September 2008 • Volume 6 • Number 9
It’s About Saving Lives
 “We have to remember that at the end of the day it’s about saving lives,” said DHS' Dr. David Boyd.
Dr. Boyd was talking about the critical importance of the role interoperable communications plays for first responders, law enforcement and medical personnel each and every day – and how they can make the difference in life and death situations.
When asked what the major challenges to be overcome are, Dr. Boyd was quick to point out that as recently as 9/11 there were no effective communications capabilities between state and local first responders – and between S&L responders and the federal government either. Since that time there have been great strides, but much work needs to be done in the areas of funding, listening and technology.
Three Major Challenges
State and local governments have made the most strides according to Dr. Boyd. He said that two-thirds of public safety agencies now have the technical capabilities for interoperability for scheduled events.
Missing previously were the planning and operational capabilities, but since 9/11 a lot has been done said Dr. Boyd. Now we have 56 statewide communications interoperability plans that have been submitted to the federal government. There are tactical communications plans in each of the 75 major urban areas across the country.
The vision is set at the national level and is carried out at the state and local level with funding made possible by federal grants. As a matter of fact, this integration has been so successful the Canadian government has borrowed the model.
It’s the locals who matter most counseled Dr. Boyd. And that is made clear in the recently released National Communications Emergency plan. “It is the responsibility of the federal government to communicate with the state and local officials, not the other way around.”
Financial Challenges
The first is financial Dr. Boyd said. “It is so large. We can’t buy our way out of it in the short term.” According to Dr. Boyd, the challenge is for Congress, the Executive and other policy makers to realize that what is needed is a long term strategy.
“We need to identify and stick to a set of strategies that make sense over time. We can’t be whipsawing through a variety of requirements. We can’t be changing our focus. We can’t be changing the funding mechanisms, and changing the profiles.”
Getting Rid of Ego
Culture is the second challenge said Dr. Boyd. “What’s the biggest problem? In one word – ego!”
It’s ego at all levels Dr. Boyd declared. “It is not the function of federal government to steer the ship, but to facilitate and partner with the people who know where the ship needs to go.”
We need to pay attention said Dr. Boyd. “The feds think we are better equipped to tell them what to do even though we are not first responders ourselves,” remarked Dr. Boyd. “The feds don’t do the medical, the fire and the policing. We think we are the authorities at the federal level, but we don’t have these responsibilities, we need to listen. A critical piece of collaboration is listening.”
The Last Mile
The third challenge is technological. While most of the solutions already exist said Dr. Boyd, “we have to identify solutions and help put in them in place. The most critical piece is the hardest, it’s the last critical mile to first responders that have to be wireless.”
“They are on the scene – at the fire, at the flood, in the collapsed subway struggling to get through the rubble -- that’s the hard part technologically, but it is also the organizational and policy hard part as well,” added Dr. Boyd. Then he declared, “We have to remember that at the end of the day it’s about saving lives.”
Major Undertakings
Dr. Boyd said the DHS Science & Technology Directorate has two major interoperable projects currently underway.
The first deals with standards. “In April demonstrated the ISSI interface standard,” explained Dr. Boyd. This is the interface for the wireless backbone said Dr. Boyd and the ‘plug fest’ demonstration showed that it is now possible to communicate across the infrastructures of several different manufacturers without having to buy each one.
The standards now make it possible that every commercial disaster management platform can now successfully communicate with the others.
The second major project deals with having a single radio to communicate across all the spectrum bands used by the first responder community. Dr. Boyd explained that DHS funded the project that operate in both analog and digital, in a trunking environment and a non-trunking environment and can straddle all the frequencies between 136 and 870 megahertz.
That means state and locals will have one radio to communicate with each other and with the federal government. It also shows the power of standards. Previously manufacturers had been reluctant to make compatible radios, but now more and more are jumping on the multi-band radio bandwagon.
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September 2008 • Volume 6 • Number 9
No Silver Bullet
 Paige Atkins of DISA said that interoperability has been on DISA’s plate for what seems like forever. But like Dr. Boyd, Atkins says technology is not the issue, it is policy and the planning, coordination processes. And even though there are a number of technologies that are in play, not one is a “silver bullet”.
Working Across The Spectrum
DISA works with federal, state and local along with coalition partners. The mission is to establish the policies, plans and procedures to make it happen.
According to Atkins DISA has been working with the National Guard to deploy systems that enable interoperability using gateways and other mechanisms. One is the multiband technology that Dr. Boyd discussed along with increasing dynamic band spectrum capabilities. The goal is to carry one radio to do multi-functions instead of 5 said Atkins.
Atkins agreed with DHS’s Dr. Boyd saying that technology is not the stumbling block, the challenge is collaboration and information sharing.
“It’s the planning and coordination process along with policy,” Atkins said.
“We are doing some good things in that area, but our challenges still are how to share information; how to decide who sees what information,” added Atkins. “We can have the technology ---even a common network, but it doesn’t mean we are interoperable in terms of sharing the information and applications to get the job done. But this can be overcome.”
Atkins is quick to add that technology is not the silver bullet saying there is not one fix we can apply, but that we have to look at a multi-tiered environment where technology, process, policy and culture coalesce around information sharing.
Atkins says on the technology front they are looking to easy-to-use, smart devices and ways technology can be used to increase dynamic spectrum access. “We want people in the field to be able to communicate without worrying about programming (these devices). This can have a disruptive effect.”
In the area of intelligent devices, DISA is working with working with DARPA on cognitive and dynamic access spectrum, which will allow DISA to use the spectrum better and be more flexible.
According to Atkins, the National Guard has done a lot of great work in this area. Now the Guard has equipment in 50 states that provide interoperable deployable communications modules to national coordination centers. There is a lot of good work being done to ensure interoperability across disparate radio systems said Atkins. “It’s not the end game, but there has been a lot of progress.”
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September 2008 • Volume 6 • Number 9
Driven From The Ground Up
 Saying that there is “no one size fits all solution”, Justices’ xxxx talked about the advances in partnerships with state and local official due to several successful initiatives such as the 25 Cities Program and the Integrated Wireless Network (IWN).
Changing The Environment
Making key investments in technologies, getting federal, state and local officials working together and establishing a channel for mutual aid are all efforts that are being driven from the ground up according to Kent Holtgrewe of Justice.
Holtgrewe was talking about the 25 Cities Program an effort where new investments are being made in the 25 major metropolitan areas that are at most risk. He said that this is a “federal interoperability channel” that everyone can use that is being driven from the ground up. “That’s important. We can help provide guidance, but first responders are the key,” said Holtgrewe.
What are changing dramatically are the choices in equipment technologies. “That is going to take off,” said Holtgrewe. “More equipment manufacturers are going to open systems rather than their own proprietary systems.” The result will be a rapid change in the landscape where no one or two vendors will no longer dominate using proprietary technologies.
One example of this is the Integrated Wireless Network (IWN) where new solutions are being built out and field tested in Washington and Oregon. “We are designing, developing and implementing new solutions for a wide variety of users,” said Holtgrewe. The field test has 750 users including Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshals and the Coast Guard.
“We are learning by designing and implementing the network. We are replacing the existing network and have cut the infrastructure by half.” We are trying to leverage design concepts going forward selectively to roll out across the country.”
“We have gotten interesting feedback. This is a collaborative phrase. It has as enabled and created a change in the business environment. It has opened up new avenues of collaboration when they work with their federal state and local partners. And it’s for the better," said Holtgrewe.
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