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March 2017

German reporters press President Trump on wiretap claims, ‘fake news’

Foreign reporters challenged President Donald Trump to address his wiretapping accusation and attacks on the media at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A German reporter asked President Trump whether he regrets claiming that former President Barack Obama bugged Trump Tower during the presidential campaign, provoking Trump to joke about reports that the National Security Agency had once monitored Merkel’s phone under Obama. “As far as wiretapping, I guess by this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps,” President Trump said with a grin.

President Trump beat back questions about why the White House had accused Britain’s intelligence agency of having helped Obama surveil Trump Tower, saying press secretary Sean Spicer had merely read aloud a report from a Fox News legal analyst. “We said nothing. All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. I did not make an opinion on it,” President Trump said. “That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox. So you should not be talking to me. You should be talking to Fox.”

In 'Voice of America' the world trusts

[Commentary] Voice of America began radio broadcasting in 1942, to combat Nazi propaganda. Per its charter, it is mandated to “serve as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.” Since WWII, it has been the front-edge of America’s informational interface with citizens around the world, particularly those battling dictatorships and tyranny. VOA is the largest public diplomacy program of the United States government and broadcasts in more than 40 languages. Serving an estimated weekly global audience of 236.6 million, they provide news, information, and cultural programming through the Internet, mobile and social media, radio, and television. With today’s information overload, where fake news goes viral, and real news is labeled fake, where hacks and leaks dominate our news cycle, Voice of America is an indispensable tool in our engagement with global citizens.

As President Trump considers his priorities, as he looks to beef up the U.S. military, and potentially make major cuts in diplomacy, and as the Congress reviews his 2018 budget submitted this week to Congress, they should be reminded that the fate of nations over this past decade has changed on a dime. And it was not weapons systems that fell these governments, but the power of information to mobilize a people. For good or for bad. When you consider recent history, the sophistication of Russia’s disinformation campaign, and the online recruitment tools ISIS uses, VOA’s importance is clear. President Trump should be “doubling down” on its broadcasts, and not considering cuts for a network that dispatches truth, hope and inspiration to some of the most volatile parts of the world. Further, he should take care to safeguard VOA’s integrity, its gold-standard global media brand.

[K. Riva Levinson is President and CEO of KRL International LLC]

EU requests fraud, terms-of-service changes from tech giants

The European Commission requested that Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus alter their terms of service or face potential fines. The Commission — the executive arm of the European Union — noted that their demands came amid increasing complaints from consumers who have been targeted by frauds and scams and that they had “been subject to certain terms of services that do not respect EU consumer law.”

The companies mentioned met with the Commission on March 16 to discuss solutions to the rising consumer complaints regarding their social media platforms, and according to the Commission will offer solutions in one month. Should the Commission not find the solutions “satisfactory,” it noted, “consumer authorities could ultimately resort to enforcement action.”

It's Possible to Cut Legacy Spending. Here's How the FCC Did It.

In recent years, legacy IT has shaped up to be one of the government’s biggest tech challenges. There’s a reason the legacy tech challenge is so widespread across government: Modernizing is hard and can be expensive. Yet, some agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission, have done just that. In 2013, the year CIO David Bray took over as the agency’s top tech official, FCC was spending 85 percent of its $64 million IT budget on legacy systems. Less than four years later, FCC has reduced its legacy spend by 35 percent on the back of an ambitious modernization plan heavy on achieving small wins, moving to cloud computing and ultimately reducing contracted personnel.

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