APPENDIX 3.-FEDERAL USE OF COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY

3.1 OFFICE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY

3.1.1 THE OFFICE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY: A BRIEF PROFILE OF ITS ORIGIN, CREATION, AND STATUS

(By Harold C. Relyea, Analyst, American National Government and Public Administration, The Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, February 10, 1973)

1

As a policy concept, telecommunications has been regarded as "any transmission, emission, or reception of signs, signals, written images and sounds or intelligence of any nature by wire, radio, visual, or other electromagnetic systems including any intervening processing and storage." It is not known when or what agency of the Federal Government first addressed itself to this policy area. At present, however, a number of Departments and Independent Agencies are involved in telecommunications matters and the body responsible for the coordination and supervision of this policy sphere within the Executive Branch is the Office of Telecommunications Policy located within the Executive Office of the President.

OTP PREDECESSORS

Central coordination of telecommunications policy first evidenced itself during the Truman Administration when the office of Telecommunications Advisor to the President was established. According to the United States Government Organization Manual 1952-53:

A Telecommunications Advisor to the President was provided for within the Executive Office of the President by Executive Order 10297 of October 9, 1951. Such an activity was recommended in February 1951 by the President's Communications Policy Board. The Advisor, appointed by the President, assists and advises the President: (1) in the formulation of telecommunications policies and the coordination of planning for programs designed to assure the greatest possible national advantage from the United States telecommunications efforts; (2) in assigning radio frequencies to Government agencies under the provisions of section 305 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (48 Stat. 1083, as amended; 47 U.S.C. 305); and (3) in such other telecommunications functions as the President may designate."

The individual who held this position was Haraden Pratt, a communications consultant who had been active in the engineering and development of telegraph, wireless, and commercial radio advancement. He served with the Commerce Department's Bureau of Standards in 1927 and 1928 developing radio aids for air navigation, served as chief engineer and vice president of certain communications corporations, and was chairman of the Radio Technology Planning Board from 1945 to 1948. With the change of administrations in 1953, he returned to private life.

During the period he served as Telecommunications Advisor to the President, Pratt received a salary of $15,000, an amount comparable to the compensation of Administrative Assistants to the President. The unit also consisted of an Assistant to the Advisor and a Telecommunications Specialist. Both of these positions were subject to reimbursement on a per diem basis when actually employed. For 1952 the payment to both individuals holding these titles totaled less than $100. A Special Assistant, Lt. Col. W. M. Lauterbach, United States Army, was detailed to the unit from the Defense Department. The group had no desig

1 Committee on Telecommunications, National Academy of Engineering. Communications Technology for Urban Improvement (Washington: National Technical Information Service, Department of Commerce, 1971), p. vi. 2 United States Government Organization Manual 1952-53 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1952), p. 59. Salary information from Official Register of the United States 1953 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1953), p. 20.

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nated budget of its own and presumably was funded through general revenue available to the President. Also, it is not known what staff the unit had outside of the four named officials but, given the conditions surrounding their employment status, the additional clerical and administrative staff probably did not exceed a dozen employees.

The infant office of the Telecommunications Advisor did not long remain intact. With the arrival of the Eisenhower Administration, the duties of the Telecommunications Advisor were transferred by presidential directive to the Office of Defense Mobilization, another Executive Office unit. There an Assistant Director for Telecommunications concerned himself with these policy matters. The Office of Defense Mobilization subsequently underwent a series of name changes and functional alterations. In 1958 the unit was transformed into the Office of Defense and Civilian Mobilization. An act of Congress in 1961 (75 Stat. 630) reorganized this unit, renamed the Office of Civilian and Defense Mobilization by Executive Order 10782, and titled it the Office of Emergency Planning. Another congressional action in 1968 (82 Stat. 1194) redesignated the Office of Emergency Planning the Office of Emergency Preparedness. Ultimately, a presidential order transferred the telecommunications function of OEP to the newly created Office of Telecommunications Policy in 1970.8

OTP ORIGINS

The suggestion for reestablishing the telecommunications policy coordination and supervision functions once again within a single Executive Office unit came from various quarters in the late 1960s. In 1964 the House Military Operations Subcommittee undertook a review of Government efforts in the development of satellite communications. With the conclusion of these hearings the following year, the panel, with regard to Executive Branch organization, recommended: At the earliest practicable date, the President should submit to the Congress a reorganization plan to reconstitute the functions and responsibilities of the Director of Telecommunications Management in a separate office in the Executive Office of the President, and take steps to insure that the Office is adequately staffed."

