Public Safety Bureau Hung up 3 Months after FCC Order
More than 3 months after the FCC approved creation of the Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, the new bureau has yet to open. Public safety sources reported little feedback on when the bureau will launch or even who Chmn. Martin will name the first chief.
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When the FCC approved it March 17, officials said FCC’s last big reorganization took less than 90 days, with a similar timetable this go-round (CD March 20 p1). By April 30, the FCC had finished notifying Congress of plans to create the bureau (CD April 28 p3), a key step toward launch.
“My understanding when we discussed this with the chairman and his staff was that it would take about this long,” a public safety source said: “They have to work through internal issues and once they had Congressional approval they could go ahead and work those issues.” The source said he expected from the beginning that the bureau might not open until June or July.
Martin and his staff have said little to indicate who would head the bureau or whether an outsider would be the first chief, the source said: “There’s been no information leaked to me, that’s for sure… We are hoping they'll find someone with experience either inside the Commission or outside understanding public safety issues… It’s got to be someone who understands the spectrum issues and the rules issue for the public safety world.”
“I'm kind of surprised it has taken this long. It does seem to have taken a long time,” a 2nd public safety source said: “Everyone is concerned that whenever you postpone a reorganization there’s an uncertainty. Just the uncertainty alone could be a problem.”
Expectations in March were that the bureau would be open by now, a regulatory attorney said: “But you never know. These kinds of reorganizational efforts are more complicated than they look.” A 2nd regulatory attorney said his efforts to winkle out information on who might head the bureau or who would be moved there ran into a fog bank: “Uniformly everyone said we haven’t heard anything… I'm surprised. It shouldn’t take this long.”
Jill Lyon, gen. counsel of the United Telecom Council, said she expected the reorganization to last months. Its duration matters less to her group than the fact that critical infrastructure protection at the FCC will not fall under the bureau, she said: “When you start talking about basic services and protection of those services, safe drinking water, gas is right at the top of the list. On the ground, those communities have to work very closely together. We're not so concerned about the timing as to what seems to have been left out.”