For the record, if I were to drink Kool-Aid, I would prefer orange.  The Federal Communications Commission’s plan to consolidate its Enforcement Bureau to improve its efficiency and responsiveness is experiencing some friendly fire and some not so friendly fire.  Is it deserved? Maybe, maybe not.  But upon further reflection, let’s face it: under the Bureau’s prior organizational management structure, response expectations were low. This may, in part, explain why requests for assistance were reported to be virtually non-existent in some field offices. Where a request for assistance may have fallen within the Enforcement Bureau’s priority food chain was a wild guess, although messing with aeronautical and mission critical communications will always be frowned upon. Also, transparency was not so good, forfeiture levels were all over the map, and the website where the public was instructed to register a request for assistance—to make it official—was neither all that inclusive nor particularly reassuring. 

So the conclusion I have reached is that I believe that FCC leadership is aware of these issues and recognizes that improvements need to be instituted sooner rather than later. If the optimum way to achieve necessary organizational results and increase public confidence is to reduce the size of the Bureau given its limited resources so that it can start to correct these and other known operational deficiencies and rebuild the Bureau from the ground up, then perhaps we should support that effort. 

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance will support the FCC by providing recommendations on how it may assist, and I have one preliminary recommendation.  The Bureau has stated over and over that its new top priority focus is consumer issues.  One way or another, I trust that the Bureau will come to the realization that every single request for assistance is a consumer issue.    … Mark