The FCC appointed Chairman Brendan Carr as the agency’s defense commissioner in July but only released the order Thursday. The agency didn’t comment on the reason for the delay. Defense commissioner is a procedural role historically occupied by the chair. Carr’s predecessor, Jessica Rosenworcel, was made defense commissioner when she was acting chair in 2021. The defense commissioner “directs the homeland security, national security and emergency preparedness, and defense activities of the Commission,” as well as serving as the principal point of contact for the Department of Homeland Security, the order said.

Verizon wasn’t interested in the spectrum that AT&T is buying from EchoStar, Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, said at a Bank of America financial conference Wednesday. Verizon is very happy with its spectrum position, he said. AT&T announced last week an agreement to buy EchoStar spectrum for $23 billion (see 2508260005).

The FCC will hold a workshop Sept. 11 for tribes and native Hawaiian organizations during the Coalition of Large Tribes quarterly meeting in Prior Lake, Minnesota, the agency announced Friday. Among the topics to be discussed are proposed changes to the commission’s National Environmental Policy Act rules (see 2508150050), which have raised tribal concerns. FCC staff will also offer updates on proposed pole attachment changes and “technology transitions,” the notice said. The meeting is scheduled from 1:15-4 p.m. at the Mystic Lake Center. Afterward, staff will be available for in-person consultations.

Comments are due Sept. 25, replies Oct. 10, on the FCC’s NPRM on reexamining the emergency alert system and wireless emergency alerts, said a public notice Friday in docket 25-224. The NPRM was unanimously approved at the agency’s August open meeting (see 2508070037).

Meeting the goals of the budget reconciliation package to make 800 MHz of spectrum available for auction (see 2507070045) won’t be easy, especially with 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz exempted from potential reallocation, warned Joe Kane, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation's director of broadband and spectrum policy. Kane spoke with former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly in a new webcast, part of a series for the Free State Foundation.

Google's Gmail is potentially violating the FTC Act through partisan treatment of email, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said Thursday in a letter to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet. Pointing to New York Post reports earlier this month alleging that Gmail's spam filters are stopping Republican fundraising emails while letting Democrat fundraising emails through, Ferguson said partisan spam filtering "may harm American consumers and may violate the FTC Act’s prohibition of unfair or deceptive trade practices." He warned of a potential agency investigation and enforcement action.

Gavin Wax, a former FCC 10th-floor aide who was at one time rumored to be in the running for a commissioner seat, has moved on to the State Department, he posted on LinkedIn Monday. Wax is starting a new position as chief of staff to acting Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Darren Beattie.

BEAD subgrantees will inevitably be incentivized to return to the government to seek more money to cover cost overruns, economists wrote Wednesday. But there may be ways of reducing the problem through the design of BEAD bidding processes, said Stanford Public Policy Program Director Gregory Rosston and Technology Policy Institute President Scott Wallsten. They noted that there are already signs that subgrantees are putting in unrealistically low bids with the expectation of seeking future USF support to subsidize their operations. But robust broadband competition lowers the likelihood that previously subsidized competitors will succeed in lobbying for more subsidies later, the economists said, and competition in rural areas is growing. NTIA and states "should buy time to let competition take hold before winners can come back to the trough," they said.

FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty said she will work with agency colleagues to address the digital divide in Alaska after a weeklong visit to the state, said a news release in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. Trusty’s trip involved meetings with “industry leaders, as well as federal, state, local, and Tribal stakeholders” on broadband expansion “to some of the nation’s most remote and difficult-to-serve areas,” the release said.

Wireless and aviation groups are working together to look at how the upper C band can be safely reallocated for full-power licensed use, officials from the Aerospace Industries Association, Airlines for America and CTIA told the FCC in a filing posted Friday. Questions about the implications for radio altimeters, which use adjacent spectrum, surfaced ahead of FCC approval of a notice of inquiry on the band (see 2502120046).