President Donald Trump called for a new drone safety program Wednesday, directing the Transportation Department to work with state and local governments in select jurisdictions to safely integrate unmanned air technologies into national airspace. CTA praised the move as a "smart way to engage local governments and community stakeholders," said Vice President-Technology Policy Doug Johnson. Drone sales in the U.S. will reach 3.4 million units this year, up 40 percent from 2016, and $1.1 billion in revenue, CTA reports. The Small UAV Coalition, which joined 30 organizations in a recent letter to Trump asking for such a program, supported the move. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., praised the drone program directive, saying it would provide "sensible direction" for increasing safety. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International said the program will be helpful as more businesses deploy drones.
Opponents of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s agenda want him distracted by “the controversies of the day,” Pai said Tuesday in response to repeated reporter questions about President Donald Trump’s tweets (see 1710110075) about the possibility of NBC losing its “license” over reporting “fake news.” Pai said he will stay focused on his agenda, and he’s committed to the First Amendment and that the FCC won’t go after a broadcast license based on the content of a particular newscast. He declined to directly comment on the president’s tweets. The Trump administration hasn't been in contact with the FCC about the tweet, Pai said. Asked why he waited days after the tweet to address the issue, Pai said he responded the first time he was personally asked publicly (see 1710170022).
There’s no particular end date for FCC presence in Puerto Rico, Chairman Ajit Pai said during a news conference Tuesday after being asked about President Donald Trump’s assertion that aid there could be provided for only a limited time. “We are working collaboratively” with the Federal Emergency Management Agency “to see what assistance they need,” Pai said. He said the FCC would have a presence on the island for “some time to come.”
A court-filed stipulation indicates the White House won't contest the assertion that President Donald Trump blocked Twitter users because they criticized him and his policies, said the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University in a Wednesday news release. The institute sued the president in July on behalf of seven people blocked from the @realDonaldTrump account (see 1706060062). The stipulation (in Pacer) which was filed Monday with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, said: "Defendants have agreed that they will not contest Plaintiffs’ allegation that the Individual Plaintiffs were blocked from the President’s Twitter account because the Individual Plaintiffs posted tweets that criticized the President or his policies." Knight Institute Executive Director Jameel Jaffer said: "The White House’s concessions here amount to an acknowledgment that the president and his aides have engaged in viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment." Other defendants named are White House Social Media Director Dan Scavino, who has access to the president's Twitter account, and Communications Director Hope Hicks and Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, neither of whom have access to the account, according to the stipulation. The White House didn't comment. It's scheduled file an opening brief Oct. 13 with the institute set to file one Nov. 3.
The Department of Education is committing at least $200 million in grant funding beginning at the start of FY 2018 to back K-12 training in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), “particularly among historically underserved groups,” President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday. The DOE funds will bolster private-sector contributions that will be announced later this week, an administration official said during a conference call with reporters. The White House noted concerns about a lack of access to tech education, with estimates showing fewer than half of U.S. high schools offer computer programming and lower participation in STEM subjects in rural communities and among women and minorities. The Internet Association believes the White House’s commitment, “in concert with other efforts, will expand computer science education pipeline for underserved groups, helping to fix these inequities and boost our economy,” said President Michael Beckerman in a statement.
Rob Strayer started work earlier this week as deputy assistant secretary of state-cybersecurity and international communications and information policy, and U.S. coordinator for international communications (CIC) and information policy, as expected (see 1708220059), the Computer & Communications Industry Association and two communications sector lobbyists separately confirmed. Strayer entered the role with foreign policy experience via his previous role as legislative director and general counsel to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and cyber policy experience in a past role as director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Homeland Security Project. Strayer's appointment to an expanded DAS role appears to confirm earlier concerns that State's Office of Coordinator for Cyber Issues could be absorbed into another departmental office (see 1708030009), one industry lobbyist said. Strayer's expanded role gives him authority over cyber and international telecom policy issues, but it's unclear whether the cyber issues office was absorbed into the CIC office, a lobbyist said. The White House, State and Corker's office didn't comment. Strayer acknowledged his move to State in a Monday tweet, but didn't disclose his role. Strayer moved to State without any formal White House announcement because President Donald Trump's administration is “still working through” whether to also nominate him at the level of an ambassador, as other presidents have done in naming past CICs, a telecom lobbyist said. The CIC role doesn't require Senate approval but all ambassadors go through the nominations process via Senate Foreign Relations. Nomination of the CIC as a U.S. ambassador can be important since the person in that role often has led the U.S. delegation to ITU conferences, the telecom lobbyist said. Strayer's appointment “is strategically important to ensure the U.S. has a strong voice at the table as key negotiations take place on issues from trade to tech policy, which impact the growth of the fastest growing sector of the U.S. economy at home and abroad,” said CCIA President Ed Black. “Given the importance of his portfolio, we hope that the Deputy Assistant Secretary receives an Ambassadorship to aid him in advocating.