WASHINGTON-President Bush said he intends to nominate Michael Gallagher to head the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a key policy unit the administration wants to merge with other technology agencies.
Gallagher, previously an aide to former Rep. Rick White (R-Wash.) and a Verizon Wireless lobbyist, currently serves as deputy chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. Before that, Gallagher was deputy to former NTIA chief Nancy Victory, who left her post last week.
“I believe Mike’s vast experience in telecommunications policy will serve the department well, and I look forward to working with him on such critical issues as the deployment of broadband and management of our nation’s airwaves,” said Evans.
In recent years, NTIA has been at the center of fierce battles over transferring spectrum from the Pentagon to wireless carriers for third-generation services and the commercialization of new technologies like ultra-wideband and Wi-Fi. Gallagher played a key role in some of the negotiations leading to compromises on those issues. But while he appears to have the respect of industry, Gallagher has failed to win over some government spectrum managers who have fought to protect federal radio systems from commercial wireless interference.
