This post is part of our “Spotlight on NTIA” blog series, which is highlighting the work that NTIA employees are doing to advance NTIA’s mission of promoting broadband adoption, finding spectrum to meet the growing demand for wireless technologies, and ensuring the Internet remains an engine for innovation and economic growth.
It’s not surprising that Mike Dame ended up working for the federal government on issues that ultimately will assist emergency first responders.
Dame, program director for NTIA’s State and Local Implementation Grant Program (SLIGP), grew up in the Washington area and his father worked for the Federal Aviation Administration. Dame had long planned to follow his Dad into public service, but had his hopes set on working for the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) or some other federal law enforcement agency.
Poor vision, however, derailed his plans for a federal law enforcement career so instead he switched his college major to a focus on government and politics. Despite this, Dame has still found ways to work on issues important to law enforcement while also fulfilling his desire for public service.
In his current role, Dame is leading a program that has provided grants to states to help them prepare for the launch of a nationwide broadband network for public safety, which is being developed by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet). The FirstNet network will provide police officers, firefighters and other local, state, tribal and federal first responders with 21st century tools to help them do their jobs more effectively.
Dame joined NTIA in late 2012 just as SLIGP was being launched following the passage of the federal law creating FirstNet and SLIGP. Dame said he finds it exciting to be involved at the start of such an important milestone for public safety.
Prior to joining NTIA, Dame spent four years at the Department of Homeland Security in the Office of Emergency Communications, where he focused on public safety communications. Before landing at DHS, he spent a decade at the Department of Justice working in its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), which is focused on improving relations between local police departments and the communities they serve.
His first government job out of college was at the Federal Election Commission where he reviewed federal campaign reports. “It was a good way to get into federal government,” he says.
Dame is married with two young children. He grew up in Laurel, Md., and is the youngest of five children. All of his siblings graduated from the University of Maryland and all obtained dual U.S. and Irish citizenship. While he has yet to do a sibling trip to Ireland, he jokes that his own trip to the Emerald Isle with his wife helped him gain a better understanding of his parents’ personalities and of the area where they grew up in South Boston.