On Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai announced an investigation into how wireless services providers responded to Hurricane Michael, which devastated the Florida Panhandle and surrounding areas–along with service provider infrastructure–last week.
The Next Generation 911 Institute (NG911) announced yesterday that AT&T’s Joe Marx was re-elected as chair of the board.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the launch of an interactive data tool to display substance abuse data along with other public information, allowing local leaders to “build grassroots strategies to address the opioid epidemic,” the department said in its announcement.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is the latest in a string of organizations to release its recommendations on how Federal, state, and local officials can best secure U.S. elections, including the use of paper-ballot components.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and FirstNet today announced new personnel changes.
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), a Federal government entity within the Department of Commerce that is working with AT&T to build out a nationwide broadband communications network for first responders, said today that Sue Swenson is stepping down as chair of the FirstNet board, and Jeffrey Johnson is resigning as vice chair.
FirstNet, the nationwide public safety broadband network, announced that it is creating Emergency Drop Kits for first responders. FirstNet, a public-private partnership between AT&T and the First Responder Network Authority, is partnering with ruggedized cellphone provider Sonim on the kits.
The Department of Justice announced the expansion of its Tribal Access Program (TAP), which will allow Tribal governments to access and share more data with the Federal government. TAP can be used by law enforcement, court systems, probation offices and detention facilities.
Even as Apple went public yesterday with a new mobile device operating system intended to close security loopholes that law enforcement agencies were using to access locked devices, one digital forensics firm said it found a workaround to bypass the new security features for a cost of about forty bucks.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is piloting a new artificial intelligence (AI) initiative with Canada’s Department of National Defense that kicked off today and aims to provide first responders and paramedics with information to help make potential life-saving decisions in the field.
