DHS pulls back $5 million from communications project (10/6/06): "The Homeland Security Department in late August decided not to spend $5.3 million that had been set aside for a digital interoperable communications tool used to coordinate emergency response with local governments. DHS spokesman Larry Orluskie said a final decision on whether to shut down Disaster Management, an 8-year-old project designated by the Office of Management and Budget in 2002 as one of 24 e-government initiatives, has not been made. But the department is 'saving a lot of money by cutting down on repetitive systems,' he said."

Survey and mapping system closes communications gap: "Ever since the attacks of Sept. 11, one problem that has dogged first responders at all levels of government is the lack of interoperable communications. But a tool developed at the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center-San Diego is being used to tackle the problem—not by spending a lot of money on new equipment and trying to figure out who gets priority allocation of scarce resources, but by tracking the equipment already out there and identifying how it all fits together. "

10-4 on your 10-20, or was that a 10-11?: "'Interoperability' is tough to say without stuttering. Since 9/11, stuttering has also accompanied efforts to achieve interoperability in the field, where first responders need to communicate effectively across departments, jurisdictions and even states when emergencies or catastrophic events occur.

A common-sense strategy announced this week by Gov. Tim Kaine offers one small but refreshing step forward."

The Seattle Times: Democrats claim Reichert caved on emergency communications: "From the day he was sworn in to Congress in 2005, Rep. Dave Reichert has positioned himself as the first friend of first responders: the police, firefighters and emergency medical crews called in when disaster strikes."

FCW.com - Congress wants emergency comms office at DHS: "Congress is calling for the Homeland Security Department to establish an Office of Emergency Communications to tackle the kind of long-standing problems that hindered first responders on Sept. 11, 2001, and again in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The office, working under the purview of the assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications, would centralize and coordinate emergency communications work at DHS and promote interoperability among public safety systems at federal, state and local agencies."

Wired for Trouble: "'You have to understand that IWN is a law enforcement network; it is not necessarily a first responder network,' responds an industry official. State and local officials won't have a huge presence in the day-to-day operations of IWN. 'It's a different community,' the official adds. While interoperability with state and local agencies is not the focus of IWN, it will incorporate the specifications of Project 25, a nationwide public-private standards-making body for land mobile radios. Plus, there's another federal program to address nationwide radio interoperability at that level: Project Safecom, a DHS-funded communication standards effort."

Marking 9/11 with an eye to security: "Emergency communications. Chertoff said the 10 largest cities had 'command-level interoperability,' which means various departments - fire, police, EMTs - can talk to one another as well as to state and federal officials if necessary. Other cities have this level of communication as well, but not all.

'Some communities have it because they've reached an agreement about... what the rules will be about how you run the integrated system,' Chertoff said. 'But some communities can't agree... . We are doing a study... which will evaluate and test interoperability in all 50 states and the 75 largest urban areas. It will identify where things have been done and where things have not been done, and that will be a pretty good road map for how to close those remaining gaps.'"

Training, Not Technology, Seen As Key To 9/11: "... According to the official Federal Emergency Management Agency's report on the reactions of first responders to the New York City, Pentagon, and Shanksville, Penn. accident scenes, it was the presence or lack of an organized command structure – and by extension, a communications structure – that helped determine the success of the operations. Within New York City, a temporary command post set up within the lobby of the WTC 1 tower within four minutes was destroyed when the second plane hit WTC 2; the collapse of WTC 1 destroyed the more permanent command center housed in a building across the street."

As a firefighter at Ground Zero and now with GSA Michael Pena pushes for better emergency communications: "On Sept. 11, 2001, Michael Pena was off duty, but not for long. After news spread of the attacks on the World Trade Center, Pena, one of three lieutenants with the Fire Department of New York City’s Rescue Company 1 in Manhattan, an elite group on the order of the Navy Seals, reported to the scene just as the south tower collapsed.

His experience with communications issues at the local level has left him sounding frustrated. “The main problem with communications in New York City is not the technology but rather the human factor of the police department and the fire department not wanting to communicate with each other,” he said. .... “It did change a little after 9/11, with the integration of radios placed in both police department and fire department supervisor cars to be able to communicate with each other on the command level. This is where the interagency communication needs to be, not on the operational level between firefighters and police officers.” "

Lessons Learned - Are There Any?: "Communications interoperability was one of the nightmares of 9/11. The cops couldn’t talk to the firemen, the firemen couldn’t talk to the cops, and sometimes they couldn’t talk to each other. This is not a technological problem. The solutions are available as off-the-shelf equipment. The barrier to a solution is the same as it has always been - political. Instead of asking “how do we do this?” the question is usually “who will be in charge?” "

Secretary Chertoff on September 11: Five Years Later: "... And I will tell you in a very straightforward way, the obstacle here is not technological; we have the technology. The obstacle is that we need to build procedures across governments and among agencies where we have agreement about what the rules of the road are going to be."

