Few Takers for GETS Telephone Priority Service
The Govt. Emergency Telecom Service (GETS) has gained barely more than 100,000 takers since going operational in Sept. 2001, Program Dir. John Graves said. That number isn’t “very much” for a population of 300 million, he said, and for “a population of emergency communities of well over one million it’s not very many either.” The numbers haven’t gone up despite a “great deal of time and money” spent promoting the service to police and fire departments and others involved in critical infrastructure maintenance and protection, Graves told us. GETS and the integrated Wireless Priority Service (WPS) are generally open to federal, state and local govt., but broadcasters and others involved in national security and emergency preparedness are also eligible. PBS and other broadcasters have sought GETS status, according to officials.
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A White House-directed emergency service run by the National Communications System (NCS), GETS/WPS provides users calling cards that confer priority calling capability. Users dial into an access number; when authenticated, they get priority within switches and trunks of networks between end offices, said Graves: “In 85% of the cases, we will get call completion across the network of something like 95% under all conditions… [such as] things like the 9/11 disaster occurring in every city in the country at one time.”
Usually, the “subjective” decisions about GETS or WPS eligibility are made by 23 members of the federal departments. and agencies that make up NCS, said Graves. For those not falling neatly under those departments., his office makes the call, he said. In broadcasting, some functions, like emergency broadcast services activities, fall into the GETS eligibility category, he said. Another example is stations carrying a Presidential announcement during an emergency. Since the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) runs the emergency broadcast system, Graves said, “we would rely on FEMA to tell which [broadcast] organizations should participate” in GETS or WPS.
A concern over giving broadcasters GETS or WPS cards is the risk they'll be used for news gathering, Graves said: “If there is any possibility these cards would be used to give on company priority communications over a competitor, we would probably not do that.” Asked if NCS would seek assurances from broadcaster applicants against misuse of the cards, he said the terms make clear the cards are to be used only for supporting national security and emergencies. NCS monitors the cards’ use, he said: “We collect all the data on all the calls. So if we are ever concerned about the calling patterns or usage… we might issue a letter of concern or we could just cancel the service.” He said the NCS is entitled to monitor the calls because “we are paying the bills on each of these calls.”
As for news-gathering broadcasters, Graves said, “we wouldn’t want to see it [cards] in the hands of reporters.” The cards should go to technicians managing broadcast gear, he added. If concerns arise over use of the cards, he said, NCS will work them out with sponsoring entities or FEMA and “take our guidance from them.” NCS, not carriers, controls GETS and WPS, he said: “We don’t let the carriers sell the service to anybody. They do not have control over who uses it.”
Asked if public TV stations, which have participated in Dept. of Homeland Security pilots for digital emergency alert systems (DEAS), would enjoy automatic eligibility for GETS or WPS cards, Graves said that issue hasn’t been addressed. “It would depend on what FEMA felt the responsibility of the various broadcast stations would be,” he said. The 2nd-phase DEAS pilots recently were completed by public TV stations under an deal between DHS and the Assn. of Public TV Stations (APTS). APTS waiting for DHS funds to cover a national DEAS rollout. Graves said he couldn’t provide the number or names of broadcasters seeking and getting GETS or WPS cards.
GETS and WPS showed their utility in 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, Graves said: “It gave us a call completion rate of 95% at the same time the public calling was probably on the order of 5%. So it works during these disasters.” Asked why communications broke down in New Orleans, he said “it was seriously degraded because of the flooding.” More than 30 major central offices were submerged, killing power in a situation where backup power is limited, he said: “In some cases telephone companies shut the services off to protect the equipment itself.”