U.S. Cyber Command will be raised to the status of a unified combatant command, said President Donald Trump Friday in a statement and in a memo to the Defense Secretary James Mattis. The move is aimed at strengthening and streamlining cyberspace operations and providing more opportunities to improve defense, Trump said. He directed Mattis to provide a recommendation and possible plan about the "future command relationship" between Cyber Command and the NSA, potentially separating them. During the campaign, Trump promised to improve the command (see 1610030025).
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.
The White House “will not move forward” with the rollout of its Presidential Advisory Council on Infrastructure amid controversies that resulted in dissolution of the other two councils, an official told us. The White House was still seeking representatives for the 15-member council, which President Donald Trump created in a July executive order (see 1707200064), the official and a telecom lobbyist separately said. The White House had aimed for the group to study the efficacy of existing federal funding and support for infrastructure projects, including broadband deployment. It would have also worked on recommendation on prioritizing U.S. infrastructure needs and other development matters. The council’s halt comes amid planning for a White House-backed infrastructure legislative package, which has been anticipated to include a broadband title. The move follows the Wednesday dissolution of two White House councils dominated by CEOs. The Manufacturing Advisory Council and Strategic and Policy Forum disbanded amid fallout over President Donald Trump’s response to a weekend white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one dead (see 1708140044 and 1708160068). But the White House does plan for its American Technology Council to continue meeting on modernization of the federal government’s IT systems, the official said. The ATC, formed earlier this year (see 1705110058), is dominated by federal government members but engages tech sector stakeholders as advisers. Private sector members dominated the dissolved CEO groups. Oracle said it will continue to be involved in ATC meetings, and some other companies indicated they're open to remaining as participants.
The White House’s Manufacturing Advisory Council (MAC) and its Strategic and Policy Forum (SPF) disbanded Wednesday amid continued fallout over President Donald Trump’s response to a weekend white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one counterprotester dead (see 1708140044). Trump said during a Tuesday news conference in the Trump Tower lobby on his executive order to streamline the environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects (see 1708150067) that both the white supremacists and “alt-left” counterprotesters were to blame for the Charlottesville violence. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigned from the MAC Tuesday after an earlier Trump response to the incident (see 1708150020). “Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople” on MAC and SPF, “I am ending both,” Trump tweeted. Dell CEO Michael Dell was still on the council at the time of dissolution. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and other SPF members decided prior to Trump's tweet to disband that group, with Rometty saying in a memo “this group can no longer serve the purpose for which it was formed.”
CTA President Gary Shapiro took President Donald Trump to task for comments Trump made Tuesday blaming “both sides” for last weekend’s violence during a white supremacists’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia (see 1708150020). “Generally I do not comment or write about social issues (other than those involving the LGBT community),” Shapiro emailed us Wednesday. “But I think it is fair to say that American businesses and especially the tech industry believes that our economy is best served by a president who unites us,” said Shapiro. By most “objective measures,” Trump is “fulfilling his famous campaign promise to ‘Make America Great Again,’" Shapiro wrote last week (see 1708110003).
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at “establishing discipline and accountability in the environmental review and permitting process for infrastructure projects.” Trump spoke about the executive order during a news conference but the White House didn’t release the order’s text by our deadline. Trump didn’t mention broadband or other telecom infrastructure during the briefing, but the order's text does specify that "broadband internet" projects are affected. The Trump administration’s work on an infrastructure plan has been widely expected to include a section on broadband deployment (see 1706220042 and 1707240071). Trump said his order is aimed at dramatically reducing the timeline for the federal environmental review and permitting process, saying he wants “quick” turnaround. The order also requires one lead federal agency to spearhead reviews for each major infrastructure project and would hold agencies accountable if they “fail to streamline” their processes, Trump said. “No longer will we accept a broken system that benefits consultants and lobbyists at the expense of hard-working Americans,” he said. Trump later noted that a White House-initiated infrastructure plan is "something that I think we’ll have bipartisan support on” in Congress, in contrast to the Senate’s 49-51 vote earlier this month defeating a bill to repeal some elements of the Affordable Care Act. “I actually think Democrats will go along with the infrastructure” bill, he said. National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn later told reporters that the White House hopes to pivot to a full infrastructure plan later this year once the House clears tax revamp legislation. At that point, “we'll put infrastructure in the House,” he said.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigned from the White House's American Manufacturing Council Monday amid bipartisan outcry over President Donald Trump's response to a weekend white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to one protester's death (see 1708140044). “I resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing," Krzanich blogged.
Atlanta attorney Carolyn Roddy, a member of the Trump transition's FCC landing team who went to the work for the FCC and then left (see 1708100047), said Monday the brevity of her service was expected. Roddy told us that after serving on the transition team, she joined the agency as part of an administration “beachhead team.” Roddy said other parts of the government got similar staff as part of a four-month transition starting when President Donald Trump took office in January. “I was technically assigned to the Wireless Bureau,” she said. “It was always understood that it would be 120 days.” Key staff positions have been filled at the FCC and Chairman Ajit Pai has an agenda, she said: “There was no reason for me to be extended.” Roddy is back in Atlanta in private practice.
Atlanta attorney Carolyn Roddy, a member of the Trump transition's FCC landing team (see 1701060056), made her way to the agency in the Wireless Bureau as a political appointee, but has since left. Her appointment was revealed in records posted by MuckRock. Roddy was metropolitan Atlanta deputy field representative for the Trump campaign from November 2015 to March 2016, according to her resume. Brian Hart and Tina Pelkey, who handle media relations for Chairman Ajit Pai, are the other political appointees, records show. Roddy shows up in a May version of the bureau organization chart as special counsel in the bureau’s front office. She's no longer at the commission, officials confirmed. Roddy didn't comment.
Wireless and Wisconsin state officials looked to a 5G future, and even one with 8K TV, with Wednesday's announcement Foxconn will invest $10 billion and create 13,000 jobs in the state. CEO Terry Gou's prominent mentions at a White House ceremony of building an 8K and 5G “ecosystem” in Kenosha likely means “there’s more to it for Foxconn than just the TVs,” said Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, in an interview. No “technical barriers” limit LCD panel suppliers “from making 8K even with amorphous silicon,” said Young. With 4K not yet “fully matured,” there’s a “question” of whether “is it really the time to introduce 8K and limit the success of 4K products,” he said. “There’s no content at 8K." Gou said “we are in the middle of the iPhone revolution,” as “high-resolution 8K displays and the powerful 5G communications will greatly increase the growth of big data. With artificial intelligence, a new 8K/5G ecosystem is born.” Displays with 8K resolution are “the key to our future,” said Gou. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said a memorandum of understanding was being signed Thursday with the company, with $3 billion in “incentives” from Wisconsin. The region “we will call Wisconn Valley will become the new global home to cutting-edge technology and innovation,” he said. Walker said that when visiting Foxconn facilities in China, he saw the 8K that Gou “talks about,” and “it is phenomenal.” The company will build a "state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for the production of LCD panel products," President Donald Trump said at the ceremony, with "a larger facility [to be] constructed over the coming years. And that facility is currently under negotiation." He noted the company’s initial investment of $10 billion-plus creates 3,000 jobs, with the potential for 13,000, and the plant represents "the return of LCD electronics and electronics manufacturing" to the U.S.