There is some good news on the Enforcement front. As this has not yet been made public by FCC, and at this point a number of things could come up that could impact and delay the process, it is not in the best interest to publicize this until FCC actually makes the announcement public and identifies the person who will fill the job.

The meeting was very good and much better than Chris was anticipating. He had delivered to them in advance a copy of my October 31, 2008 letter to the Chairman and to Monteith asking them to expedite the hiring of Riley Hollingsworth’s replacement.

Our strategy, which Dave suggested, was to ask what ARRL could do to help expedite the process of a replacement for Riley. This was because our understanding, received from inside FCC and corroborated by Riley as well, was that the appointment had been decided upon by the EB but that the Chairman’s approval was not forthcoming; so badgering the EB would have really been a mistake.

Chris arrived at the conference room first, ahead of the three EB people who came in together. Kris Monteith was extremely cordial (a far cry from her attitude when Chris and I met with her and others about BPL interference cases before the Court remand). She began by thanking ARRL profusely for its willingness to help with the DTV conversion. Chris told her it was a win-win, and thanked George Dillon for helping structure this in a way that allowed ham clubs to do some community outreach and at the same time possibly showcase the value of Amateur Radio.

After some discussion of that program, Chris switched to the Riley replacement issue. He provided some history about the “dark times” of no Amateur enforcement, the deterrence value, and the fact that in the 6 months since Riley retired there has been noticeable deterioration in compliance in various respects, including about a dozen Malicious Interference (MI) cases. Because the essence and the value of the Amateur Enforcement program (which Chris described as a model of efficiency and success as an enforcement plan based on deterrence rather than imposition of actual sanctions) is the apprehension by licensees of an active FCC presence, the absence of that apprehension voids the entire scheme.

So Chris asked what we could do to help the EB get this vacancy filled soon. Monteith responded happily that there was nothing that we could, or need to do at this point, beyond what we had already done to expedite this matter from the time Riley had announced his retirement until now. She said that an offer has been extended to an individual (the name of whom she was unable to give at this point for obvious reasons and frankly, we don't need to know at this point) and that the offer had been accepted. There is, she said, NO roadblock to this person commencing work except the normal personnel office paperwork processing, which is ongoing. She said that there were no necessary approvals lacking, and that the person, who she described as experienced in “our issues” including Amateur Radio in particular and telecom issues in general, would be starting in January. She said that the person would be doing “the same job” that Riley did, but that “no one can replace Riley”. Chris asked her (out of curiosity) whether the person would be based in Washington or Gettysburg, and she unhesitatingly said “Gettysburg”.

Chris advised her that we had a board meeting scheduled for January 15 and a few days thereafter, and asked whether it was likely that the person would be announced by then. She said it was likely, but didn’t know precisely. Chris asked if she would please notify us if the appointment was to be delayed beyond January 15 for any significant time period. She said she would do that.

George Dillon offered that while the person was indeed schooled in Amateur Radio issues, they (EB) wanted to know if they could have the person visit ARRL Headquarters early on and discuss processes and procedures with HQ staff. They said they would pay for her/his travel expenses etc. Chris assured them that this would be accommodated, and the sooner the better and we would hope they would meet with lab staff, VEC staff and regulatory information staff in particular, but that we would look very much forward to hosting the person.