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. "

FEMA technology set for upgrade: "Amid a whirlwind of controversy surrounding the federal response to 2005 hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, the Homeland Security Department has unveiled plans to overhaul the information technology it deploys to cope with disasters. Under plans announced yesterday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will get improved logistics systems, better customer service systems for disaster victims, modified contracting practices and better communications. Speaking at the National Emergency Management Association mid-year conference, DHS secretary Michel Chertoff said his department had met a congressional requirement to assess disaster response capabilities nationwide by Feb. 10. He said assessment of the emergency response capabilities of major cities and towns included some green, yellow and red indicators."

DOD rolls out DICE06: "The Defense Interoperability Communication Exercise 2006 (DICE06) started earlier this week to test communications equipment and systems for use among DOD services and agencies and with the Homeland Security Department and first responders, according to a release sent out by the Defense Information Systems Agency."

"First Responders' Day" Observed in Kentucky: "Joined by hundreds of Kentucky's law enforcement, firefighter and emergency personnel in the State Capitol, Governor Ernie Fletcher, along with the director of the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security (Ret.) Maj. Alecia Webb-Edgington, hosted a February 9th ceremony honoring the first observance of 'First Responders' Day.'"

Communications firms cite problems: "WASHINGTON — In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Federal Emergency Management Agency workers commandeered gasoline from a company trying to restore telephone service to the hurricane-ravaged New Orleans area, a Senate investigative panel found. The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Monday released an e-mail obtained from Cox Louisiana Telecom LLC. The company was trying to restore service to 85,000 customers, according to Kay Jackson, director of regulatory affairs. ... The panel’s probe also found that Louisiana has not spent $58 million in first-responder grants dating back to 2003, Collins said. The state only uses 16 percent of its funding for communications, half the national average, she said."

Louisiana improving interoperability among first responders: "Created through Executive Order to address the need for compatible and effective communication among first responders, Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has charged the Statewide Interoperable Communication System Executive Committee to develop a statewide, user-driven approach among all levels of government to provide reliable communications for the entire emergency response community."