GREENBURGH, NY – Over the last decade, communications failures have thwarted first responders’ ability to respond to some of the biggest disasters this nation has faced.  In Oklahoma City in 1995, in Columbine in 1999, in New York in 2001 and in the Gulf region following Hurricane Katrina last year, emergency response efforts were impaired by the lack of interoperable radio communications.  Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland) today announced that an interoperability strategy she authored will be enacted as part of the Fiscal Year 2007 Homeland Security Appropriations bill to help ensure that our nation’s first responders can communicate with each other during emergencies.

“A federal plan for first responder communications is long overdue.  It is time to give our first responders the tools they need to effectively communicate instead of having to use many of the same tactics as Paul Revere,” said Lowey.  “The inclusion of my interoperability strategy in the FY07 Homeland Security spending bill is a victory for first responders.”

Lowey’s provisions require the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish a comprehensive plan to close the communications gap for first responders, including the following measures:

• Complete a study of current capabilities;
• Create a resource plan;
• Expedite voluntary consensus standards;
• Set goals and time frames; 
• Identify obstacles;
• Coordinate planning with other federal, state, local, and private sector partners;
• Design backup systems in the event that primary systems fail; and
• Verify manufacturers’ claims that equipment meets certain interoperability standards.

Amazingly, DHS currently has no real plan to solve the emergency communications crisis and has not made the issue a priority.  Only a handful of the Department’s 180,000 employees work on communications issues, and the interoperability office receives less than one-half of one percent of the total DHS budget.

“For five years, I’ve pushed the Administration and DHS to put standards in place to help local officials improve interoperability.  I’ve been frustrated and disappointed with the lack of attention to this issue,” added Lowey.  “This measure is a step toward making first responder communications a priority, and I will continue fighting to establish a federal grant dedicated to funding communications equipment for emergency personnel.”

Congresswoman Lowey is the author of the Connecting the Operations of National Networks of Emergency Communications Technologies for First Responders Act, or CONNECT First Responders Act.  In addition to the interoperability strategy in the FY07 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, which was passed last week by the House and Senate, the CONNECT First Responders Act includes a five-year, $5 billion grant to assist local governments in improving interoperable communications equipment.