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High-Speed Data On The Mind
by Bara Vaida
Broadband will be on the minds of high-tech CEOs coming to Washington next week to participate in the Computer Systems Policy Project's semi-annual meeting.
The executives -- including Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell, IBM CEO Lou Gerstner, Intel CEO Craig Barrett, Motorola CEO Christopher Galvin, NCR CEO Lars Nyberg and Unisys CEO Lawrence Weinbach -- will release a report on their vision for high-speed Internet development, and recommendations on how to build a wired and wireless broadband infrastructure.
The CEOs also will meet with administration staff and congressional leadership on both sides of the aisle to press for action on other policy issues, such as House passage of a bill to reform the Export Administration Act, a Senate vote on presidential trade-negotiating authority, and movement on general trade issues and spectrum management.
A Busy Month In Tech Land
Virginia Republican George Allen, chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, is traveling to high-tech centers on the West Coast during this week.
On Monday, Allen visited the headquarters of Microsoft in Redmond, Wash., and met with company President Rick Belluzzo, executive vice president Robert Herbold and other executives. On Tuesday, he will fly to Los Angeles to visit Disney's headquarters and have lunch with Chairman Michael Eisner. He also will visit Warner Brothers and the offices of SAIC.
On Wednesday, Allen heads to Silicon Valley to visit with Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers and Siebel Systems CEO Tom Siebel, and to tour the offices of Sun Microsystems, Apple Computer and Solectron. He is also scheduled to attend a roundtable on cyber security that will be hosted by the software services company WindRiver. In addition, Allen will attend a non-fundraising event with the New Century Leadership Council.
According to Allen's staff, the purpose of the visits is to hear how the high-tech economy is faring and what Congress can do for the sector. Trade, taxes, cyber security, privacy and digital copyright issues are likely to be discussed during the meetings.
Virginia Democratic Rep. Rick Boucher, co-chairman of the Congressional Internet Caucus, and Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, also are in Silicon Valley this week and will attend a fundraiser hosted by: Ron Conway, general partner of Angel Investors; Rob Reid, founder of Listen.com; and Hank Barry, a partner at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. The reception is aimed at the members for their interest in working on digital music policy.
Later in the month, John Marburger, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, heads to Silicon Valley to discuss Bush administration technology policy. And former President Clinton will attend a fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. According to a TechNet schedule, the event is planned for Jan. 28 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
Lofgren's Challenge to Lead
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who represents a portion of Silicon Valley, has declared that she is running for vice chairwoman of the House Democratic Caucus, according to Roll Call. She will face a challenge from Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C. Both candidates have said they want the caucus to be more inclusive.
Lofgren recently joined the New Democrat Coalition, a moderate faction of the caucus, and if she wins, she would be the first New Democrat to win a House Democratic leadership slot. Such a win also would mean that two of the caucus' top leaders would be from the Bay area. Rep. Nancy Pelosi won the race for House minority whip late last year and is about to assume the post.
Back in California, meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis has appointed three people to his Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency. They include: Nelson Chan, as deputy secretary of the international trade and investment division; Keith Bovetti, as assistant secretary of the international trade and investment division; and Gregory Davis, as regional office director of the Office of Export Development.
The Top Of The Telecom Ladder
The U.S. Telecom Association (USTA) has named four new senior management staffers: Daniel Phythyon, as senior vice president of law and policy; John Abel, as senior vice president of membership, marketing and business development; Patricia Cole, as senior vice president and chief financial officer; and Tom Amontree, as senior vice president of strategic communications.
Phythyon most recently worked at the Wilmer Cutler and Pickering law firm and before that was chief of the FCC's Wireless Bureau. Abel last worked at Geocast Network Systems and Datacast, and Cole left PricewaterhouseCoopers. Amontree has been with USTA since last July and most recently was vice president of strategic communications.
USTA underwent a broad restructuring this year.
Elsewhere, the National Foreign Trade Council announced the arrival of Judy Scarabello as the new vice president of tax policy. Before her arrival, she was a director in AT&T's federal government affairs office. During her AT&T years, Scarabello established and advanced the company's tax, trade, technology and telecom positions.
In 1995, Scarabello created and headed a working group on e-commerce for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Joint International Chamber of Commerce/Business and Industry Advisory Committee.
In government circles, Michael Ferrante has been named chief of licensing and technical analysis for the commercial wireless division of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. The branch that Ferrante now heads processes and issues the licenses for all commercial, mobile radio services. Ferrante joined the FCC in 1972 as an engineer.
Also on the telecom front, President Bush named three new members to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee: Thomas Casey of Global Crossing; Christopher Galvin, the CEO of Motorola; and Edward Whitacre, the chairman of SBC Communications.
Staff Changes At The SEC
Casey Carter, who has been acting director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, now will serve as director of the renamed Office of Legislative Affairs. Carter joined the SEC in 1999, after working in legislative affairs for the Comptroller of the Currency.
Joining the SEC is Christi Harlan, a former communications director for the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. She has been named director of the Office of Public Affairs. Harlan most recently served as director of external affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Before joining the Banking Committee staff, Harlan spent 20 years as a reporter, including six years at the Wall Street Journal.
Talking About Civil Liberties
Jim Dempsey, the deputy director of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), and Georgetown University law professor David Cole are discussing the war on terrorism and the future of civil liberties in conjunction with the publication of the newly revised and expanded edition of their book, Terrorism and the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National Security. Dempsey and Cole will talk about their book live on Thursday at Politics and Prose, a Washington bookstore.
Originally published in 1999, the book discusses the dangers of granting unchecked powers to the federal government in the war on terrorism. Most recently, CDT fought against provisions of the new anti-terrorism law that the group believed overstepped civil liberties.
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