Blair Levin, the FCC official in charge of coordinating the development of the Obama administration's new national broadband plan, said Monday that a new Web site -- Broadband.gov -- will launch in a matter of days. His remarks came at the Personal Democracy Forum's annual conference where he spoke about the future of the Internet. Levin recently returned to the Commission where he served in the 1990s as chief of staff to former Chairman Reed Hundt. Before rejoining the FCC, Levin was managing director of Stifel Nicholaus and worked on President Obama's transition team. His speech was followed by a policy panel featuring Free Press Executive Director Josh Silver; National Cable and Telecommunications Association Executive Vice President James Assey; AT&T Vice President Hank Hultquist; and PDF co-founder Andrew Rasiej.

Meanwhile, Monday was FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's first official day on the job and he announced a handful of new hires. His chief of staff will be Edward Lazarus who hails from the law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Genachowski also appointed two senior advisors and two legal advisors to assist him on a range of policy issues. Colin Crowell, longtime telecom adviser to Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., will serve as senior counselor and Bruce Liang Gottlieb, who was legal advisor to Commissioner Michael Copps, will become chief counsel. Priya Aiyar, Sherrese Smith, Sherry Gelfand, Daniel Ornstein, Mary Beth Richards, and Ruth Milkman will round out his team. (Hat tip, NextGenWeb.org)