11

This recommendation was again made in 1966 10 and in 1967.11

While the Subcommittee was issuing its 1967 recommendation, the Bureau of the Budget was beginning a study of Federal communications organization for President Johnson. The Bureau's conclusions, issued in a late 1968 report, were accompanied by various recommendations, one of which was a program suggestion for "a strengthened policy planning, formulation, and direction organization for Federal telecommunications activities." The report said:

As we have stated earlier in this report, the Director of Telecommunications Management [in the Office of Emergency Preparedness] is not functioning successfully in his present setting. We have considered a number of possibilities with respect to creating a more viable and relevant policy center for the executive branch. For example, it has been proposed that the DTM would have a stronger policy role if his office were removed from the Office of Emergency Preparedness and established as an independent agency within the Executive Office of the President. We do not agree. We believe that the day-to-day policy matters with which the DTM must deal do not require the continuing attention of the President. Policy matters will on occasion warrant Presidential attention, but the location of the DTM in the Executive Office is not a necessary requisite to gaining the President's attention.12 Arguing that "communications policy development and planning should not be an isolated activity of a Presidential staff office," the BoB report later indicated that "the case seems clearly made for leaving operations responsibility with the principal agencies having mission-related telecommunications."1 " 13 Discounting

E.O. 10460, June 16, 1953.

E.O. 10773, July 1, 1958.

75 Stat. 630, September 22, 1961. 782 Stat. 1194, October 21, 1968. E.O. 11556, September 4, 1970.

H. Rept. 89-178, p. 111.

10 H. Rept. 89-2318. p. 9.

11 H. Rept. 90-613. p. 12.

12 Bureau of the Budget, Study of Federal Communications Organization (Washington: Bureau of the Budget, December. 1968), p. 40; reprinted in U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1970. Hearings, 91st Congress, 2d session. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1970, pp. 79-133.

13 Bureau of the Budget, op. cit., p. 47.

proposals for a Department of Communications," the report urged the establishment of a distinct communications agency within an existing department, saying:

Establishment of a Federal Communications Administration in either the Department of Commerce or the Department of Transportation would take time and could be done in increments. We believe that the first step should be the transfer of the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Management to the Department of Commerce or Transportation. This could be done even prior to the establishment of the new Administration within either department.1

15

18

Once established, the new agency would, among other functions, "have a limited in-house research capability to support its frequency spectrum management and general policy development responsibilities." In making this recommendation, the BoB study was urging the transferral of certain telecommunications testing facilities under the supervision of the Environmental Science Services Administration and the Radio Standards Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards. Such a transferral would be realized with the creation of the Office of Telecommunications Policy but in a manner not consistent with the organizational structure suggested by the BoB report.

While the Bureau of the Budget was compiling its report in 1967, another group, the President's Task Force on Communication Policy under the leadership of Eugene V. Rostow, was preparing a report on matters in the field of communications policy and no specific recommendation was offered for creating a telecommunications unit within the Executive Office of the President. Yet, the underlying thought and drift of the report is in the direction of a single management and coordination office in the area of telecommunications policy. For example, the report contains this observation regarding organizational capabilities:

The FCC has a general statutory responsibility to encourage the larger and more effective use of radio in the public interest, but as a regulatory agency it is limited in the degree to which it can play the role of communications promoter to executive agencies such as HEW, AID, and HUD. DTM [Director of Telecommunications Management] lacks both the functional responsibilities and the in-house capability necessary to an effective promotional role.

