FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has named Travis LeBlanc - a former Justice Department attorney - as acting
Chief
of the Commission's Enforcement Bureau. According to an FCC announcement,
LeBlanc is returning to Washington from California, where he has been a top
deputy and senior advisor to the state's Attorney General, specializing in
technology regulation, telecommunications, high-tech crime and cyber-security,
among other subjects.
The ARRL is planning to use the
arrival of new leadership at both the Enforcement Bureau and the Commission to
try to bring top-level attention to bear on a perceived lack of enforcement in
the Amateur Service in recent years. In an open letter to ARRL members in the
Hudson Division, Division Director and ARRL Executive Committee member Mike Lisenco,
N2YBB, noted that Chairman Wheeler, in announcing LeBlanc's appointment, said
that "the credibility of the Commission's rules depends on its enforcement
activities," said the League is planning to meet with FCC staff and
commissioners to discuss enforcement issues and asked members to supply him
with specific reports of rules violations that have been reported to the FCC
but have not been addressed. Lisenco noted that the change in leadership provides
"a golden opportunity to … attempt to change the current regulatory
environment from being virtually non-existent to one that supports us."