An organization like the NTIA seemed necessary to some policy makers in the late 1970s insofar as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was (and remains) increasingly burdened by the day-to-day matters of spectrum management and regulating the telephone, other common carrier, television, and cable industries. The commission was hindered by these routine tasks from developing long-range policies that could effectively plan for the increasing range of communication technologies. Moreover, at the same time, the Nixon and Ford administrations were highly critical of the media and desired a more powerful, direct hand in their regulation. The Office of Tele-communications Policy was created in 1970 to satisfy President Richard Nixon’s concern in this regard, and under Whitehead the OTP quickly took on duties formerly assumed to be the FCC’s jurisdiction. For example, the FCC’s 1972 cable rules were largely worked out by Whitehead’s office through a consensus agreement crafted among the broadcasting, cable, and program production industry representatives. Under President Jimmy Carter, the OTP’s functions were transferred to the NTIA.

Conceived as a planning and policy-generating body within the Department of Commerce, the NTIA maintains its advisory agency status, even though it is capable of mustering strong political support for its positions. Its approximately 250 employees investigate core issue areas that include structuring telecommunications services within a competitive framework, encouraging innovation, and identifying policy adjustments necessary to move efficiently toward a digital era. Some of its reports and position statements have addressed topics such as using spectrum efficiently, smoothing the transition to Third Generation (3G) advanced mobile phone services, promoting e-commerce, advocating public interest considerations in broadcasting’s transition to digital signals, and identifying Internet standards.

The NTIA’s reports and investigations have yielded information and positions important to some congressional action and to some administration policies regarding communication industries. In the 1990s, for example, the NTIA took a lead role in gathering data and publishing four analyses of the status of the “digital divide” in the United States. The “digital divide” refers to numerous forms of unequal access to a range of Internet service. The most simple “divide” is the gap between those who have computers and those who do not. Even those who have computers, however, do not always have access to Internet service providers. And even among those who have both, a more sophisticated version of the “digital divide” concept refers to user skills, educational opportunities, and class differences.” These reports focused a great deal of attention on the role of computers and the Internet in American society. The NTIA has maintained a Public Telecommunications Facilities Program, which helps public broadcasting services cover capital costs associated with endeavors such as upgrading to digital broadcasting. In the 1990s the NTIA also initiated a Technology Opportunities Program (formerly called the Telecommunications and In formation Infrastructure Assistance Program, or TIIAP), to assist community-based programs that sought to use advanced telecommunications capabilities for local education and development.