Congress pushes for national emergency communications plan

Congress criticized the Homeland Security Department on Tuesday for delaying the coordination of a national emergency communications plan for first responders, emphasizing that states have little time to take action when formulating applications for grant money.

Comment on this article in The Forum.The Office of Emergency Communications, established in October 2006 in accordance with recommendations of the 9/11 commission to improve communication among emergency responders and government officials during natural disasters and acts of terrorism, was supposed to have submitted a National Emergency Communications Plan to Congress in April. The plan was developed in cooperation with state, local and tribal governments, federal agencies, emergency response providers, and the private sector. It will provide recommendations for interoperable communication during disasters by using standard technologies, such as handheld radios and broadband networks.

But OEC is months late in submitting the plan. "We regret we didn't make deadline, but the reason is because we were [focusing on the] development of statewide plans," said Robert Jamison, undersecretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate at DHS who testified before the House Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response.

The national plan is still under review, he said, and OEC expects to deliver it to Congress by the end of July. "The good thing is the data, the hard work, the lesson learned that came out of those [state] plans are consistent with the NECP," Jamison said.

But states and territories have only a few days to meet a July 21 deadline to submit applications for federal grants to help them pay for the upgrades. DHS established a five-year, $1.6 billion program to help states pay for improvements in their emergency communications for first responders, with nearly $49 million available in fiscal 2008. But because OEC intends to submit the National Emergency Communications Plan by the end of the month, states and territories will not have time to use the national strategy to formulate requests in their grant applications, said Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, chairman of the subcommittee. In addition, OEC wants to award grants to states on Aug. 1.

"Today is July 15," Cueller said. "How does the department expect to announce a grant on Aug. 1, when NECP has yet to be completed? States are now burdened with the delay because they have less time to review required justifications for grant [funding]."

Jamison said the plan would be submitted to Congress by the end of July, and funds would be delivered to states soon after. He said staffing shortfalls were part of the reason for the slow progress at OEC. Congress provided funds for 42 full-time employees when the office was established, but it has not been able to recruit people with the needed skills. OEC has 37 people on staff, with more scheduled to start work in the next month. Chris Essid, former interoperability coordinator for the Virginia Governor's Office of Commonwealth Preparedness, was appointed director of OEC in December 2007.

"The pipeline is now full," said Jamison, who denied rumors that he will leave his post at the end of the summer.

Despite the delay in delivering a national communications plan, Congress acknowledged the progress OEC has made. In addition to supporting states and territories in developing communications interoperability plans and grant program applications, the office has established regional centers to help states with planning and technical requirements and with establishing regional plans for interoperability across state lines. OEC collaborates with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure regional efforts don't overlap.