Ladies & Gentlemen:

This week I spent time in Orlando attending CITEL’s regional meetings with ARRL’s Jon Siverling. The Department of State granted me an extraordinary courtesy by permitting me to register at the last moment (30 days prior). I was able to meet a number of the US delegation members. One of them, Charles Glass is NTIA’s international spectrum policy chief. Unprompted he sent me the email below.

I don’t think I fully understood the ITU process, the tediousness and glacial speed at which it moves until I actually experienced it firsthand. Most of all, I didn’t appreciate how much of the progress depends upon the personal relationships developed in the hallways outside the meeting rooms.

NTIA’s Glass is an individual who had a less than pleasant experience with Jon’s predecessor. The resulting friction was a cause for concern in the past. Apparently, this is no longer an issue.

I also don’t think that our ARRL members fully appreciate what people like Jon do in the international arena. They tend to focus on FCC and domestic topics but overlook the cross-border dimensions. I will try to emphasize Jon’s and the League’s contributions in future writings and appearances. But in the meantime, you all have the report card from NTIA.

Gallagher 6/29/17

From: Glass, Charles [mailto:CGlass@ntia.doc.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2017 11:53 AM
To: Gallagher, Tom, NY2RF (CEO) <tgallagher@arrl.org>
Subject: Thanks

Mr. Gallagher,

It was a pleasure to meet you yesterday.  We should see if we can arrange a meet-and-greet meeting with you and Paige Atkins (Associate Administrator of NTIA's Office of Spectrum Management) at some point.

I would also like to take the opportunity to let you know what a true pleasure it has been to work with Jonathan Siverling.  Jonathan is a true professional and is always eager to help on any delegation he participates in and his expertise, friendly disposition, outstanding diplomacy, and superb language and communication skills has made him an integral part of U.S. outreach efforts.  He is a recognized leading technical expert in Amateur issues as you would expect, but his diplomatic expertise allows him to navigate even the most difficult of political issues revolving around representation of Amateur issues.  

Jonathan is a true credit to your organization, an invaluable member of an delegation he attends, and an example for other U.S. delegates in all matters involving the ITU, CITEL, and other regional preparatory activities.  The only regret I have is that we often overwork Jonathan since he has become an army of one.  I would urge you to use his expertise to mentor younger engineers to develop ongoing talent that can assist ARRL and to ensure continuation of the knowledge base he represents.  Anyone he trains would be an asset for ARRL and the U.S. overall.

Thank you for allowing him to support ARRL in the ITU-R activities and wanted you to know just how integral he is to our efforts.

Cheers,

Charles Glass
Chief, International Spectrum Policy Division

U.S. Department of Commerce
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Room 4090
1401 Constitution Ave, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
Office:  202-482-1896
Cell:  +1 202-714-1763
e-mail:  cglass@ntia.doc.gov