NACo Launches Public Safety Communications Project: "NACo recently received a $1 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and, with the funds, will offer a series of intensive policy academies on public safety communications and interoperability for local officials over the next two years.

The training is made possible through a funding agreement with DHS' SAFECOM Program Office, which works with federal, state and local public safety agencies to improve emergency response through more effective and efficient interoperable wireless communications."

Project MESA reaches a Crossroad: "Project MESA, which stands for Mobility for Emergency and Safety Applications, was launched nearly six years ago as a collaborative effort between the U.S. and Europe public-safety sectors to identify and create common specifications for the next generation of first-responder communications systems. With progress being sluggish at best, a Project MESA working group meeting this month in Boston could determine whether the effort will die should vendors fail to step up with technology proposals soon.

“We, as users, have gotten to a point where we can't do anymore without input from vendors,” said Philip Kidner, chairman of MESA's systems specification group."

Exercise aims for interoperability with DHS first responders: "The scene of a terrorist attack or a large-scale natural disaster, experts agree, is no place for technology specialists from different response agencies to begin coordinating communication efforts.

“The time of an incident,” said Air Force Col. Babette Lenfant, director of communication systems for the Joint Task Force Civil Support, “is not the time we want to be exchanging business cards with the National Guard and saying, ‘Here, this is what I do.’ ”

Various military services, the Department of Homeland Security and first responders such as police and fire departments are getting better acquainted with each other’s communications systems during the Defense Department’s Interoperability Communications Exercise. "

Public Safety Project To Target Local Elected Officials: "The National Association of Counties (NACo) recently received a $1 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct a series of intensive policy academies on public safety communications and interoperability over the next two years."

Justice DOD better prepared to share information for '06 hurricane season: "With approximately 60 days before the start of the next hurricane season, Congress is questioning whether agencies are in better shape to share information this year. Rep. Tom Davis, chairman of the Government Reform Committee, asked agency officials whether the government has sufficiently learned the lessons from Katrina and Rita.

“How can we avoid the inadequate information sharing and murky situational awareness that characterized the governmental response to Katrina?” the Virginia Republican asked. “The committee is interested in learning about whether there is a need for additional legislation, guidance, procedures or resources to facilitate the information sharing priorities…”

And while the Homeland Security Department declined to testify about its preparations and improvements, other key agencies, including the Defense and Justice departments, said things are getting better and they are better prepared."

Budget includes money for radio revamp: "Gov. Kathleen Blanco wants to use $2.8 million of an expected windfall of sales tax and gambling revenue to improve emergency communications in areas affected by Hurricane Rita."

Keeping Everyone In The Loop: "“Communications interoperability” has been a hot button issue for years, and a basis for lots of funding opportunities. Certainly, communications systems are expensive, and it’s difficult to convince governmental bodies to fund a replacement for a system that works, even if it doesn’t work well. There are frequency allocation problems, and sometimes it’s difficult to find places for enough repeater towers, but the greatest barriers to overcome are not fiscal or technological, but rather political."

Public Safety Interoperable Communications Baseline Study - Firehouse.com Technology & Communications: "In the very near future, you will begin to hear about a study that is designed to measure public safety interoperable communications across the country. This study is titled, 'The Public Safety Interoperable Communications Baseline Measurement' and is being facilitated by SAFECOM"

FCC Public Safety Reorganization: "Today, the Commission took a critical step forward in its plan to strengthen its public safety and homeland security functions by voting unanimously to establish a 'Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.' The new Bureau is designed to provide a more efficient, effective, and responsive organizational structure to address public safety, homeland security, national security, emergency management and preparedness, disaster management, and other related issues."

Interoperability still plagues DHS: "... The lack of technical standards isn’t as important as the lack of planning at the state and local level, said Bruce Baughman, director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency and president of the National Emergency Management Association. Baughman said the first thing he asks people who say they have an interoperable communications problem is whether they have a communications plan. Nine out of 10 don’t, he said."

