McDowell Names Permanent Staff

9/5. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Robert McDowell named his permanent personal staff.

John Hunter was named Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Advisor on wireline issues. He was previously Counsel to the House Government Reform Committee. Before that, he was Of Counsel at Reed Smith McNair & Sanford. He has also worked for the U.S. Telecom Association (USTA), United Telecommunications, Inc., and former Rep. Guy Vander Jagt (R-MI). He has also been a Chairman of the Virginia Public Broadcasting Board, and an At-Large Member of the Fairfax County, Virginia Planning Commission. Dana Shaffer has been McDowell's acting wireline advisor.

Cristina Pauzé (at right), who has been acting legal advisor for media issues for several months, was named permanent legal advisor. She was previously Associate Bureau Chief in the FCC's Media Bureau. Before that, she worked in the Washington DC office of the law firm of Morrison & Foerster. She has also been a policy advisor at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and counsel at Teleglobe USA Inc.

Angela Giancarlo (at left), who has been with McDowell for several months, is the legal advisor for wireless and international issues. She was previously Associate Chief for Spectrum Policy in the Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure Division of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Before that, she worked in the Washington DC office of the law firm of Hogan & Hartson.

Brigid Calamis was named Deputy Chief of Staff. Rafael Fernandez was named Staff Assistant.

More People and Appointments

9/5. The Senate confirmed Kimberly Moore to be a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit by a vote of 92-0. See, Roll Call No. 231. See also, story titled "Bush Nominates Kimberly Moore for Federal Circuit" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 1,374, May 19, 2006.

9/5. President Bush nominated Otis Wright to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. See, White House release.

9/5. President Bush nominated George Wu to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. See, White House release.

9/5. President Bush nominated Halil Suleyman Ozerden to be a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. See, White House release.

9/5. President Bush nominated William Mercer to be Associate Attorney General. Bush also designated him acting Associate Attorney General. Mercer is currently the U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana. See, White House release and release.

9/5. President Bush announced his intent to appoint Dennis Brown and Martin Feldstein to be members of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB). See, White House release

More News

9/5. The U.S.-Kuwait Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council held a meeting in Washington DC. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) stated in a release that "The two delegations discussed a number of areas of mutual interest, including their respective climates for foreign investment, legislative and regulatory issues affecting international trade, and the protection of intellectual property rights."

9/5. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [73 pages in PDF] titled "U.S. International Broadcasting: Management of Middle East Broadcasting Services Could Be Improved". It discusses Radio Sawa and the Alhurra satellite television networks, which are directed at Arabic speakers in 19 countries and areas. The Congress has appropriated more than $274 Million for Radio Sawa, Alhurra, and Alhurra-Iraq from FY 2002 through FY 2006. See also, Radio Sawa's English language web page.

9/5. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [39 pages in PDF] titled "Privacy: Domestic and Offshore Outsourcing of Personal Information in Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE". The GAO conducted a survey in preparing this report. It found that "Federal contractors and state Medicaid agencies widely reported domestic outsourcing of services involving the use of personal health information but little direct offshore outsourcing." It also found that "over 40 percent of the federal contractors and state Medicaid agencies reported that they experienced a recent privacy breach involving personal health information."

DHS Announces Final Rules for FOIA Exemption for Critical Infrastructure Information

9/1. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice in the Federal Register that announces, describes, recites, and sets the effective date (September 1, 2006) of its rules implementing the Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002 [11 pages in PDF]. See, Federal Register, September 1, 2006, Vol. 71, No. 170, at Pages 52261-52277.

This Act created an exemption to the disclosure provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for certain information regarding critical infrastructures voluntarily provided to the federal government. It was enacted as §§ 211-215 of HR 5005 (107th Congress), the "Homeland Security Act of 2002", the huge bill that created the DHS. HR 5005 is now Public Law No. 107-296.

See also, story titled "DHS Begins Rulemaking Proceeding on FOIA Exemption for Critical Infrastructure Information" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 645, April 16, 2003, and story titled "DHS Announces Adoption of Rules Implementing the Critical Infrastructure Information Act" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 840, February 19, 2004.

And see, the General Accounting Office's (GAO) report [69 pages in PDF] titled "Critical Infrastructure Protection: Improving Information Sharing with Infrastructure Sectors", and story titled "GAO Reports on Critical Infrastructure Information Sharing" in TLJ Daily E-Mail Alert No. 947, July 28, 2004.

More News

9/1. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report [35 pages in PDF] titled "Information Security: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Needs to Improve Its Program". The report finds that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) "has not consistently implemented information security controls to properly protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its financial and sensitive information and information systems." It found, for example, that the "FDIC did not consistently implement controls intended to prevent, limit, or detect access to its critical financial and sensitive systems and information. Weaknesses in access controls exist related to (1) user accounts and passwords, (2) access rights and permissions, (3) network services, (4) configuration assurance, (5) audit and monitoring of security-related events, and (6) physical security."

9/1. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its prepared testimony [24 pages in PDF] titled "Health Information Technology: HHS is Continuing Efforts to Define Its National Strategy". This was prepared for the House Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on Federal Workforce and Agency Organization. The GAO stated that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology have "made progress" in many areas through the work of the American Health Information Community. However, the GAO added that "it still lacks detailed plans, milestones, and performance measures for meeting the President’s goals."

Go to News from August 26-31, 2006.