President Donald Trump intends to nominate Raytheon CEO Thomas Kennedy and Amazon Chief Information Security Officer Stephen Schmidt to the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, the White House said Thursday. The industry-led cyber advisory board worked last year on its Cybersecurity Moonshot study (see 1808150055). Trump also intends to renominate Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board member Edward Felten to an additional six-year term until Jan. 29, 2025, the White House said. The Senate confirmed Felten to his current term in October.
Monday's release of President Donald Trump's FY 2020 $4.7 trillion federal budget proposal provided a limited picture of its potential impact on telecom and tech-centric federal agencies, with the FTC the only of those entities to release budget justification documents. The White House said it won't release an appendix of its full budget proposal figures until March 18. The FCC and Commerce Department didn't release their proposals. The administration is proposing $312.3 million in funding for the FTC, up from the almost $310 million it proposed in FY 2019 and the similar amount allocated in the federal spending law Trump signed last month (see 1902150055). The FTC's budget would keep staffing level from FY 2019 at 1,140 full-time equivalents. The agency plans to keep its division of labor unchanged, too, with 612 employees working in jobs aimed at consumer protection activities and 528 in competition-related roles. DOJ said it's allocating $166.8 million of its $29.2 billion proposed FY 2020 budget for the Antitrust Division and proposes increasing the division's staffing level by 39 positions. The White House's budget proposal again mentioned a perennial proposal to introduce a spectrum license user fee, which it estimates would generate about $4 billion revenue through 2029. FCC-administered spectrum auctions could generate $6.6 billion revenue through 2029, the White House said. The Trump administration also outlined infrastructure-related aspects of its budget proposal, which include $200 billion in funding for rural broadband and other non-transportation sectors.
Intel proposed a national artificial intelligence strategy in response to President Donald Trump’s Feb. 12 executive order directing federal agencies to “prioritize investments” in AI R&D (see 1902110054). Intel sees a national AI strategy bringing together industry, academia, government and "civil society" to create a “fully realized” national strategy for AI managing the “broad social implications of AI,” it blogged Wednesday. Naveen Rao, general manager-artificial intelligence products group, and Global Privacy Officer David Hoffman outlined “actionable next steps” on increased R&D investments, ethical guidelines, data protection regulations, global interoperability standards, incentivized data sharing through tax or policy incentives, federal privacy legislation for data collection and sharing, an updated K-12 education curriculum, skills retraining programs, intellectual property protection, public and private national service opportunities and expanding laws governing human behavior to AI. “When the regulatory environment is known and understood, businesses and government can maximize their impact by pursuing the same goals,” they said.
T-Mobile acknowledged to lawmakers it spent $195,000 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington since announcing its proposed buy of Sprint in April 2018 (see 1903050071). T-Mobile's Trump hotel spending during that period is “approximately 14 percent of the $1.4 million T-Mobile incurred at hotels in Washington, DC during the same period for travel and other business-related activities,” said Vice President-Federal Legislative Affairs Anthony Russo in a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Wash. The Democratic lawmakers wrote T-Mobile seeking such information. T-Mobile spent $750,000 at area Hilton hotels during the period, Russo said. He acknowledged T-Mobile CEO John Legere and other executives stayed at the Trump hotel only once before announcing the Sprint deal, and 52 times since. Legere separately acknowledged also staying at Trump properties in Chicago and New York. “T-Mobile respects the regulatory review process underway concerning our pending merger,” Russo wrote. The FCC and DOJ “are giving this transaction a thorough and objective analysis. While we understand that staying at Trump properties might be viewed positively by some and negatively by others, we are confident that the relevant agencies address the questions before them on the merits.” Americans "deserve better than an administration that appears to be for sale to businesses eager to line the president's pockets,” Warren and Jayapal said. The disclosure could give House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee member Jayapal and other subcommittee members fodder for questions at the subpanel's upcoming hearing on T-Mobile/Sprint, lobbyists said. The House Judiciary Committee plans to formally announce the hearing for March 12, about a month after it was originally scheduled (see 1902120056), a committee spokesperson said. Jayapal was among three dozen House Democrats who signed onto a letter sent Tuesday by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and DOJ Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim in opposition to T-Mobile/Sprint (see 1902050050).