FCC panel studies disaster plans: "When Hurricane Katrina started ripping apart radio transmission equipment in coastal Jackson County, the emergency radio system switched to Fail Soft, a limp-along mode that allows some limited communication.

'But many of our users had never used it and when they turned on their radios, the first word they saw was 'fail,' so that created a lot more uncertainty,' said George Sholl, Jackson County Emergency Management director."

Wireless networking a focal point of new Safecom requirements: "Wireless networks will take on a much more prominent role in the Homeland Security Department’s updated requirements for interoperable communications for first responders. The Safecom program, which is the departmental unit promoting improved radio communications for emergency response agencies, has released a 208-page Statement of Requirements for Public Safety Wireless Communications and Interoperability (Version 1.1) on its Web site. The new requirements address all manner of wireless networks, from personal and temporary to huge, extended systems."

APCO Seeks Interoperability Funding in President's Budget: "The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International released a statement on the President's FY 2007 Budget, noting its lack of adequate funding for dedicated first responder interoperable communications grant programs.

'APCO International is concerned that there is no 'dedicated' DHS grant program for improving first responder interoperable communications in the President's 2007 budget,' the statement from APCO International said. APCO International further noted its disappointment in the Administration's intent to eliminate the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Interoperable Communications Grant program, despite the program's success.

In its statement, APCO International urged the Administration and Congress to:

* Increase direct funding for the SAFECOM program;
* Provide $100 million for the COPS Interoperability Communications Grant program, and;
* Provide $1 billion in dedicated funding for emergency communications grants from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to local governments.
"

Modeling employee background checks - InfoWorld: "Sterling testing systems never actually called the solution they came up with BPM (business process management) until after the fact, says Paul Mladineo, vice president of strategic development."

Business process management (BPM) techniques and tools offer promise to untangle emergency management and response, including the their nervous system: Interagency communications. BPM is already being used to model, analyze, and optimize human information exchange process for homeland security purposes.

Evaluating anti-terror technology - InfoWorld : "Business process management even has a place in the war on terror, according to Indy Crowley, research staff member and acting lead for IT at the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA), an organization that evaluates technology under the SAFETY (Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies) Act of 2002."

Report: Network Operability Biggest Katrina Issue: "Interoperability of emergency radio, wireless and wireline networks in the wake of Hurricane Katrina took a back seat to simple network operability immediately after the storm, according to a White House report that analyzed the response to the crisis. The report, released yesterday, says 'basic operability' was the primary communications challenge after the storm hit the Gulf Coast. 'The complete devastation of the communications infrastructure left emergency responders and citizens without a reliable network across which they could coordinate,' the 228-page report says."

Florida Begins Linking Its Law Enforcement Agencies: "The Florida Department of Law Enforcement this month will begin work on a $15 million project to integrate the back-end systems of 500 law enforcement organizations across the state. During the first phase of the Florida Law Enforcement Exchange (Flex) project, data housed in the records management systems of local and state police, corrections and court departments will be cataloged and a metadata management layer will be created, state officials said. The metadata management phase of the project is slated to be completed by midyear. The remaining three phases will be completed in about a year."

Data sharing called vital to port security: "Greater training for communications equipment is the most urgent security need for San Diego's seaport, a top harbor security official said yesterday. John MacIntyre, program manager for homeland security at the San Diego Unified Port District, said he wants various security agencies – from the police to the U.S. Border Patrol – to improve the way they share data and information."

Interoperability, data sharing lacking in Katrina response: "The federal government’s ineffective response to Hurricane Katrina was partly a failure of technology, according to a critical report released this week by a House Select Committee chaired by Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.). The blistering 379-page report details a broad range of shortcomings in federal, state and local preparedness and response, including a lack of effective logistics, medical and communications systems. "

R&D chief McQueary to step down at Homeland Security: "Charles McQueary, the Homeland Security Department’s top research and development director, will resign effective March 25. McQueary, undersecretary for science and technology, announced his resignation in a letter dated Feb. 10 to President Bush. McQueary wrote that he has fulfilled his goals since joining the agency at its formation in March 2003. He indicated no immediate future plans. "