In the face of the lofty pronouncements and promises from official Washington about improving emergency communications and muscling up our telecom infrastructure in the aftermath of 9/11, the Asian tsunami and now Hurricane Katrina-and the results to date-can real progress be achieved only in real time in response to man-made catastrophes and natural disasters?
This is part criticism, part reality. Horrific events such as these defy the best-intentioned preparation and response. At the same time, the tragedy of the event itself is compounded when lessons are not learned, or worse, ignored.
Former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean (R), chairman of the now-defunct panel that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, linked 9/11 and Katrina with a sharp-tongued harangue.
“Hurricane Katrina pointed out serious flaws in our emergency preparedness and response. And what is frustrating to us is that [these are] many of the same problems we saw in 9/11 and the response to that disaster,” Kean was quoted as saying.
Among unfinished business: interoperable public-safety communications enabling local, state and federal officials to talk with one another during emergencies. Police, firefighters and medics anxiously are waiting for television broadcasters to return a swatch of spectrum lent to the latter for the transition to digital TV.
In 1997, lawmakers gave TV stations until opening day 2007 to surrender the golden airwaves. The deadline was based on the assumption most of America by then would have embraced DTV the way they have cell phones. The assumption was flawed, of course.
It is no accident that rights to the broadcast spectrum at issue remain up in the air. Staying power in Congress significantly depends on political ads and broadcast exposure. It is the implicit trump card broadcasters hold to keep lawmakers in check.
But broadcasters reluctantly have agreed to surrender the borrowed frequencies by 2009, regardless of DTV penetration.
So moved by recent events was Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that he exclaimed: “After watching citizens suffer during recovery efforts in New Orleans, I believe this date should be moved up to Jan. 1, 2007.” But that’s a deal breaker, and he knows it.
It is worth noting with some irony that Senate action on a bill to shake loose spectrum from TV broadcasters has been delayed so lawmakers can tackle Katrina’s destruction-a big-ticket item that could cost $200 billion to fix. Putting the brakes on the Senate DTV measure will slow the legislative process to move more spectrum to public safety and could hold up introduction of an emergency alert modernization bill.
Getting emergency communications right is about more than bandwidth, however. Spectrum should be the easy part. Rather, the challenge is one of political will and leadership. With Republicans and Democrats habitually shouting past each other, is it any wonder our first responders lack the tools to speak among themselves in the noble cause of saving lives?