RIDGE UNDER FIRE ON FIRST RESPONDER COMMUNICATIONS
The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) must move faster to ensure adoption by local first responders of interoperable communications equipment, numerous members of Congress told DHS Secy. Tom Ridge last week. Over the course of 2 days of hearings, more than a dozen members of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security raised the interoperability issue, with Rep. Weldon (R-Pa.) also pressing for more spectrum for public safety users. Ridge apparently got the message, because when asked by Rep. Lucas (D-Ky.) what he believed was the top priority for communities involving homeland security, Ridge responded: “What I've heard is, from just about everybody, it’s communications equipment.”
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Committee ranking Democrat Turner (Tex.) raised first responder communications in his opening statement, and the questions continued unabated. Much of the concern of members is the method by which DHS awards grants to states for first responder equipment, an allocation method based on state population that was criticized recently in a hearing by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. Rep. Dunn (R-Wash.) said her state was grateful for its $41.14 million grant, along with the additional $29.45 million Seattle received, but said “many communities simply believe that they deserve money and they're not getting this funding.” Asked by Dunn whether a change was needed, Ridge said “I think it’s very appropriate that we review the traditional grant-making formula that Congress provided… I really do think that we need to work together to see if we can find a better means of distributing these dollars based not only on population, but on threat, on vulnerability, on the presence of critical infrastructure and the like.”
Rep. Lowey (D-N.Y.), whose district includes many N.Y.C. first responders, urged DHS to issue directives on communications equipment to ensure interoperability. When Ridge said “we will be doing that,” Lowey responded “these towns and villages can’t wait. They're all buying equipment.” Ridge said “we want them to build up a standard capacity around the country” of interoperable first responder communications equipment: “That’s something that we're developing right now.” Lowey gave Ridge a 2nd copy of a letter she wrote him recently on the issue, adding “I would hope that you could respond to this committee as soon as possible,” adding that first responders were “all going out on their own and spending too much money in systems that really may not be the best system.”
Rep. Meek (D-Fla.) cited personal experience as a first responder with the Fla. Highway Patrol in promoting a bill he co-sponsored that would permit Ridge to work with a phone company to notify the public in an emergency. “The FCC says that we have over 109 million homes -- 104 million homes, households, who actually have a hard-line phone,” he said, and alerts put out over TV won’t be seen by someone not watching. Ridge said he was anxious to see the bill “and continue the conversation with you.” On a similar note, Rep. DeFazio (D-Ore.) said “the national emergency alert system is not all that it appears to be… We need some new, much more automated, state-of-the-art system to communicate from Washington down through the emergency alert system.”
Spectrum for public safety was a major concern for Weldon. “[T]his is extremely important, Mr. Secretary. We need you to come out and vocally call for the dedication of frequency spectrum allocation for public safety.” He and Rep. Harman (D-Cal.) have a bill on that subject, and he said House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) “has told me that he will move our legislation in June. A word from you publicly would help, I think, get the Administration to support that legislation.” Weldon’s time expired while he spoke and Ridge didn’t respond to his comments.