By Staff
WASHINGTON - Cass County's congressman, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, Thursday convened a hearing to examine "Public Safety Communications from 9/11 to Katrina: Critical Public Policy Lessons."
Hurricane Katrina exposed a number of vulnerabilities in U.S. communications infrastructure.
Among witnesses testifying before Upton's subcommittee were FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, former 9-11 Commissioner and former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer and Lt. Col. Thomas J. Miller, deputy director of the Michigan State Police.
In the aftermath of Katrina, questions have been raised about how much progress has been made since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which uncovered major gaps in communications among federal, state and local officials.
Several years later, public safety is still grappling with inadequate spectrum and radio communication systems that do not communicate with one another.
Upton opened the hearing, stating, "We were faced with some horrible lessons on 9/11, and we are here today to examine another disaster, Hurricane Katrina.
Upton is particularly concerned with interoperability, the ability for various public safety groups to communicate with each other.
To best equip our nation's first responders to do their job, they must be able to communicate with one another, not just between fire, police and EMS within one jurisdiction, but also among local, state and federal jurisdictions.
Lt. Col. Thomas J. Miller, deputy director of the Michigan State Police, testified, "Communications interoperability for first responders is an important life safety challenge.
Upton referenced the response on 9/11 in New York City to highlight the importance and need for interoperability. "On the morning of Sept. 11th, 2001, New York police officers were able to hear the radio warnings from a helicopter that the North Tower of the World Trade Center was glowing red, and most of the police officers exited the building safely - while dozens of firefighters, who could not hear these warnings, tragically perished when the tower collapsed. The radio communications system of the police was not compatible with the system that the fire department was using, consequently, no warnings could be heard, and many lives were lost."
The two problems Upton views as most important include the availability of spectrum and funding issues. Back in 1997, Congress directed 24 Megahertz of spectrum in the Upper 700 Megahertz band to be allocated to public safety. However, that spectrum is currently occupied by broadcasters, and will be, until the transition to digital television is complete. Upton has spent countless hours, working with leaders from both parties, to free that valuable spectrum for public safety by crafting legislation setting a hard date for spectrum return. This is a vital and necessary step that must occur to make interoperability a reality and we are committed to making it happen - sooner rather than later.
Beyond additional spectrum, to replace old and antiquated equipment is another challenge for cash-strapped state and local governments.
According to information collected from grantees, total state expenditures for interoperable communications projects from Department of Homeland Security grant programs totaled nearly a billion dollars in fiscal year 2004 alone.
Upton noted that despite such large sums, "Hurricane Katrina showed us that we are still well behind the curve. What will it take to make interoperability a reality? How much more time and how much more money do we need to spend to make interoperability seamless? We cannot sit back for another natural disaster or terrorist attack to strike. It's been four years since the attacks of 9-11, and as Katrina made us all acutely aware, sadly, we are far from where we need to be."
Upton concluded, "But let me be clear - I recognize that this is a far bigger problem than simply a lack of funds or a lack of new equipment. Thousands of shiny new radios will not fix the problem if we don't have a strategic plan that allows all of these new radios to interact with each other.