(NAFB) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley wants members of his staff to meet with Paul de Sa, a top Federal Communications Commission staff member who is describes as the “father” of the LightSquared project. DeSa leaves his position as the FCC’s legislative affairs director next month. Grassley’s first request for a meeting was met with a “not available” statement. An FCC official says Grassley is on a “witch hunt”. Grassley calls it “due diligence”.
Senator Grassley says FCC chairman Julius Genachowski should make this staff member available. Earlier the chairman said he would – make agency staff available to discuss the LightSquared wireless project. Grassley says – if this top FCC official has time to meet with the hedge fund owner behind LightSquared, he should have time for a meeting with Senate staff trying to shed some light on a controversy created at the FCC.
Since last April, Grassley has been reviewing why the agency rushed approval of the LightSquared project without adequately exploring what turned out to be widespread concerns of interference with the Global Positioning System devices widely used by the military, first responders, aviation, precision agriculture, and consumer navigation.