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday blocking Canyon Bridge Fund’s $1.3 billion acquisition of Lattice Semiconductor, supplier of smart connectivity products for Ultra HD and other applications, on national security grounds, said the White House. Canyon Bridge is a private equity fund with investors that include China Venture Capital Fund Corp., which is “owned by Chinese state-owned entities that manages industrial investments and venture capital,” said a White House statement. Trump blocked the sale under 1950's Defense Production Act, which authorizes the president to “suspend or prohibit certain acquisitions that result in foreign control of a United States business if he concludes, among other things, that there is credible evidence that the foreign interest exercising control might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,” said the White House. Cited national security risks include “the potential transfer of intellectual property to the foreign acquirer,” the importance of semiconductor “supply chain integrity” to the U.S. government and the fact that the U.S. government buys Lattice products. Lattice representatives didn’t comment. The company's 8-K filing Sept. 1 at the SEC said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States would recommend to Trump that he should block the deal. “Lattice remains of the view that the proposed transaction does not raise any national security concerns that cannot be addressed by the comprehensive mitigation measures that Lattice and Canyon Bridge have proposed to implement,” the company said then.
The Trump administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program should “spark” Congress to enact a “humane” immigration law “that attracts and enables the world's best and brightest to innovate, build companies, create jobs and drive economic growth,” CTA President Gary Shapiro said in a statement Tuesday. “Dreamers are an important part of this equation,” he said. DACA recipients are “employed at major tech companies such as Apple and Microsoft” and are “innovating and paying their share into Social Security and Medicare,” Shapiro said. Reports estimate 91 percent of DACA recipients are employed, and at least 75 percent of the largest companies in America have at least one DACA employee, he said. “Our representatives in Washington can make a real difference and create a better tomorrow for our nation and these hardworking dreamers. The time has come for a bipartisan solution that fixes our broken immigration system, defines a pathway for dreamers to earn a place in our society and addresses our nation's labor shortage. Inaction is not a winning immigration strategy." Other tech and media groups and companies also criticized the DACA decision.
An Information Technology Industry Council division is pleased with a White House report released Wednesday that outlines recommendations for modernizing outdated federal IT systems. In a Thursday statement, Trey Hodgkins, senior vice president-public sector for the IT Alliance for Public Sector, said after administration officials met with tech company CEOs in June (see 1706200017 and 1706220054), industry experts developed "ambitious recommendations for the government to modernize its computer systems, adopt new technologies, and strengthen its cybersecurity capabilities." He said industry will offer those recommendations in early September after reviewing the White House report. The administration is seeking input before Sept. 20.
At least nine members of the Department of Commerce's 15-member Digital Economy Board of Advisors, including co-Chairs Zoë Baird, Markle Foundation president, and Mitchell Baker, Mozilla chairwoman, resigned amid fallout over President Donald Trump’s response to a white supremacist rally earlier this month in Charlottesville, Virginia (see 1708140044). Trump's statements drew criticism from many executives, leading the White House last week to halt formation of the Presidential Advisory Council on Infrastructure and dissolve two other CEO-dominated councils (see 1708160068 and 1708170048). IEEE President Karen Bartleson, Comcast Chief Diversity Officer David Cohen, University of California-Berkeley School of Law professor Sonia Katyal, McKinsey Global Institute Director James Manyika, Consumer Reports CEO Marta Tellado, Microsoft President Brad Smith and Rapid7CEO Corey Thomas also are confirmed to have resigned from the board. All nine members were appointed to two-year terms last year. Commerce, which didn't comment on the departures, intended the board to give recommendations to the secretary and NTIA administrator on the digital economy and internet policy issues (see 1511240034 and 1603300033). “It is the responsibility of leaders to take action and lift up each and every American,” Baker said in a letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “Our leaders must unequivocally denounce bigotry, racism, sexism, hate, and violence.” Lyft President John Zimmer was appointed to but never officially participated in the council, a spokesperson confirmed. Cohen was one of the other board members who addressed their resignations in letters to Ross, but Comcast didn't comment on why he decided to resign. A Microsoft spokesperson said Smith "is no longer a member of the group" effective Friday, but didn't give a reason. Lyft “will not participate in any advisory panel associated with the Trump administration,” the spokesperson said. Other companies whose executives are on the board, including AT&T, didn't comment.