My current activities

I retired from Telcordia Technologies as head of research in October 2002. Since then I've been an independent consultant and have continued various professional activites, including board memberships, writing, speaking, advisory committees, etc. I'm looking for things that are intellectually stimulating and involve working with good people as my primary criteria. A number of people have asked if I will continue to write the bimonthly "Reflections" columns in Spectrum Magazine, and the answer is yes.

Some of my current commitments are the following:

• I am chairing a major study of the National Research Council on the health of telecom research and development. This study is being supported by the National Science Foundation and hosted by the National Academy of Engineering through their Computer Science and Telecommunications Board. The final report, after much delay in editing, is being published in August, 2006.
• I continue to be on the advisory board of TTI Vanguard, which is a program of technology seminars for corporate sponsors. It has five two-day meetings a year that are extremely interactive and bring the best and most famous speakers in the technology field, such as CEOs of major corporations, start-ups, Nobel laureates, authors, etc. I recommend this program to anyone involved with corporate strategy in technology. Check out the TTI Vanguard web site and ask for a complimentary visit to one of our meetings.
• I chair the Technological Advisory Council (TAC) of the Federal Communications Commission. We hold regular meetings at the FCC in Washington, DC, at which we discuss the impact of technology on the policies and regulations of the Commission. In recent years we have been particularly active on the spectrum management issue, and have aired many discussions on the advances in wireless technology and on the relative merits of a spectrum commons. Our meetings are webcast live, and are archived for multimedia playback here.
• I am on the Board of Trustees of ANSER, a not-for-profit corporation in Washington, DC, whose business is primarily focused on national defense. They are a leading institution in homeland security, and house the Institute for Homeland Security as well as publish the Journal of Homeland Security. I also chair the executive committee of ANSER.
• I am a member of the Defense Science Board, which reports to the Secretary of Defense to advise on science and technology policy for defense.
• I am currently chairing a study for the Defense Science Board on the risks in the acquisition of software that has been outsourced to foreign countries.
• The governor of New Jersey has appointed me to the Fort Monmouth Authority, which is empowered to decide the future of the property to be vacated by the Army Communications and Electronics Command there. I was subsequently elected chairman of this Authority. This is a very contentious and time-consuming task with responsibility for property worth the better part of a billion dollars.
• I continue to write my bi-monthly Reflections column for IEEE Spectrum Magazine.