The test marked progress in efforts to end banned mobile phone use at the national level. Officials said this has long been a major threat to the security of their institutions. Last year, this cell phone jammer technology was tested in federal prisons-officials said they were able to cut off the phone signal in the prison cell when the device was working properly 6 meters away-but a decades-old legal requirement , Local agencies may not have the Power to block public broadcasting. The Commissioner of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Bryan Stirling, who has spoken about the dangers of thousands of people smuggling equipment into institutions over the years, told the Associated Press that he was recently appointed as the U.S. Special Representative , So he was given the federal status necessary to perform the task.