PBS, Other Broadcasters Seek GETS Telephone Status
Spurred by 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the specter of future disasters, PBS and other broadcasters have applied for Govt. Emergency Telecom Service (GETS) status. A White House-directed emergency service run by the National Communications System (NCS), GETS cards provide emergency access and priority processing in public switched telephone network’s local and long distance segments. Individuals and institutions engaged in national security and emergency preparedness can get GETS.
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Lt. Col. Joanne Sechrest, mgr. of NCS’s Priority Telecom Service, told us broadcasters are seeking GETS status. She declined to provide names or numbers, citing the information’s “sensitivity.” She also declined to say if any broadcasters have gotten GETS cards. But Gwen Wood, PBS vp-distribution & operations, told us the network has sought GETS cards for key PBS and public TV staff. “We are working to obtain the status primarily because we are a broadcast network and would be one of the primary sources for a message from the President,” she said. Broadcasters must meet “certain criteria” to be qualify for GETS, she said, but didn’t specify the standards.
Sechrest said broadcasters would be considered “emergency infrastructure” if they're part of emergency operations in a county. Emergency preparedness includes the task of telling residents what the govt. wants them to do in emergencies, she added. GETS is for wireline operations, so it doesn’t affect the cellular side, Sechrest said: “On the wireline network, GETS is an access card which you use to get priority. In simple terms, the probability for call completion would be higher with GETS rather than without GETS.” An NCS spokesman said information on GETS applicants can’t be released because it’s proprietary.
According to the NCS website, GETS uses 3 major types of network: (1) Local networks provided by LECs and wireless providers. (2) Major long-distance networks such as those of AT&T, MCI and Sprint, including international services. (3) Govt.-leased networks such as the Federal Technology Service and the Defense Switched Network. GETS is accessed through a universal access number using common telephone equipment such as standard desk set, fax, modem or wireless phone.
PBS has provided satellite phones for “essential” staff at the network, those at major producing stations such as WGBH Boston and WNET N.Y., and staff at the PBS remote disaster recovery site in the Midwest, Wood said. PBS also is getting walkie-talkies for essential personnel, she said. Calling the location of the disaster recovery site, set up after 9/11, confidential, Wood said the remote site is tested regularly. The site has it own staff of about 10, mostly dealing with IT operations and engineering. PBS hq in Alexandria, Va., mails DVDs of programming to the site daily, she said, and “right now they are probably 2 weeks ahead of schedule, and they have DVDs racked up.” The site went live with 3 feeds in Sept. 2003, when Hurricane Isabel hit the Washington, D.C., area, she said, “although the stations didn’t know it. We never had to switch to them or notify the stations to switch.” A PBS team she heads updates a disaster recovery plan document twice a year, Wood said.