FirstNet to Create Nationwide Broadband Network to Improve Public Safety In remarks today at the Opening General Session of the 78th Annual Conference & Expo hosted by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International, Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank appointed twelve of the nation’s leading experts on public safety and wireless broadband communications to serve on the Board of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet). FirstNet is congressionally mandated to establish a nationwide wireless broadband network that enables police, firefighters, emergency services personnel, and others in public safety to better communicate with one another during emergencies and use new technology to improve response time, keep communities safe, and save lives.
The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, signed into law in February 2012, created FirstNet, an independent authority within Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Congress directed that FirstNet be run by a 15-person Board of Directors, with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget named as permanent members of the Board. Congress charged the Secretary of Commerce with selecting the remaining 12 members.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
