September 27, 2004 USA Today

September 27, 2004, Monday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 3A

LENGTH: 639 words

HEADLINE: Major cities rectify 9/11 radio issue

BYLINE: Mimi Hall

BODY:
In 10 of the cities considered at highest risk for a terrorist attack, firefighters, police and other emergency responders in charge during a disaster can now talk to each other to coordinate a quick response.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge will announce today at a conference in New Orleans that commanders in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Miami and Jersey City, and in some cases the communities around them, have the equipment and training necessary to communicate in a crisis.

A lack of such so-called interoperability was a major problem at all three crash sites on Sept. 11. Ridge's announcement comes less than a month after the independent 9/11 Commission recommended that high-risk urban areas should work to establish "communications connectivity."

It has been a problem for decades. Often, rescue workers can't communicate because they own incompatible radios and other equipment. Sometimes they can't talk to each other because of interference from cellphones or not enough radio frequencies.

The problems have made it hard for workers to respond quickly and effectively at disaster scenes, including the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado in 1999.

But on 9/11, radio problems cost 120 New York City firefighters their lives when warnings that the World Trade Center's south tower had collapsed weren't heard by rescuers in the north tower. The 9/11 Commission called the inability of rescuers to communicate that day a "critical element" that hampered efforts in New York City, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa.

"Imagine if a quintet of musicians was asked to play a big concert, but each one was given a different page of sheet music. . . . And say they were thrown together for the concert and were not able to meet to practice," Ridge was expected to say today. "You could have the best jazz musicians in the world, but if they are playing from different song sheets, if they are each playing five different songs, then all you're going to get is noise."

Homeland Security Department officials acknowledge that improving communications in the 10 high-risk cities with the help of federal grants is only a small step toward the bigger goal of getting emergency workers nationwide equipped and trained to share information.

To continue the process, Ridge will announce the creation of an Office of Interoperability and Compatibility in his department. The office will create national standards for emergency communications equipment, test new equipment and help state and local rescue workers get the training they need to use the gear. "Just as (emergency workers) need interoperability for major terrorist events, they need it for their day-to-day operations," says David Boyd, head of the new office.

The Government Accountability Office, which has studied the issue extensively, reports that the government doesn't even know the scope of the problem yet. In testimony before a House subcommittee on technology recently, GAO homeland security director William Jenkins said government "turf barriers"
and poor planning have contributed to the problem.

Volunteer firefighter Gene Stilp of Dauphin, Pa., a member of the First Response Coalition, a non-partisan organization that lobbies to solve communications problems, calls Ridge's announcements "better late than never."

Largely because rescue workers have bought a "mishmash of equipment" over the years, Stilp says, "in any small town in America, they basically cannot talk to the next town over, except through a dispatcher." He says he's frustrated that the issue hasn't received more attention.

"This has to be a major concern," Stilp says. "We have to move on this like the Manhattan Project."