Training, Not Technology, Seen As Key To 9/11: "... According to the official Federal Emergency Management Agency's report on the reactions of first responders to the New York City, Pentagon, and Shanksville, Penn. accident scenes, it was the presence or lack of an organized command structure – and by extension, a communications structure – that helped determine the success of the operations. "

Gateways — the good, the bad and the ugly: "Today's gateways have lots of functionality, such as being able to connect any device that produces an audio signal (voice) and pass that transmission (message) to any other device that is capable of receiving audio signals. Those audio devices include portable and mobile public safety radios, telephones (landline, cellular and satellite), the internet or a local area network (LAN), dispatch consoles, CB radios, family service radios, you get the hint."

Who's Who in an Emergency: "Credentialing efforts for emergency responders are branching out to include telecommunications and utilities specialists, nurses and other private-sector workers.

But questions remain about who will pay for the initiatives and how extensive they will be. The Homeland Security Department has begun work on two aspects of credentialing. First is the effort to define and organize emergency responders into categories, such as hazardous-materials firefighters, psychiatric nurses and water rescue specialists."

Virginia Establishes State Communications Interoperability Committee: "Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine today signed an Executive Order establishing a State Interoperability Executive Committee (SIEC) to help coordinate the commonwealth's efforts to allow public safety agencies to communicate with one another through secure and reliable communications programs and systems

The SIEC will continue to keep relevant organizations involved in decisions on interoperable communication efforts. It will be comprised of various associations that represent the local first-responder perspective, a critical element that allows the SIEC to serve as a voice for that community. "

House passes emergency-communications bill: "The U.S. House of Representatives [on 7/25] overwhelmingly passed a bill that would create a national interoperability office within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and mandates that equipment purchased with DHS grants comply with interoperability standards."

Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: "The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has approved legislation Thursday authored by Chairman Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ranking Member Joe Lieberman (D-CT) that would reform the nation’s emergency management system to enable it to better prepare for and respond to a disasters. Entitled the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, the bill would implement many of the findings of the Committee's Hurricane Katrina report, including reconstituting FEMA, improving emergency staffing, strengthening enhancing planning and preparedness, facilitating better communications and interoperability capabilities among emergency responders, improving emergency assistance programs, and reducing waste, fraud, and abuse. ...

[It would] Enhance emergency communications capabilities by consolidating several communications programs within a new Office of Emergency Communications within FEMA, requiring a national emergency-communications strategy, coordinating establishing dedicated grants to states and localities for interoperable communications, and regularly assessing the operability and interoperability of the communication systems that are essential for disaster response. "

DHS communications project faces cancellation (7/28/06): "A digital interoperable communications tool used to support hurricane response faces cancellation by the Homeland Security Department, according to sources close to the initiative. DHS reportedly issued an order in mid-July to Ohio-based nonprofit government contractor Battelle to immediately stop development work on Disaster Management, an 8-year-old project that the Office of Management and Budget designated in 2002 as one of 24 e-government initiatives."

ARRLWeb: Emergency Communications Bill Includes Amateur Radio as Interoperability Agent: "A bill to enhance emergency communication at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) includes Amateur Radio operators as part of an overall effort to provide interoperability among responders. The 21st Century Emergency Communications Act of 2006 (HR 5852), an amendment to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, passed the US House this week on a 414-2 vote and has gone to the Senate. Its sponsor, Rep David G. Reichert (R-WA) -- who chairs the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science and Technology -- says his legislation is designed 'to improve the ability of emergency responders to communicate with each other' -- interoperability."

U.S. Conference of Mayors - Survey": "As the nation approaches the five-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11 and the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, led by Conference President and Dearborn Mayor Michael A. Guido, held a media forum at the National Press Club today discussing the state of disaster preparedness in America's cities. .....

Survey Results:

Survey responses were received from 183 cities representing 38 states in the nation, and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Cities with populations up to 100,000 comprise the largest group of respondents (104); cities in 100,001 to 300,000 population range comprise the next largest group (49). Twenty- nine (30) respondents are in the 300,001 and up range.

Some of the key findings of the survey include:

1. When asked have cities received sufficient federal resources to achieve full communications interoperability -- so that first responders can talk to each other and key assets, 80 percent said no. This figure was fairly consistent for all population ranges.

2. When then asked how far away cities are from having full communications interoperability, the average response was 4 years."