The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls issued one name change notice April 24:
Reliable investment, updated technologies and more capacity are necessary for the U.S. freight system to continue nurturing international trade, industry representatives told members of a new House transportation panel April 24. Higher funding was mentioned by everyone who testified before the recently formed panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation (see 13041726). Funding is “woefully short” of what is required to modernize the U.S. port network, South Carolina Ports Authority President Jim Newsome said in written testimony. The lack of funding impedes future freight mobility, especially with the growth of U.S. exports and the global shipping fleet. This year will bring the largest injection of new container capacity into the global container fleet, Newsome said. And while there have been some investments in U.S. ports, foreign ports are still “widely recognized” to have more capacity, he said.
FirstNet board member Paul Fitzgerald, sheriff of Story County, Iowa, sharply criticized the leadership of the board Tuesday for keeping public safety on the sidelines as plans for the network are taking shape. Fitzgerald is one of only three active first responders on the board. The board voted to table a resolution by Fitzgerald, which was sharply critical of the work done by the board. In another major development, FirstNet board Chairman Sam Ginn announced that Bill D'Agostino, a former Verizon Wireless executive, was selected as FirstNet general manager after a lengthy search.
The FCC revised its Part 90 rules to allow end-of-train devices (EOT), which transmit brake pipe pressure readings on the rear car to the lead locomotive, to operate with up to eight watts transmitter output power. The FCC made the change acting on a petition from the Association of American Railroads. AAR said the change would improve train safety, providing the engineer with information that could be needed in an emergency. The FCC said it sought comment and no one opposed the change. “As a practical matter, EOT devices must be mounted on the coupling knuckle behind the last car in the train, but the path from the end of the train to the front of the train is always blocked by intervening train cars, and also can be adversely affected by variable terrain factors,” the order said. “AAR, which is the Commission’s certified frequency coordinator, ... argued that the current two-watt power limit offers little margin for degradation of the communications link, especially on longer trains (some of which are 7,000 to 8,000 feet long), and that the proposed increase in power was unlikely to cause interference to railroad operations.” The order also modifies Section 90.187 of the commission’s rules on trunking in the private land mobile radio bands below 800 MHz. A trunked system uses technology that can search two or more available channels and automatically assign a user an open channel. The commission said it sought comment on various amendments “intended to simplify or clarify the trunking rules,” most of which were not controversial. “In particular, we amend Section 90.187 to clarify that it neither requires applicants for decentralized trunked systems to obtain consent from affected licensees nor permits decentralized trunked systems to operate without monitoring,” the agency said. The report and order (http://bit.ly/ZCuTHY), which was adopted by the commission Tuesday and released Thursday, makes a number of other minor tweaks to the Part 90 rules.
CBP will begin taking over land ports-of-entry facilities this year, a move that will facilitate a “faster delivery of service,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate committee April 18. DHS will work with the General Services Administration to delegate control of the facilities to CBP; because the buildings are “mission-oriented 24/7 operational assets of CBP, as well as national trade and transportation infrastructure,” they are different from the other federal buildings GSA manages, Napolitano said in written testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Napolitano testified on DHS’s proposed budget for 2014. She also made the rounds before the House Homeland Security Committee (here). Under the budget, CBP will also gain authority over the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology. The agency is also working with the Department of Agriculture to evaluate “financial models to achieve full cost recovery for agricultural inspectional services provided by CBP,” Napolitano said.
The House passed an amended version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) by a 288 to 127 vote Thursday. The revised CISPA aims to increase cyberthreat information sharing between the public and private sectors, something which cybersecurity experts say is needed to protect U.S. networks from attacks. HR-624 is a modified version of the information sharing legislation that passed by the House last year (HR-3523) but failed to achieve a vote in the Senate. Ninety-two Democrats voted for the bill Thursday, 50 more than voted for the CISPA bill that passed the House in the last Congress.
The House passed an amended version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) by a 288 to 127 vote Thursday. The revised CISPA aims to increase cyberthreat information sharing between the public and private sectors, something which cybersecurity experts say is needed to protect U.S. networks from attacks. HR-624 is a modified version of the information sharing legislation that passed by the House last year (HR-3523) but failed to achieve a vote in the Senate. Ninety-two Democrats voted for the bill Thursday, 50 more than voted for the CISPA bill that passed the House in the last Congress.
The time has come for industry to roll up its sleeves and get to work getting FirstNet built, said Sue Swenson, a member of the FirstNet board. This week’s bombings in Boston (CD April 17 p1) “certainly brings home the need for first responder interoperability,” she said Wednesday during a FirstNet summit at the Competitive Carriers Association spring conference.
The addition of more than 3,000 CBP officers in President Obama’s 2014 budget proposal will alleviate the agency’s “significant” staffing shortage and help facilitate trade, CBP officials said before the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee April 17. The officials were testifying about the agency’s 2014 proposed budget, and once again warned of sequestration’s “disruptive” effect on CBP’s mission.
Examining the current state of freight transportation in the U.S. -- and how to link together movement of goods between land, sea and air -- is the task of a new House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure panel, announced April 16. The special panel will serve for six months, beginning with its first hearing on April 24, and will provide recommendations on improving movements between highways, ports, inland waterways, railroads, air carriers and pipelines, Committee Chairman Bill Schuster, R-Pa., said in an announcement on the panel. Congress passed a surface transportation bill last year, but it did not include specific mandates for coordination across all types of transportation (see 12070241).