Telecommunications: NTIA: A small agency tackles large issues: The Carter-created National Telecommunications and Information Administration influences technical and social communications issues

Abstract

As the U.S. expands from an industrial society to take on aspects of an information society, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the President's advisor and spokesman on telecommunications and information, finds a growing range of issues in its territory: common carrier deregulation, international telecommunications, privacy in telecommunications, copyright and other intellectual property rights, the solar power satellite program, public television, and continuing education for the recertification of professional people, including electrical engineers in some states. With a relatively small staff of about 400 in the Department of Commerce, NTIA develops policies for the President and presents his policies to Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, state governments, international bodies, and other groups wrestling with regulation that affects telecommunications issues.