Wave: Finally, you have been tasked with dispensing more than $100 million for the WARN ACT and with the proceeds from the 700 MHz auction, research and development for the right solution for emergency alerts. Have you established a plan for dispensing that money?
Mr. Kneuer: Under the statute we don’t have borrowing authority for that portion of our program. Those monies will not be available until the receipts from the auctions have come in and until all the other obligations under the statute
have been met. But we are working with our partners at DHS and with our colleagues at NOAA and NIST. We have time to come up with the most thoughtful solutions. We’re certainly always open to any input and thoughts that members of the wireless community or others have on how we can best leverage those resources.
Wave: We’ve covered quite a lot of ground here and I can see you certainly have a full plate. How do you feel about dealing with all of that, the resources you have, the workload you have, and the ability to move all of these things forward at the same time when separately they’re already big projects.
Mr. Kneuer: No doubt about it, this is a enormously gratifying, but at the same time, a challenging and humbling job. I am honored by the confidence that the secretary and the president have in me by nominating me for this position. And, you know, we have the time that we have left in this administration, combined with the considerable support from the leadership in the Department and with my colleagues across the administration, to put the resources that are necessary to meet all of the obligations that have been entrusted to this agency. We’re running hard, but it’s a good run, and we plan on running straight out to the finish line.
