NRIC MOVES AHEAD WITH HOMELAND SECURITY ISSUES
Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC) took first step in its new focus on homeland security Fri. by voting to set up emergency contact procedures to speed interaction among telecom companies in times of disasters. At NRIC’s quarterly council meeting, top executives of more than 4 dozen companies and associations voted to set up system that would identify key industry representatives at every company and set up protocol for contacting them without sacrificing time or security.
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Process would be used when one company needed to contact another or when companies, govt. agencies or emergency workers needed to interact. For security purposes, contact list wouldn’t be circulated. Instead, it would be kept by National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications (NCC), which would provide contact information “as needed” when queried by approved corporate representatives. List includes emergency contacts for ILECs, CLECs, equipment manufacturers, wireless carriers, satellite carriers, cable providers, ISPs, industry support companies.
NRIC also approved mutual aid agreement that carriers could sign voluntarily to facilitate collaboration on service restoration projects. First such document was developed by industry support group Bellcore in 1994 after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and floods in San Diego in 1993 highlighted need. It was signed by all LECs that were Bellcore clients. “We anticipate that some companies will elect to immediately sign this agreement while other providers and other companies may elect to sign it only after they are involved in a recovery effort,” said background material provided by focus group that developed agreement. Accord addresses such things as safety of personnel, maintenance of equipment, pricing, billing, compliance with regulatory and legal requirements.
NRIC, which was formed to assure interoperability among many different companies that make up nation’s telecom infrastructure, added homeland security responsibility after Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It formed committees to help companies protect themselves against attack and facilitate intercorporate cooperation if attacks did happen. “Our industry is pivotal to the success of the war on terrorism,” said NRIC Chmn. Richard Notebaert, CEO of Qwest. “We need to make sure our contingency planning for homeland defense is on target” because there’s certain “urgency to our task,” he said. “With such a diverse industry, we need to make sure our efforts are consistent across the industry.” Notebaert took helm of NRIC recently when he replaced ex-Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio, who had been chairing NRIC. FCC Chief of Staff Marsha MacBride said group was “preparing for an event we hope never happens.” Economic issues as well as terrorist attacks “are making continuity and reliability paramount,” she said.
Fri.’s 2 votes came on recommendations by Disaster Recovery & Mutual Aid Focus Group headed by executives of Verizon and BellSouth. Co-Chmn. Joe Tumulo of Verizon told NRIC that group still had key “issues” to resolve such as need for “first responder” status for telecom restoration teams, whether focus of group’s work should be expanded to include other utilities, need for FCC action exempting telcos from Sec. 272 separation requirements in disaster periods. Tumulo said group was “being inundated with requests for proprietary information” about its work from variety of govt. sources. He said group needed “some help from the federal government” to sort out those inquiries that were truly needed from those that weren’t, he said.
Votes are expected on other issues in next 2 quarterly NRIC meetings in Dec. and March. One focus group is working on ways to improve physical security of telecom networks and will issue report in Dec. describing “best practices” to be followed to prevent disruptions. Group is “assessing the vulnerabilities” of communications infrastructure and cataloging information to help companies fix any “gaps,” said Karl Rauscher of Lucent-Bell Labs. Another focus group chaired by William Hancock of Cable & Wireless is developing best practices for cybersecurity, looking for ways to prevent cyberattacks and restore computer systems if such attacks occur. “I'm pleased to say this committee is made up of the most paranoid group of people I've ever worked with,” Hancock told NRIC. Group will “deliver” recommendations for cybersecurity prevention in Dec. and for restoration issues in March, he said. Notebaert said cybersecurity, “an area where we have no precedent,” is increasingly important “as more and more of the communications industry moves to IP.” Public Safety Focus Group, co-chaired by officials of Cingular and Motorola, will make recommendations in March for “best practices” to help industry better support police, fire, other first responders.