A National Strategy for Interoperability

by Phil Leggiere

DHS outlines five year three phase plan for emergency communications.

The long-term goal of total seamless nationwide public safety communications interoperability by its very nature cannot be achieved by government fiat. Given that there are nearly as many upgrade paths as there are first response jurisdictions imposing a one size fits all solution is impossible.

What government can do is provide a constantly refined roadmap for states and locales, combining stringent mandates and requirements with flexible customizable options for individualized solutions.

This involves a sensitive ongoing balancing act. Last Thursday DHS addressed the latest step in this challenge, aligning the statewide communication interoperability plans for all 56 states and territories previously mandated by DHS, which call for individual states to identify near- and long-term initiatives for improving communications interoperability, with a new three-year strategy to coordinate and monitor all those efforts to be called National Emergency Communications Plan. The plan is a response to The Homeland Security Act of 2002, which as amended in 2006, mandated the creation of an overarching strategy to address emergency communications shortfalls. Click here to see full plan.

The ambitious vision outlined by the plan is that “emergency responders anywhere, anytime can communicate as needed, on demand, and as authorized at all levels of government across all disciplines.

To measure progress toward this vision, DHS lays out a three-part timetable. ....