The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced Friday it had issued an emergency waiver to allow law enforcement to temporarily access caller-ID information for those making anonymous threats against Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) across the country.
“This agency must and will do whatever it can to combat the recent wave of bomb threats against Jewish Community Centers,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement.
{mosads}“I am pleased that we are taking quick action to address this issue and hope that this waiver will help Jewish Community Centers, telecommunications carriers, and law enforcement agencies track down the perpetrators of these crimes.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had written to Pai this week requesting the waiver after a wave of threats against JCCs had been reported. Schumer’s letter said that 54 centers in 27 states had received threats.
The FCC has issued such waivers before. Last year, under former Chairman Tom Wheeler, the agency gave one to law enforcement officials investigating a bomb threat against a school in Long Island, N.Y.