formally nominated anyone. If elevated to commissioner, Carr could become a major, new legal ally to his soon-to-be-former boss. Apparently, Chairman Pai may have actually recommended Carr, who joined Pai’s staff in 2014, for the open Republican job at the FCC. Politically, though, Carr could face criticism from some Democrats and left-leaning consumer groups because of his business background. Before arriving at the FCC as an attorney in 2012, he worked as a lawyer at the DC law firm Wiley Rein and represented telecommunication companies like AT&T, Verizon and two of their main trade associations, USTelecom and the wireless-focused lobbying group, CTIA. Similar ties to the telecom industry previously haunted Pai, who represented Verizon at a DC law firm before he joined the commission.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai paid a visit to three Northwest Iowa towns to address the issue of broadband Internet access -- or lack thereof -- in rural areas. He stopped in Iowa as a part of his tour from Milwaukee (WI) to Casper (WY) exploring rural areas' access to broadband Internet. He visited Spencer, Laurens and Sioux City (IA) before heading to South Dakota. In Sioux City, Chairman Pai met with Western Iowa Telecom as well as the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce in order to assess the issues of broadband access in Siouxland. "There's a big and growing divide, a 'digital divide,' in this country between those who have high-quality internet access and those who don't," Chairman Pai said. "Disproportionately, rural Americans find themselves on the wrong side of that divide."

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking nominations for membership on, and a Chairperson for, the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (the Committee). The FCC intends to establish the Committee for a period of two (2) years, with an expected starting date in the fall of 2017.

The Committee’s mission will be to provide recommendations to the FCC on how to empower disadvantaged communities and accelerate the entry of small businesses, including those owned by women and minorities, into the media, digital news and information, and audio and video programming industries, including as owners, suppliers, and employees. It will also provide recommendations to the Commission on how to ensure that disadvantaged communities are not denied the wide range of opportunities made possible by next-generation networks. This Committee is intended to provide an effective means for stakeholders with interests in these areas to exchange ideas and develop recommendations to the Commission on media ownership and procurement opportunities, empowering communities in order to spur educational, economic, and civic development, and consumer access to digital technologies. The Committee’s work is intended to enhance the Commission’s ability to carry out its statutory responsibility to promote policies favoring diversity of media voices, localism, vigorous economic competition, technological advancement, and promotion of the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

Nominations for membership to the Committee should be submitted to the FCC no later than 11:59 PM EST, Wednesday, June 28, 2017.

US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has named US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Associate Solicitor Joseph Matal to perform the functions and duties of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO. The position is effective June 7, 2017 and follows the resignation of Michelle K. Lee.

Matal will serve in this role during the nomination and confirmation process for a new director. As an Associate Solicitor in the USPTO’s Office of Solicitor, Matal has briefed and argued appeals of patent and trademark decisions before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the US District Court, and assisted in the development of legal positions taken by the US Solicitor General in patent and copyright cases before the US Supreme Court. Matal recently served as acting Chief of Staff for the agency, and has advised the director on legislative matters. Matal previously served as the General Counsel of the Judiciary Committee for former Sen Jeff Sessions (R-AL), and as a Judiciary Committee Counsel to former Sen Jon Kyl (R-AZ). In that role, he was the principal staff drafter and negotiator of legislation that became the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, the first comprehensive patent law overhaul since 1952. Matal has a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is opening the door to summoning James Comey to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee after the former FBI director declined an invitation. "Under our rules on our committee, if Sen [Dianne] Feinstein [D-CA] would agree to subpoena I would," said Chairman Grassley. Comey is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 7, making his first public comments since he was fired by President Donald Trump in May. Sen Richard Burr (R-NC), the chairman of the intelligence panel questioning the ousted FBI chief, said that he anticipated June 7's hearing will be the only time Comey appears before Congress. But members of the Judiciary Committee are continuing to demand that Comey also come before their panel, which has oversight of the FBI.

Apparently, President Donald Trump’s top communications staff, and much of his senior White House team, did not know the president was going to make the official announcement for nominating James Comey’s successor early on June 7 via a single tweet. Several observers noted that President Trump’s Christopher Wray announcement did not arrive with any fact sheet or official press release, as would be expected with news of this weight. And it’s just the latest instance of President Trump’s senior staffers, particularly his communications and press shop, being cut out of the loop, undermined, and frazzled by their unpredictable boss and his compulsive tweeting habit.