Chief information officers across federal agencies met with senior administration officials at the White House Monday to discuss efforts to modernize government technology, said a White House official. CIOs on the CIO Council gathered in the Roosevelt Room with Federal Chief Information Officer Suzette Kent, Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director-Management Margaret Weichert, White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, White House Deputy Chief of Staff-Policy Coordination Chris Liddell and Special Assistant to the President-Innovation Policy Matt Lira. The meeting was a follow-up to President Donald Trump’s executive order on enhancing effectiveness of agency CIOs.
DOJ will appeal a federal judge's decision that President Donald Trump cannot legally block users from his Twitter account for political reasons, said a court filing Monday. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued Trump in July for blocking users from his @realDonaldTrump account after they criticized him. Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled last month that Trump’s actions violated the First Amendment (see 1805230077). DOJ and the White House didn't comment further Tuesday.
President Donald Trump lashed out on Twitter Wednesday against Disney CEO Bob Iger for not calling him to “apologize” for what the president termed “HORRIBLE statements” against him on the Disney-owned ABC network’s shows, suggesting a double standard since Iger apologized to Valerie Jarrett, ex-aide to former President Barack Obama, after a racist tweet from comedian Roseanne Barr. ABC abruptly canceled Barr’s Roseanne sitcom Tuesday after Barr's tweet. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also noted ABC’s “double standard” during a Wednesday news conference. Trump did not state which ABC statements he was referring to. Trump tweeted earlier this year in support of Sinclair’s proposed purchase of Tribune and drew criticism last year for threatening the "license" of NBC and other broadcast networks (see 1710160011, 1710170022, 1804020056 and 1804030054).
President Donald Trump signed a commercial space policy directive Thursday that includes having federal agencies craft a report for the White House on bettering the nation's global competitiveness for space radio frequency spectrum policies, regulation and activities at the ITU and other multilateral forums. The directive said the Transportation Department is to put out a new regulatory system for launch and re-entry activity by "targeting an industry that is undergoing incredible transformation with regulations that have failed to keep up." It said the DOT secretary will consider requiring a single license for all types of commercial space flight launch and re-entry operations "and replacing prescriptive requirements in the process with performance-based criteria." It also said the Commerce Department secretary should review commercial remote sensing regulations for consistency with the directive’s policy and address non-conforming regulations. It gives the commerce secretary 30 days to craft a plan for a "one-stop shop" within the agency for administering and regulating commercial space flight activities. And it ordered the National Space Council to review export licensing regulations affecting commercial space flight activity and deliver recommendations to the White House within 180 days. Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup in a statement said that SIA's "delighted with the President’s recognition of the importance of the commercial space business" and it's "strongly encouraged" by the global competitiveness report directive. Commercial Spaceflight Federation Chairman Alan Stern in a statement said commercial space operations have "been innovating ... and competing around the world under the burden of regulations written decades ago, in some cases rooted in the Cold War," but now companies "can foresee a more streamlined legal and administrative regime that will allow us to continue to help transform how Americans access and use space.”
A public official, including the president of the United States, blocking people on Twitter due to their political views is a First Amendment violation, U.S. District Judge Naomi Buchwald of Manhattan said in a docket 17-cv-05205-NRB order Wednesday. Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute sued the president in July on behalf of seven people blocked from the @realDonaldTrump account (see 1706060062). Buchwald, in a 75-page ruling, said the interactive space where Twitter users can engage directly with the president's tweets falls under public forum doctrines set by the Supreme Court but rejected injunctive relief. The president also has First Amendment rights to not engage with particular people, but those can't be exercised in a way that infringes on the rights of his critics, she said. The judge said the plaintiffs lack standing to sue White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and dismissed her as a defendant.
The White House this week eliminated its top cyber policy adviser position in a move a National Security Council spokesman said will "improve efficiency, reduce bureaucracy" and promote accountability. “The National Security Council’s cyber office already has two very capable Senior Directors. Moving forward, these Senior Directors will coordinate cyber matters and policy,” he emailed. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted: “This does not seem like a good idea.” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., called the decision “mind-boggling”: “Our adversaries are investing heavily in 21st century cyber warfare capabilities, and if we only view national security through a conventional 20th century lens, we’re going to find ourselves unable to respond to increasingly asymmetric cyber threats down the road.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at modernizing government IT systems. The order focuses on defining roles and authorities of agency chief information officers. The federal government spends about $90 billion annually on IT. Trump "is drawing on the best practices from the private sector and empowering CIOs to lead the technology transformation at their agencies,” White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner told reporters. “This executive order is a critical foundation to delivering a more efficient, effective and accountable government.”
Enforcing free, fair and reciprocal trade will protect U.S. jobs and foster innovation, White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Vishal Amin said Monday. He met that day with executives from the entertainment, cable/telecom and tech industries during a roundtable on illicit streaming devices. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips were among attendees. Industry representatives joined from Apple, Netflix, Amazon, the Copyright Alliance, App Association, Disney, 21st Century Fox, NCTA, Viacom and others.
FCC information collection under revised discontinuance rules was approved by the Office of Management and Budget for three years, said an announcement in Monday's Federal Register. The rule said disclosure requirements in a November wireline infrastructure order aim to help implement parts of Communications Act sections 222(e) and 251, and to eliminate telecom market operational barriers, especially to copper retirements and service upgrades (see 1711160032). The information will be used to implement LECs' duties to give competitors dialing parity and nondiscriminatory access to certain services and functionalities, ILECs' duty to disclose network information, and numbering information, the rule said. Another FCC rule prepared for Tuesday's FR says OMB approved for three years information collection associated with a commission order "updating, clarifying and streamlining its rules on non-geostationary satellite orbit, fixed satellite service systems to better reflect current technology and promote additional operational flexibility." It said related rule changes under the September order (see 1709260035) take effect May 31.
The White House is right to explore “constraints that may unnecessarily limit [artificial intelligence] research and innovation,” the Computer & Communications Industry Association said Wednesday. Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet, Intel and Nvidia are among some 40 companies expected to meet Thursday with White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios to discuss AI. Cabinet officials and academics also are expected to participate in the discussion concerning government support for AI innovation.