IP: A letter to the President from the IEEE re the FCC

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

I had a part in this since my Dallas talk was a motivator toward getting it 
written and I helped edit it.

Dave
IEEE Fellow


19 March, 2001
The Honorable George W. Bush
The President of the United States
Executive Office of the President
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - United States of 
America (IEEE-USA) recommends that during your term as President you take 
advantage of the opportunity to appoint one or more technically trained 
individuals as Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

There are now Commissioner vacancies at the FCC, and we understand that 
there could be more, in the coming months. The IEEE-USA urges you to select 
individuals with strong technical backgrounds and/or strong technical 
business backgrounds in the areas that are affected by FCC actions.

The FCC has a key role in formulating and implementing telecommunications 
and information technology policies that have key importance to our 
economic growth. We regret to note that it has been all too rare that 
Commissioners have had significant technological experience to apply to 
that role. Clearly, the responsibilities of the Commission require 
significant knowledge and experience in many different fields, including 
economics, finance, business, law, and technology, among others. A majority 
of the decisions made by FCC do have some significant technical aspects. 
Many decisions depend fundamentally on various aspects of conventional or 
newly-developing technologies.

We further encourage appointment of technically trained staffers to each 
Commissioner. At one time, all Commissioners were required to have a 
technically trained person on their staffs. That requirement was eliminated 
some time ago. Given the rapid and fundamental changes in technology being 
addressed by the Commission, we recommend that every Commissioner should 
have a technically trained person on his or her staff, whether by choice or 
required by law.

While the FCC does have engineers on its general staff, such as the Chief 
Technologist and those in the Office of Engineering and Technology, those 
staff members do not have nearly as close a working relationship with 
individual Commissioners as would staffers who report directly to each 
Commissioner.


We recognize that requiring, or even permitting, the addition of a 
technically trained staffer for each Commissioner may require changes in 
the rules imposed upon the FCC by Congress, as well as increased funding 
for the FCC. We encourage you to urge Congress to make rule changes which 
would permit or require such staffers. We would fully support full funding 
of such rule changes.

IEEE is the world's largest technical professional association with 
approximately 352,000 members worldwide. IEEE-USA promotes the careers and 
public policy interests of the nearly 230,000 electrical, electronics, 
computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. If you 
have any questions or would like to explore these suggestions further, 
please contact Deborah Rudolph, at the IEEE-USA offices in Washington DC at 
(202) 530-8332.

Sincerely,

Ned R. Sauthoff, Ph.D.
President
IEEE-USA


cc: FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell
FCC Commissioner Susan Ness
FCC Commissioner Harold W. Furchtgott-Roth
FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani



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