Transcripts For CSPAN2 First Responder Communications 201710

And your attendance here today and we look forward to hearing from you. The subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness response medications will come to order. The subcommittee is meeting today to receive testimony on the state of First Responders medications. I now recognize myself for an Opening Statement. I want to welcome all witnesses here this morning on an issue that is vital to our Homeland Security. The ability of our First Responders to communicate. As noted in the 2006 National Baseline survey, there is a direct correlation between effective medications, interoperability and First Responders ability to save lives. In my hometown of new york city, we know ther this all too well. Both the first, both the office of emergency medications and First Responder network of authority were established in the wake of the medications failures of 911 and later in hurricane katrina. We have made a great deal of progress since those fateful disasters. States and localities have invested billions of dollars in their Communication Networks, including governance, training and equipment. The office of Emergency Communications has completed two National Emergency medications plans and has provided guidance and Technical Assistance to state and local stakeholders. This year, we have reached another milestone. First net, in its fifth year since its establishment in the middle class tax relief and job creation act awarded a contract to at t to build out the nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network and to date, nearly half of the states and territories have committed to opt into that network. We know this work is making a difference. In contrast to 911 in hurricane katrina, First Responder networks, for the most part remained operable during the response to super storm sandy. Even while commercial networks experienced outages. It is my understanding that First Responder networks were largely able to withstand the impacts of Hurricane Harvey and irma. Im interested in hearing from our witnesses and their assessments of how these networks fared during the recent hurricanes. Despite these advancements, challenges remain. Earlier this year, the subcommittee joined with the subcommittee on Cyber Security and Infrastructure Protection to hold a roundtable on cyber risks to emergency medication networks. Weve seen the evolution of communications technology, providing enhanced capabilities for First Responders, but with these benefits come the risk of Cyber Security vulnerabilities , as many of these systems and applications are ipbased and interconnected. We must ensure our nations First Responders are aware of Cyber Security threats and can work to address them. As we prepare for First Responders to have access to the nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network, we cannot forget that First Responders will continue to to depend on land mobile radio. Im concerned about a requirement that First Responder Radio Networks operating on the tv and must migrate off that spectrum by 2021. This will have Significant Impact on a number of major metropolitan areas including new york city. Studies have suggested there isnt sufficient alternative for these jurisdictions to use. In taking steps forward, with the Public Safety Broadband Networks, we must ensure we are and not taking steps backward, a missioncritical Voice Network on which First Responders rely on. Im looking forward to our witnesses assessment of the current state of First Responders medications and what more needs to be done to ensure First Responders have the conductivity and information to continue to serve our communities. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from new jersey, my friend mr. Payne for an Opening Statement that he may have. The morning mr. Chairman. We will try to accommodate you so when your voice is leaving you,. It has left. Youve been on cnn and nbc in the past several days and i would assume your voice would be going. I want to thank you, first for holding todays hearing on First Responders medication. This is the subcommittees first hearing on Emergency Communications since the 113th congress. I am eager to hear about the progress both the office of emergency medications and first not have made in advancing interoperable Emergency Committee case and efforts. Since i joined this committee in 2013, i have been a strong advocate to improve interoperable emergency medication capabilities. From ensuring communication capability among the components of the department of Homeland Security to helping bolster state and regional governance structures that inform emergency to medication plans and procedures. That said, i have been concerned to learn that the dwindling number of dedicated fulltime statewide coordinators or swigs, i am concerned about the reduction in fulltime swigs and the disturbing, and the disbanding of other governance structures might undermine progress made toward improving emergency medication capabilities since 911. The related government structures have been integral in ensuring emergency medication plans are correlated, uptodat uptodate, and exercise. Every First Responder i have ever spoken to has told me that the key to interoperability is not technology, its governance. Im interested to know why states are no longer funding fulltime swick, and what congress can do to help mitigate the impact of last robust governance. I am pleased that new jersey was among the first states to opt into first net. I am encouraged by the potential it holds for First Responders and look forward to seeing it revolutionize emergency medications. The capabilities and promises will save lives if the network is built and managed properly. That said, i am concerned about requirement that First Responders in certain major metropolitan areas, like newark and jersey city vacate the tbn by 2023. Unless congress acts, First Responders in my district will get kicked off their spectrum and be forced to relocate. Before i close, mr. Chairman, i would like to send my thoughts to those suffering in puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands. As Ranking Member of Emergency Preparedness, it is clear to me that something in our National Preparedness doctrine has failed. I look forward to having the opportunity for this subcommittee to examine what went wrong in puerto rico and the virgin islands, and why so we can make sure people in our country never suffer like this again. With that and i think the witnesses for being here today and i yield back the balance of my time. The gentleman yields, if any other members attend, they will be reminded that Opening Statements may be submitted for the record. We are pleased to have a distinguished panel before us on this important topic. Admiral ronald served as the director of the department of Homeland Security office of emergency medication, a position which he has held since november of 2012. Prior to joining oec, the admiral served as the United States coast guard commandant to Human Resources and for command, control medications, computers and Information Technology which is the coast guards chief information officer. They have a great coast guard presence on staten