WASHINGTON, August 29, 2025 – The Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released two investigation summaries on Thursday saying the office had found senior FirstNet Authority officials worked to obstruct OIG audits and punished an employee for providing information to the office.
The office said it referred its findings on whistleblower retaliation to the Commerce department in January. The other report, on leadership obstructing audits, was referred to the department in April. That case did not result in any criminal prosecution, according to the office.
OIG said FirstNet Authority responded to the office’s findings earlier this month saying that “several individuals involved in the investigation are no longer employed by the Department and that appropriate counseling was provided to those who remain. FirstNet Authority also noted that new leadership is in place.”
FirstNet Authority announced a new executive director and CEO on May 1: Mike Cannon, formerly the agency’s general counsel and a longtime Commerce Department attorney. He succeeded Joe Wassel, who had led FirstNet Authority since March 2023.
FirstNet Authority, housed within Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, manages FirstNet, the nationwide first responder network operated by AT&T. Earlier in August FirstNet said it had 7 million connections in use by 30,000 public safety agencies.
The OIG said...
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