WASHINGTON-In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said that he intends to create a new Homeland Security and Public Safety Bureau. Likewise, the issue of public-safety interoperable communications-including the return of analog TV spectrum-gained momentum in Congress.
The FCC’s Homeland Security and Public Safety Bureau would include many of the issues-including 911, public-safety communications and other priority emergency communications-handled today by the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
Martin did not name a chief of the new bureau, and the full commission plus Congress must pass off on the plan. “This is the first step in the process,” said FCC spokeswoman Meribeth McCarrick.
RCR Wireless News first reported Martin’s goal of creating a homeland-security bureau in July, so while Martin may be using Hurricane Katrina as impetus for the changes, the gears already were in motion long before the storm formed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Martin did not say what would happen to the rest of the wireless bureau’s portfolio, but recent changes in the front office of the wireless bureau continue to point to a significantly decreased policy role for the bureau.
Peter Tenhula and Scott Delacourt, both deputy chiefs of the wireless bureau, recently were reassigned to other jobs at the commission. Both Tenhula and Delacourt had oversight of wireless policy and regulation.
Martin made his announcement at a rare outside-the-beltway open commission meeting held at the BellSouth Corp. emergency operations center in Atlanta.
During the meeting, the chief of communications for the Shreveport, La., Fire Department urged the FCC to do everything possible to help public safety better communicate. “Reserved, interoperable communications need to be available for public-safety personnel,” said Willis Carter, who is first vice president of the Association of Public-safety Communications Officials.
Carter’s comments seemed to resonate with the commission.
“When you see countless emergency personnel traveling to the Gulf, we owe it to them to provide them with a reliable communications system,” said FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. “We saw the results of communications failures during 9/11, during the East Coast blackout and now during Hurricane Katrina.”
TV as 1st informers
Even as Carter was making his plea, TV broadcasters were arguing that they shouldn’t have to give back the extra spectrum they were given to transition to digital TV.
“We believe that all of the TVs need to work,” said Fred Young, vice president of news for Hearst-Argyle TV Inc. “Our role reveals how important it is for all consumers to receive news and information, not just those that can afford a certain kind of service. Given the role we all play as first informers, we must work together to strengthen broadcast spectrum.”
Earlier in the week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he wants to revert to the original Jan. 1, 2007, date when broadcasters must return the extra spectrum they were given for the DTV transition.
“After watching citizens suffer during recovery efforts in New Orleans, I believe this date should be moved up to Jan. 1, 2007, as originally contemplated by Congress,” said McCain, former chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, noting that the federal government, three surrounding parishes and the city of New Orleans all used different public-safety radio systems.
In June, McCain introduced what he described as compromise legislation that would have given broadcasters an extra two years to complete the DTV transition. In July, the National Association of Broadcasters, which consistently has tried to delay the spectrum transfer, said it was willing to support, or at least accept, a 2009 hard date.
In 1997, Congress said that in 2007, broadcasters would have to return the extra 6 megahertz of spectrum in the 700 MHz band given to TV broadcasters to facilitate the DTV transition. But TV broadcasters could keep the spectrum if more than 15 percent of the homes in their viewing areas could not receive digital signals. Removing the caveat has become known as establishing a hard date and has been encouraged widely by the wireless industry, which wants access to some of the spectrum.
Congress is expected to consider a hard date for the DTV transition as part of the 2006 budget reconciliation process. Due to the focus on Hurricane Katrina, the budget reconciliation process is expected to ramp up next month.
Fearing access to the spectrum would slip through its hands again, APCO stepped up its lobbying effort by sending a letter to all members of Congress urging that Congress finish the DTV hard-date legislation this year.
“While we are still gathering specifics, the Katrina disaster demonstrates once again the critical need for robust, interoperable radio communications for public-safety personnel. Congress can help by ensuring that public-safety agencies have the communications tools they need, including sufficient radio spectrum and the funding to construct and maintain state-of-the-art interoperable communications systems,” wrote APCO President Gregory Ballentine. “With only three months left in the first session of the 109th Congress, APCO urges Congress to set first-responder communications as a top priority in their agenda. Don’t let another session end without a clear resolution to help improve first-responder interoperable communications.”
The lobbying got the attention of eight Democrats, who sent a letter to Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) urging him to include an end to the DTV transition in his budget reconciliation package. “Delay is no longer an option; public safety must have access to the spectrum,” said the lawmakers.
The DTV transition delay also was highlighted by the 9/11 commission, which last week again called on Congress to do everything it could to improve public-safety interoperable communications.
“On 9/11, inadequate radio spectrum hindered first-responder communications. New spectrum is needed to facilitate interoperable communications between responder agencies, to allow effective radio communications during large-scale responses to major disasters, and to allow emergency response agencies to deploy next-generation communications technologies,” said the 9/11 Commission in a progress report. “Congress should use the reconciliation process, or another legislative vehicle, to mandate this reallocation by the earliest possible date.” RCR
