Official FCC Blog

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Since we began this blog we have been highlighting FCC staff in a series of profiles. As March is Women’s History Month, we will be focusing on some of our female colleagues and talking to them about their experiences as professionals, and as women, working in public service at the FCC.

Eloise Gore, Associate Bureau Chief, Media Bureau
Years at FCC: 13

Eloise Gore considers herself lucky. Beginning her career with the federal government as an intern in 1978, she benefited from both the barrier-breaking women of the generation before her and the government’s early efforts at diversity. As an attorney, first for the Federal Trade Commission, then the Commerce Department, and here at the FCC for the past 13 years, she recalls sitting across the table from attorneys in the private sector that at times were all white men.

In those years, in the middle-late seventies, the government was one of the places that women could go, because the government was much more accepting of women, as attorneys, as other kinds of professionals, than the private sector was… so it would be frequently the case that those of us who were in the government would be in negotiations with outside law firms and they would be all these men in suits. And we were the only ones that had women.

She is proud of the way that women, and men, are given the opportunity to thrive here at the FCC, especially with regard to balancing their families with career.

Women who want to have families, who want to have children, are very supported particularly by the government. Again that was something that the government did first: to allow women a chance to go and be a mother and have day care so that they could come back and have their children near them.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission delivered to Congress a National Broadband Plan setting an ambitious agenda for connecting all corners of the nation while transforming the economy and society with the communications network of the future -- robust, affordable Internet.

The creation of this plan has been unprecedented for the FCC in how many stakeholders and members of the public, both online and in person, participated in developing the factual record.

The process has been open, transparent and participatory.  You can join the ongoing dialogue as well as the full National Broadband Plan now at Broadband.gov.

National Consumer Protection Week – NCPW for short – is a week filled with getting information to the public about consumer issues that affect all of our lives. This year's theme is "Dollars and Sense: Rated A for All Ages". This theme highlights the importance of consumer education for consumers of all ages - grade school through retirement, and covers issues ranging from On-Line Safety to Privacy and Identity Theft and being a smart consumer. We even have a webpage with information about safe driving with links to videos and materials to help talk to your teenager about not texting while driving.

At the FCC we have made it a priority to improve consumer information and disclosure about telecommunications products and services and make bills more understandable and less confusing. For example, we are looking at ways to make our complaint process easier for the public. Please let us know if you have a suggestion.

Working to Vastly Improve Public Safety Communications with a Wireless, Interoperable Broadband Network across the Nation

Past Experience Brings Home the Need
Our first responders deal with emergencies everyday, and on some days, those emergencies are truly disasters that test the limits of our systems and beyond.

These kinds of emergencies and disasters clearly demonstrate the importance of reliable, robust and interoperable communications for America's first responders, based on the most advanced wireless broadband technology possible.

On Thursday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and I publicly rolled out highlights of the public safety goals and recommendations of the FCC's National Broadband Plan (the Plan). A major set of recommendations is related to the creation of a nationwide interoperable wireless broadband network for public safety.

Maximizing Public Safety's Choices and Flexibility
The FCC completed a thorough and exhaustive process that explored all of the options and developed a plan that is fact-based and data driven. With this in mind, the Plan offers a framework for ensuring a nationwide level of interoperability from the start and incredible flexibility and choice to public safety that we believe will lead to real solutions for America's first responders. The following are highlights of the Plan's recommendations: