Policymakers

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced the nomination of a Trump administration pick — whose nonprofit organization is being investigated for possible tax violations — to lead a federal media agency with oversight of a news service that has come under increasing criticism from President Donald Trump. The 12-to-10 party-line vote came after testy debate among senators over the propriety of voting on Michael Pack’s nomination to lead the US Agency for Global Media while his organization is being scrutinized by the District of Columbia’s attorney general.

Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) appointment as acting chairman of the Intelligence Committee could mean more trouble for tech and telecommunication companies with ties to China. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced Sen Rubio’s appointment in the absence of Sen Richard Burr (R-NC), who temporarily stepped down from the top spot while the FBI is investigating his stock trades.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Robert Menendez (D-NJ) says Public Media Lab, a nonprofit organization that is run by Michael Pack, is under investigation by the District of Columbia’s attorney general. Pack is President Trump’s nominee to lead the US Agency for Global Media, the federal media agency with oversight of Voice of America and other news outlets. The attorney general’s office is investigating whether Pack’s use of Public Media Lab funds was “unlawful and whether he improperly used those funds to benefit himself.” The DC attorney general informed the committee o

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced staff changes in the Office of Media Relations, including the appointment of a new deputy director, the promotions of both a new associate director and a new senior communications advisor, and the departure of the press secretary. The new FCC deputy director of communications, Anne Veigle, will come to the Commission from the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she served as director of public affairs.

The Marconi Society awarded the 2020 Marconi Prize to Dr. Andrea Goldsmith for her pioneering contributions to the theory and practice of adaptive wireless communications. She is the first woman to win the award in the 45 years that it has been given.

The Federal Communications Commission concluded that it will serve the public interest and improve its operations to streamline the organization of the Media Bureau. Specifically, the FCC eliminated the Engineering Division and folded the work and staff of the Engineering Division into the Media Bureau’s Industry Analysis Division (IAD). The FCC said it is taking this action to account for changes in the Engineering Division’s duties and in the organizational structure of the FCC.

A chief critic of the tech industry's attempts to track coronavirus patients went to work and held meetings with employees after his doctor directed him to take a test for COVID-19 that subsequently came back positive. Marc Rotenberg, the president and executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, acknowledged in a memo to his staff and his board that he should have quarantined and alerted his staff that he was taking a coronavirus test on March 9, instead of continuing to work alongside them for two days.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announces additional charges for the Disaster Response and Recovery Working Group (Working Group) of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC). Specifically, the Working Group will assist the BDAC in documenting the various strategies and solutions that stakeholders are developing and implementing in real time to address the deployment-related challenges presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Henry Geller, who as the general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission during the Johnson administration and activist head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the Carter years played a large role in the development of broadcasting, cable and telecommunications over the last quarter of the 20th century, died in Washington (DC) April 7 after a long battle with cancer. He was 96.

On April 7, 2020, Henry Geller passed away. Born in Springfield (MA) in 1924, he was raised in Detroit (MI). During a long career in communications policy, he worked at the Federal Communications Commission, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and Duke University’s Washington Center for Public Policy Research. His life's work had a profound effect on US telecommunications; his impact on so many advocates and policymakers is impossible to measure.