A promotional policy would require a combination of two different, although closely related capabilities: a comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of the present and potential technological state of the art, and the communications systems engineering competence to bring that knowledge to bear on the communications requirements of mission-oriented agencies. These capabilities do not exist in government today in the necessary form and quantity.

17

Neither FCC with its focus on regulatory matters, nor DTM with its focus on broad policy-making and spectrum allocation, nor even GSA, which is concerned with a wide variety of procurement and maintenance functions. possesses the requisite level of communications systems engineering skills." The closest statement to a recommendation made in the report with regard to organization was made in terms of “a new Government telecommunications capability," which did not actually suggest institutional modifications or a new Executive Branch unit. The report continued on this matter saying:

What is required, in brief, is an adequately funded focus for the centralized responsibility for spectrum management recommended elsewhere in the report; a center capable of coordinating government research and development in spectrum problems and for the provision of guidance and evaluative frameworks for a variety of communications-related pilot programs; a focus capable of responding to requests for technical advice and assistance on procurement matters, either from other agencies or from State and local governments; and a center for the provision of technical assistance and the development of new concepts and procedures in connection with regulatory policy. The overall need, then, is for a long-range planning, policyformulating and coordinating, and mission-support capability which can serve to integrate the various roles in which the Executive Branch is presently engaged.

14 Ibid., p. 46.

15 Ibid., p. 50.

16 Ibid., D. 43.

17 President's Task Force on Communications Policy. Final Report (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, December 7, 1968), pp. 16-17.

To its tasks, the proposed entity would bring the skills of engineers and scientists capable of analyzing the applicability of technological developments in terms of both component performance and system design; and of lawyers, economists and statisticians capable of engaging in industry and, in cooperation with technical personnel, long-range technological, cost and demand forecasting. As these programs began to be implemented, one could expect a constant flow of such personnel to other communications-related Government activities, including the FCC.18

In July of 1969, the General Accounting Office completed a survey of efforts toward establishing a unified national communications system. In its report to the Congress, the GAO provided the following recommendation or suggestion:

The President should give consideration to a major realignment of the existing NCS [National Communications System] structure and organizational arrangements-a realignment which will establish an organization and give it stature, authority, and resources sufficient to provide a strong central telecommunications authority as the Government's central focus point in telecommunications matters.

In making the realignment, consideration should be given to: Removing the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Management (DTM) as a component part of the Office of Emergency Preparedness (OEP) and reconstituting this office as the new organization or entity, and

Assigning the present roles and functions of the Executive Agent, NCS, and the Manager, NCS, to the proposed organization or entity." When the GAO issued its report, two presidential aides were completing a memorandum of their own on "Executive Branch Organization for Telecommunications." After reviewing the various reports and studies already surveyed here, Assistant to the President Peter Flanigan and Clay T. Whitehead, a former Rand Corporation analyst consulting with the White House on this project, suggested:

An Office of Telecommunications Policy should be established as an independent entity in the Executive Office of the President. The Director of this Office, appointed by the President, would have primary executive branch responsibility for both national telecommunications policies and Federal administrative telecommunications operations. * *

In performing [designated] functions, the Director, Office of Telecommunications Policy, will be assisted by a small staff, augmented as required by: (1) ad hoc, interagency and nongovernmental task groups, (2) independent consultants, (3) control studies, (4) a new telecommunications research and analysis center, (5) the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee, and (6) a new Telecommunications Advisory Committee composed of experts from outside of the Government. So long as the NCS structure is retained, he will also be assisted by the executive agent of the NCS. The memorandum also urged the establishment of a technological telecommunications unit within the Department of Commerce, saying:

A Telecommunications Research and Analyst Center (TRAC) should be established in the Department of Commerce, reporting to the Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology. The TRAC would provide a centralized research, engineering, and analysis capability in support of spectrum management and such other areas as may be required.

Specific functions for the TRAC were enumerated and it was also suggested that "the major portion of the Frequency Management Directorate of OTM should be transferred to the Department of Commerce to provide the technical and clerical support functions described" in the memorandum.

