The FCC is losing Jamie Barnett, chief of its Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, at the end of the month.
Chairman Julius Genachowski announced Barnett will return to the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, a science and technology policy think tank.
David Furth, now a deputy bureau chief in PSHSB, will become acting chief.
Barnett came to the FCC in July 2009. He had been a senior research fellow at the think tank.
During his tenure at the Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, Barnett proposed the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, which was conducted Nov. 9 2011.
Also under Barnett’s leadership, the bureau adopted rules to increase the location accuracy of 9-1-1 calls coming from wireless callers and has laid the groundwork for the next generation of 9-1-1, which will include the ability to reach 9-1-1 with text, photos and videos.
Barnett was in the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserves for 32 years; he retired with the rank of rear admiral in 2008 as deputy commander of the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.
