DHS opens national cybersecurity operations center: "The Homeland Security Department opened a new operations center today that integrates national cybersecurity and telecommunications monitoring systems and provides a new degree of situational awareness surrounding the nation’s communications, information technology and cyber infrastructure.

The new National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), combines two of DHS’ operational organizations: the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), which leads a public-private partnership focused on defending the nation’s cyber infrastructure; and the National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications (NCC), the operational arm of the National Communications System."

Plain Talk Eases Police Radio Codes Off The Air: "Police radio can sound like an algebra class, with all those 10-4s and 187s.

But more and more departments are trying a radical approach: asking officers who need backup or want to report a robbery to do so in plain old English.

Late one night in 2005, a police officer on a dark highway in Independence, Mo., radioed in that he had just passed a State Highway Patrol officer's car on the side of a road with the door open."

Oversight Missing for Oregon's Emergency Radio Network: "A new report to lawmakers says Oregon lacks the necessary oversight on a $414 million project to build a massive emergency radio network.

The report from the Legislature's budget committee says those building the Oregon Wireless Interoperability Network don't have the staff and controls in place to adequately manage such a large-scale construction and technology project.

State officials running the project say everything is under control and on schedule."

Illinois MABAS shows true interoperability: "Communications is only one slice of the interoperability pie. In fact, although interoperable communication systems are an essential tool during an incident, preplanning strategies and tactics are crucial to safeguarding lives.

One of the most common ways to preplan incidents is through the National Incident Management System. The government argued that NIMS was needed to create interoperable common-operational pictures across different state and local agencies. And, many in public-safety stand behind it, like Leonard Carmichael Jr., a fire captain in Trenton, N.J. Carmichael said he strongly believes NIMS provides a systematic, proactive approach that can guide agencies at all levels of government to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate the effects of incidents."