OTP ESTABLISHED

On February 9, 1970 President Nixon transmitted Reorganization Plan No. 1 which called for a new telecommunications policy agency to be established within the Executive Office of the President." While the location of the unit was contrary to the suggestion of the BcB report, the plan did suggest that the new office would, as the Rostow report urged, play a promotional policy role in the field of telecommunications. While both the Rostow report and the BoB report had envi

18 Ibid., pp. 27-29.

19 General Accounting Office. "Review Of Status Of Development Toward Establishment Of A Unified National Communications System," Washington: General Accounting Office. July 14. 1969, pp. 2-3 (tear sheet digest).

20 Memorandum included in Committee on Government Operations, op. cit., pp. 74–78. 21 H. Doc. 91-222; see appendix to this report.

sioned a research function for the new office, this was not realized in the creation of the Office of Telecommunications Policy; it was placed in the Office of Telecommunications which was subsequently established within the Department of Commerce, the agency which the BoB report had elected for assuming total responsibility for telecommunications coordination." Also, contrary to the recommendation of the Flanigan-Whitehead memorandum, the Director of OTP would be appointed by the President with Senate approval. The first Director was, subsequently, Dr. Whitehead.

After slight opposition was heard to the plan, a report was issued on March 19, 1970 by the House Government Operations Committee approving it. The panel concluded:

We view the plan as a forward step of significant proportions toward the efficient organization of the important and necessary telecommunications services of the Government. It is axiomatic that in these times messages must be relayed with dispatch among the farflung offices and stations throughout the United States and the world if our Government's business is to be properly conducted. This plan gives status and importance to this new Office and, hopefuly, it will be able to resolve the many complex and technical problems involved in establishing and maintaining this sensitive mechanism.”

OBJECTION

The report also noted the existence of certain objection to the plan, saying: H. Res. 841, a resolution to disapprove Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1970, was filed by Congressman Cornelius E. Gallagher of New Jersey. In his testimony before the committee Congressman Gallagher indicated that his interest was in focusing on the problem of computer privacy and the integrity of the data flow along communication lines. His principal desire was for positive assurance that computer privacy concern will be a part of the new office.24

This interest on the part of Rep. Gallagher derived, at least in part, from his own efforts as Chairman of a Special Subcommittee on Invasion of Privacy which probed personal privacy safeguards being utilized or ignored with regard to computerized data banks.25

Responding to Rep. Gallagher's objections, the Committee's report commented:

We note that the President's letter of transmittal stated that the new Office of Telecommunications Policy will have the responsibility of formulating Government policies designed to develop plans and programs which take full advantage of the Nation's technologcial capabilities in the area of telecommunications. It must be kept in mind, however, that evolving technologies in the area of telecommunications and data processing will result in making increasingly uncertain the borders separating the communications industry from the data processing industry. Therefore, the office must be prepared to develop plans and programs dealing with possible conflicts between these two industries. The problem of protecting the rights of privacy of individuals which may be jeopardized through the use of computers for data banks is one of the many problems which will have to be considered in formulating appropriate Government policies.28

SOCIAL BENEFITS

In outlining the scope and policy concerns of the new office, the Acting Director of Telecommunications Management, William Plummer, stressed certain benefits which the new unit would provide, benefits of a non-defense nature. Acording to the Acting Director:

We no longer live in a limited field. We have to take into account all dimensions-time, type of modulation, antenna characteristics, antenna orientation, and many other factors. It may vary anywhere from two or three, to maybe 20 or 30 or more. We have to concern ourselves with the effects of electromagnetic communications equipment on people, life forms, and things. We may, if we aren't careful, inadvertently blow up something. 22 See Department of Commerce Organization Order 30-5A of September 20, 1970; this order is contained in an appendix to this report. 23 H. Rept. 91-930, p. 7.

24 Ibid.. D. 6.

See U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Government Operations. Special Subcommittee on Invasion of Privacy. The Computer and Invasion of Privacy. Hearings, 89th Congress, 2d session. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966. 318 p. 28 H. Rept. 91-930, p. 7.