WASHINGTON – Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., Tuesday expressed disappointment that the Department of Homeland Security has not moved more efficiently to improve its interoperability communications program and warned that without a strategic approach and firm leadership first responders will continue to be imperiled because of an inability to communicate effectively during an emergency or disaster. In a letter dated April 24, 2007, to Department Secretary Michael Chertoff, the senators expressed serious concern about the ability of first responders at all levels of government to communicate during a disaster. Based on an April 2, 2007, Government Accountability Office (GAO) report titled, “Much Work Remains to Improve Communications Interoperability,” the senators identified several “major weaknesses” in the Department’s interoperability program, including inadequate procedures to assess grant requests; poor communications planning among federal, state and local governments; ambiguous and incomplete radio standards; and a lack of training that would test the effectiveness of interoperability plans. The Committee has led the way on legislation to improve interoperable communications, drafting, negotiating, and passing the Post-Katrina Reform Act, signed into law in October 2004, which established a new Office of Emergency Communications within DHS, and the Improving America’s Security Act of 2007, passed by the Senate in March, which would create a new DHS grant program dedicated to improving interoperable communications. To access the full text of the letter, click here:
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