Responders' lack of spectrum 'cost lives'
By Shaun Waterman
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor

Published 9/12/2005 11:40 AM

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Former Sept. 11 commission Chairman Tom
Kean says first responders in Louisiana not having had access to
radio spectrum needed for interoperable communications "cost lives,"
as it did at the World Trade Center.

"On the ground, the people that get there first can't talk to each
other because the radio communications don't work," Kean told CNN
Sunday. "They haven't got enough what's called spectrum."

News media last week reported that police forces in New Orleans City
and the three surrounding parishes all use different and incompatible
radio equipment.

Experts say that proper equipment and training and freeing up more
and better frequencies are essential pre-requisites for reaching the
holy grail of full communications interoperability for first
responders.

Kean said a bill in Congress to provide more spectrum was
stalled. "Nothing has been happening, and again, people on the
ground -- police, fire, medical personnel -- couldn't talk to each
other."

"That's outrageous and it's a scandal and I think it cost lives," he
concluded.

At issue are the recommendations of a 1995 congressional panel that,
as TV broadcasters transitioned to digital transmission -- which
takes up a much smaller fraction of the spectrum -- the frequencies
freed up would be allocated to first responders.

Now a bipartisan group of lawmakers is making a new push for the
legislation.

"We have not kept the promise we made 10 years ago," said Rep. Jane
Harman, D-Calif., calling the situation "a black eye" and "an
embarrassment" for lawmakers.

She and Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Penn., have written to Speaker of the
House Rep. Denny Hastert, R-Ill., to ask for a suspension of the
normal rules of debate so that a bill to enforce a deadline for
handing the relevant frequencies to first responders can be passed
this week.

In the Senate, a similar measure, sponsored by John McCain, R-Ariz.,
and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., is currently before the Commerce, Science
and Transportation Committee.

Spokesman Amy Call said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R.-Tenn,
was working with Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Stevens, R-
Alaska to try and get that bill to the floor soon, too.

"The Leader saw first hand on the ground the challenges, and is
working with several members about further fixes in this area," Call
told United Press International at the weekend.

The parts of the spectrum identified by the 1995 Public Safety
Wireless Advisory Committee report are in the high 700-Mhz range --
which experts say is ideal for use by emergency services because
signals sent over these frequencies can penetrate walls and travel
long distances.

"This (part of the spectrum) is prime real estate," said Yucel Ors of
the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, a non-
profit that represents first responder and emergency management
communications specialists.

But, he added, "There are squatters on it," referring to the TV
broadcasters.

The law passed in response to the 1995 report set a Jan. 1, 2007,
target date for broadcasters to free up that part of the spectrum.

"But there's a huge get out for them," a congressional staffer who
has worked on the issue told United Press International. Broadcasters
are not required to relinquish their spectrum allocation until 85
percent of households in their market have the equipment needed to
receive digital signals.

The staffer said that this creates "a chicken and egg" problem --
without a firm date for the transition from analogue, there is no
incentive for viewers or broadcasters to upgrade to digital
equipment, and penetration remains well below the 85 percent baseline
in most major markets.

Broadcasters and their supporters say that imposing a deadline would
penalize those viewers who cannot afford new equipment, and that
households replace electronic goods like TV sets every few years,
arguing this should lead eventually to major markets crossing the 85
percent threshold.

But Michael Powell, then chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission, testified last year to the Senate commerce committee that
the 85 percent penetration test could result in transition being
delayed for "decades or multiple decades."

"It is time to tell the broadcasters to get out of the way," said
Weldon, blaming "the lethargy of Congress -- both parties and both
chambers" for the failure to move on this issue before.

Ors said that broadcasters had also lobbied hard against a
deadline. "They have more resources than we do," he said, "First
responders are busy on the front lines, we don't have as much time as
they do to lobby Congress."

Experts are keen to stress that spectrum is just one of the pieces in
the interoperability jigsaw.

"Even if the ... deadline is imposed," said the congressional
staffer, "this is going to take some time."

The other pieces of the puzzle include equipment and training, but as
Ors points out, even in these areas, delays in freeing up the
spectrum become a problem.

"Until there's a firm date (for the transition) public safety
agencies can't make the investments in the equipment they need" to
make use of the new frequencies, he told UPI, adding that
manufacturers were also loath to spend money developing and marketing
equipment which could remain effectively unusable until some yet-to-
be-determined date in the future.

But the trickiest piece of all, according to the congressional
staffer, is what he called "the human element," and Ors refers to as
planning.

"Without clear planning (by neighboring jurisdictions), without
proper staffing and training, you can have all the spectrum and
equipment you need and it won't get you there," said Ors.

"There are cultural problems between fire departments and police
forces and (emergency medical services)," said the congressional
staffer.

And in huge disasters like Hurricane Katrina has caused, a lack of
interoperability can be the least of first responder worries.

Kenneth Moran, acting director of the homeland security office in the
Federal Communications Commission, told a House Energy and Commerce
Committee hearing Wednesday that interoperability had been only one
among many problems in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- which
blew down transmission towers and cut power in huge swathes of the
Gulf coast.

"We did see interoperability problems," he said, "But the biggest
problems we saw initially were things that were needed to get the
(cellular and broadcast) networks up and that tended to be security
issues, staging of personnel to get them in there and ... also trying
to get fuel (for generators) into the areas until the power would
come up."

But responders say that -- in a situation of prolonged crisis like
the one in Louisiana -- the time before and after the towers go down
and the power goes off is as important as any other.

"Good, strong communications help you prepare better and recover
faster," said Harlin McEwen, a retired FBI official and the chairman
of the communications and technology committee of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=...2-033839-5152r


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