WASHINGTON-Michael Gallagher, President Bush’s nominee to head the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, told Senate lawmakers that engineering and trust among agencies are key to forging spectrum policies that balance economic and homeland security objectives in the post-9/11 world.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he planned to move the Gallagher nomination forward as soon as possible.
Gallagher, currently acting NTIA director, helped negotiate a compromise between the high-tech industry and Pentagon earlier this year, enabling the United States to support a global 5 GHz allocation for Wi-Fi technology.
GOP lawmakers told Gallagher they want the Bush administration to drop objections to legislation making available $250 million in high-tech grants to black colleges and other minority-serving educational institutions.
On a related front, McCain said he sees little chance this year for an administration proposal to fold NTIA and e-commerce functions of the International Trade Administration into the Commerce Department’s Technology Administration.
