INTEROPERABILITY PROJECTS SAID TO NEED MORE DISASTER ‘REHEARSAL’
Wireless network interoperability among disparate public safety agencies contributes little to national security efforts unless those entities plan for and rehearse interagency communications for catastrophic events, panelists said Thurs. at a Dept. of Defense standardization symposium in Washington. Such efforts often are overshadowed by discussions of interoperable technology deployment, despite the critical need for neighboring state, regional and local agencies to work and plan together, Motorola Business Development Dir. Dennis Dibos said: “It seems so fundamental, yet throughout our history it’s been seldom done.”
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Dibos emphasized that planning and rehearsing, combined with deployment of standards-based interoperable shared systems, provided “optimal capacity” to regional first responders and were the best long-term solutions to maximizing multigovt. communications at disaster scenes. However, cost concerns often are the biggest obstacles, particularly for some of the larger and older U.S. cities that may be reluctant or unable to make necessary investments to achieve that “Level 6” capability, he acknowledged in a homeland security panel discussion at the Govt. Electronics Industry Assn. event.
Existing public safety wireless networks in cities such as Chicago, L.A. and N.Y. are “so big [and] so customized” that “replacing them would cost billions and billions of dollars,” Dibos said. An additional factor standing in the way for those cities is the perceived “risk of losing access, even momentarily,” to systems relied on for day-to-day operations, he said.
Logistics Management Institute Research Fellow Richard Jackson agreed interoperability “is not just an equipment issue.” Preparing for communications in national emergencies will better enable responding agencies to reinforce one another’s efforts, especially in light of the unpredictable nature of terrorist actions, he said. DoD and the Dept. of Homeland Security have “massive” response and communications technology capabilities, but if they don’t prepare for disasters that strike somewhere other than a relatively controlled environment, such as an airfield, “all that wonderful capability” won’t accomplish what needs to be done under stressful circumstances, he said.
Terrorists are looking to exploit “seams in homeland security” such as the lack of pervasive standardization and interoperability, Jackson said. Reinforcing technical capabilities with advanced planning processes and policies will help prevent terrorist attacks and bolster govt. preparedness and response to emergencies, he said. Equipment is “certainly important, but… if you don’t plan from the top down,” you'll never be ready to respond efficiently, he said.