Key Takeaway:
House Slashes Online ID Program and Pilot Funding
Last Friday, the House of Representatives passed a spending bill including less funding and language intended to wind down the administration’s efforts to replace the online username/password with a more secure proof of identity. The House Commerce, Justice, Science and related agencies (CJS) Appropriations bill would only provide $5.9 million of the requested $16.5 million for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) program known as the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) program.
The $5.9 million could be used to sustain programming at the federal level, but would cut off funding for ongoing pilot programs in the states and cease any new pilots from occurring. The Senate CJS bill, approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee this Thursday, supports the administration's request for $16.5 million.
Other Buzz:
“Public Safety Grade” Defined by NPSTC
The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) released a publication last week entitled Defining Public Safety Grade Systems and Facilities. The document attempts to provide a definition for “public safety grade” communications, something often referred to in the first responder community but ill-defined.. The report covers environmental considerations, service level agreements, reliability and resiliency, coverage, push-to-talk, applications, site hardening, installation, and operations and maintenance. If accepted by FirstNet, the report could have far reaching implications for the construction of the FirstNet network, as well as what is considered “standard” by other public safety systems. NPSTC, supported by the Department of Homeland Security, provides a forum for key stakeholders to discuss interoperability and public safety communications concerns. More information available via NPSTC's press release.
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