island. We love our coast is. Thank you. Mr. Ed parkinson serves as the director of Government Affairs for the First Responder Network Authority first met. They are responsible for intergovernmental relations with local, state and federal organizations. Prior to joining first net, mr. Parkinson served for five years as a professional staff member for the house Homeland Security committee. With his primary area of responsibility in the field of First Responder communications , ad, welcome back. Mr. Mark goldstein serves as a director of physical infrastructure issues at the Government Accountability office where he is responsible for the gao work in the areas of Government Property and telecommunications. Prior to joining gao, mr. Goldstein held positions with the district of columbia, financial control board, the Internal Revenue service and the committee on Homeland Security and governmental affairs. Welcome. The witnesses full written statement will appear in the record and now the chair recognizes the admiral for five minutes. Thank you chairman donovan, Ranking Member pain and distinguish members of the subcommittee. It is a pleasure for me to be here today to provide you an overview of what the office of Emergency Communications has done since our creation ten years ago. And more specifically, within the last three years since the previous hearing to improve Emergency Committee case and interoperability nationwide. Public Safety Communications is going through unprecedented change with the deployment of first not nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network, next generation 911, cellular alert and Warning Systems to ensure all the systems work seamlessly together, we promulgated the 2014 national Emergency Communications plan. It is the roadmap to ensuring interoperability. The plan was developed by sitcom, a group comprised of Public Safety leaders, representing the nations First Responder community and government leaders who support Public Safety. To implement the goals and objectives of the 2014 plan, we assist states and territories with developing and implementing their states communication operability plans which are aligned to the national plan. It is essential that state and territory plans cover all Public Safety Communications Systems to ensure information seamlessly flows between them. There have been obstacles in doing so. The majority of the state ride interoperability coordinators, which we refer to as swick are responsible for just land mobile radio and it has been difficult to develop governance structures that conclude state officials were responsible for the other Public Safety medication systems. Additionally we are seeing many swigs being assigned multiple roles. To address these issues, we partnered with the National Governors association to conduct the policy academy on improving Emergency Communications interoperability in five states. Recommendations from the policy academy included empower swick to ensure nation with first net point of contact and 911 administrator. Reinvigorate an active governance body, revitalize the statewide medications interoperability plan and engage state legislators to promote understanding and support of the plan. We will continue to work with nga to help address the policy academy recommendations. We are also working with safe, to upgrade the Communications Unit within the incident command system. It is the common way all responders organize and operate during an event or disaster. Currently Communications Unit is responsible for radio interoperability. Were updating it to include cellula cellular which will support first net capability. To date we have trained over 7000 medications leaders across the country. Once we update the program to include broadband system, we will provide Refresher Training that provides new material. They not only provide new capabilities but also new risks. Todays citizens cannot send a picture to their 911 center of their lost child or loved one nor can it be sent out to Public Safety or citizens to help search for that person, but with oecs efforts to drive interoperability across all Public Safety medications which include land radio, nexgen 911 and Public Safety Broadband Network and next generation alert and system, this capability will be available to citizens across the nation as the systems are deployed. This is just one of many that examine interoperable multiple media to medications for Public Safety and citizens. By achieving the goals and objections of the medications plan, these lifesaving benefits will become a reality this subcommittee and committee have been excellent partners in this effort and i look forward to continuing the conversation about how best to carry out our national effort. Once again, thank you chairman donovan, Ranking Member pain and distinguish members of this committee to testify here today. Thank you tour servic for your service to this nation. Now recognize mr. Parkinson for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Its a pleasure to be here and thank you for inviting me to testify before the committee today. My name is edward parkinson. On the government director of Public Affairs and in my previous life i was sitting behind these members so its different for me to be sitting on the side but im looking forward to hearing. Since i last testified before the subcommittee in novembe november 2014, we have made a numbe enormous amount progress since then. Over the past three years theyve developed a clear path forward to the successful deployment of the national Public Safety Broadband Network. Having consulted with all 56 states and territories and the district of columbia, met with many tribal nations, successfully completed an open transparent and competitive procurement, selected a publicprivate partner in the shape of at t, and delivered state plans and began the opt in process. While enormous amount of work has gone into the past few years, we have much to yet accomplish. The men and women at first net remain allocated to delivering the network for nations First Responders as quickly as possible. As storms have brought devastation to texas, florida and puerto rico, and the inconceivable tragedy that took place in las vegas they all show us that communication is now considered by all of us, and not just Public Safety , as much a necessity as power or other utility. What was known prior to 911 and what is abundantly clear today is that we need to get the best possible tools into the hands of the men and women who protect us and keep us safe. The First Net Network has been able to withstand, must be able to withstand natural and manmade disasters so that when lawenforcement officers are running into harms way or when a firefighter is running into a fire, they can trust the technology that we put in their hands. One of the reasons why the process was so thorough was that we are not only looking for the best deals but were looking for that partner who understood the high bar that we were setting and was willing to step up for Public Safety, at t was that partner. We were very encouraged by the early work of what we have achieved with at t and given the length of the contract i would also like to acknowledge our partners in the state. We are deepening ou