Emerging technologies have “significant potential to assist older adults with successfully aging in place," via cognition, communication, social connectivity, personal mobility, transportation and access to healthcare, a White House task force reported Tuesday. Challenges include user adoption, system requirements, functionality, privacy and security. “Cutting-edge technologies hold significant promise for older Americans, enhancing their mobility and independence, strengthening ties to their communities, and keeping them healthy and safe,” said Director Kelvin Droegemeier of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which issued the report. It recommends continued research and development. The National Science and Technology Council convened the task force from across federal agencies.
"Turns out I was right" about the White House pushing for DOJ to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner because of President Donald Trump's animus against TW-owned CNN, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted Monday in response to a New Yorker story. Asked for comment, DOJ pointed to a 2017 statement by antitrust head Makan Delrahim that he has "never been instructed by the White House on this or any other transaction under review by the antitrust division."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to not “give in to China” on ongoing issues involving Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei amid bilateral trade negotiations. Trump told reporters Friday the two countries were “talking about” whether to address Huawei-related matters, including the U.S.' indictment of company officials and subsidiaries on charges including conspiracy to violate U.S. economic sanctions against Iran (see 1902220066). There was already confusion about the Trump administration's stance on a ban on using equipment from Huawei and China's ZTE in U.S. networks (see 1902210057). “Do not do with Huawei what you did” last year by instigating a settlement that lifted the Commerce Department ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE (see 1807130048), Schumer tweeted Saturday. “Do not betray your instinct to be tough on China just to secure a ‘deal’ that doesn’t bring long term benefit to American workers.”
The U.S. and China are "talking about" whether they will address ongoing issues involving Chinese telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE via a new bilateral trade agreement, President Donald Trump told reporters Friday. That comes amid confusion about the Trump administration's stance on a ban on using equipment from the two companies in U.S. networks (see 1902210057). The U.S. last month indicted Huawei officials and subsidiaries on a range of charges, including conspiracy to violate U.S. economic sanctions against Iran (see 1901280052). "We want everybody to compete and I guess it will be somewhat of a subject that we're talking about here," Trump told reporters. "We may or may not include that in this deal."
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said Thursday the Trump administration is focused on maintaining confidence in the Privacy Shield and preventing international barriers to cross-border data flows and digital trade. OSTP’s Science & Technology Highlights report cites privacy efforts from NTIA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (see 1811090050 and 1812170032). The proper balance is allowing users to “benefit from dynamic uses of their information, while still expecting organizations to appropriately minimize risks to users’ privacy,” the report said. It cites President Donald Trump’s executive order directing federal agencies to “prioritize investments” in artificial intelligence R&D (see 1902110054). It referred to Trump's remarks about technologies that “could improve virtually every aspect of our lives, create vast new wealth for American workers and families, and open up bold, new frontiers in science, medicine, and communication.” The report cites Trump signing the first national cybersecurity strategy in 15 years (see 1809200055) and calling for cyber collaboration across all government agencies. It cites efforts to develop the “world’s most powerful and smartest supercomputers” partly through the Department of Energy, advanced computing systems and National Science Foundation cloud computing partnerships.
President Donald Trump signed the package of FY 2019 federal spending bills Friday that Congress passed Thursday via House Joint Resolution 31, the White House said. There's no longer potential for another government shutdown affecting the FCC until at least after the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. The House cleared the measures 300-128 hours after the Senate approved (see 1902140046). The funding bills included a combined $339 million for the FCC and its Office of Inspector General, almost $310 million for the FTC and $39.5 million for NTIA. It includes additional funding to the FAA for unmanned aircraft systems integration activities and language that would clarify rules for the U.S. Department of Agriculture ReConnect pilot distance learning, telemedicine and broadband program. The FCC had said before the measure's passage it would have to close if a lapse in funding had occurred (see 1902130046).