Subject: [NEXTEL-1] David G. Boyd, Ph.D.Director, SAFECOM Program Office On Interoperability Between Public Safety Communications Systems

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 00:04:49 -0400

Dr. David Boyd
Deputy Director, Office of Systems Engineering and
Development
Department of Homeland Security

Protecting Homeland Security: A Status Report on
Interoperability Between Public Safety Communications Systems
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
June 23, 2004
1:30 PM

David G. Boyd, Ph.D.Director, SAFECOM Program Office
Directorate of Science and Technology
Department of Homeland Security

TESTIMONY
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE INTERNET
JUNE 23, 2004
2322 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING

Good morning and thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee
for the invitation to speak to you today.  I appreciate your interest in
the Department’s interoperability efforts and am grateful for this
opportunity to address the important issue of public safety
interoperability and compatibility before you.

Public Safety Background

As Secretary Ridge stated on February 24, 2004,

The ability for our nation’s first responders to communicate with each
other as well as share equipment in times of crisis is a critical issue
facing our nation. Solving this challenge is a long-standing and complex
problem. There are, however, some immediate steps the department can
take this year to address the … communications and equipment needs of
first responders and make substantial progress to achieving the
penultimate communications solution.

Communications interoperability is the ability of public safety agencies
to talk across disciplines and jurisdictions via radio communications
systems, exchanging voice and/or data with one another on demand, in
real time, as authorized.   The nation is heavily invested in an
existing infrastructure that is largely incompatible. Currently, efforts
within the Federal government to address the interoperability problem
are being coordinated to incorporate the needs of local, state, and
Federal practitioners.  However, there remain many challenges, both
technical and cultural, facing the improvement of public safety
communications and interoperability.

Whether fighting a fire or responding to a terrorist attack, efficient
and effective emergency response requires coordination, communication,
and the sharing of vital information and equipment among numerous public
safety and security agencies.  As the National Strategy for the Physical
Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key Assets makes clear,
“systems supporting emergency response personnel, however, have been
specifically developed and implemented with respect to the unique needs
of each agency.  Such specification complicates interoperability,
thereby hindering the ability of various first responder organizations
to communicate and coordinate resources during crisis situations.”[1]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS or the Department) believes
this issue is so important that it has identified interoperability of
communications and equipment as the number two priority for the second
year strategic plan.  We seek to ensure the interoperability of critical
emergency response systems or products by making it possible for them to
work with other systems or products without special effort on the part
of the user.

The Department also has developed intradepartmental program offices to
address the needs identified by emergency response providers[2] and to
respond to the problems identified in the National Strategy for the
Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key Assets.  One of
these is a program office to significantly improve the coordination and
validation of the Department’s interoperability programs, thus allowing
firefighters, police officers and other emergency personnel to better
communicate and share equipment with each other during a major disaster.

Since its beginning, the Department has been involved with the issue of
wireless interoperability through project SAFECOM. As a public safety
practitioner driven program, SAFECOM, housed within the Department, has
been the Federal government’s central point to coordinate Federal
wireless investments and activities and partner with State, local, and
Tribal governments to improve the interoperability of our nation’s
wireless communications.

Secretary Ridge has now specifically tasked the Directorate of Science
and Technology (S&T) within DHS, in coordination with other DHS
programs, to lead the planning and implementation of an office of
interoperability that will address the larger issue of interoperability,
including wireless communications.  By coordinating and leveraging the
vast range of interoperability programs and related efforts spread
across the Federal government, this office, currently titled the “Office
of Interoperability and Compatibility” (OIC), will reduce unnecessary
duplication in programs and spending and ensure consistency across
federal activities related to research and development, testing and
evaluation (RDT&E), standards, technical assistance, training, and grant
funding related to interoperability.  This new program office will
encompass the SAFECOM office, which will continue as a key national
initiative, into the effort to address the larger issue of
interoperability.

Portfolio Areas

Within the OIC, we will create a series of portfolios to address
critical interoperability and compatibility issues related to the
emergency response provider and homeland security communities.  Initial
priority portfolio areas that the OIC will address, in coordination with
other Departmental offices, including the DHS Office for Domestic
Preparedness (ODP), include:
·         Communications (through the SAFECOM Program Office);
·         Equipment;
·         Training; and
·         Others as required.

To establish these portfolios, the OIC currently is identifying the
necessary stakeholders and will utilize these stakeholders to assess and
finalize the portfolio areas.  Through this process, the OIC will
identify the current initiatives as well as the most appropriate
short-term deliverables.

Office Implementation
The OIC is being modeled after the SAFECOM Program, which represents a
successful model for how to address highly sophisticated technical and
policy issues associated with public safety communications and
interoperability.  Leveraging the work that the SAFECOM Program has
already undertaken, the OIC will look to replicate relevant elements of
the SAFECOM process and to build on SAFECOM’s achievements in bolstering
public safety communications.

The new OIC will employ a systems engineering or lifecycle approach to
identifying, defining, and developing action plans in each portfolio
area.  This lifecycle approach is both iterative and collaborative.  It
emphasizes the need to create a common set of standards, policies, and
procedures that encourage backwards compatibility of new solutions which
will drive the migration of systems towards advanced, interoperable
equipment and processes in the future.  Common components of this
lifecycle approach include:

·        Validation of needs assessments (consistent with Homeland
Security Presidential Directive-8, which lays out the National
Preparedness Goal, as appropriate);

·        Development, with the user community, of a comprehensive
statement of requirements for each portfolio;

·        Completion of baselines to provide starting points for each
portfolio;

·        A robust research and development program for new capabilities;

·        A robust standards program to identify and adopt existing,
effective standards and to support the development of essential new
standards when none exist;

·        Testing and evaluation of existing technologies;

·        Development of common standards for training and technical
assistance;

·        Development of appropriate grants/funding guidance; and

·        Development of policy and legal reference materials or
recommendations relevant to each portfolio.

Within the OIC, we are following the successful SAFECOM model by
creating action plans for each of these areas, and for others identified
as the portfolios are developed.  Each of these action plans will be
developed through a collaborative process that brings together the
relevant stakeholders to provide clear direction on a path forward.  The
process to develop action plans will involve:

·        Assessment of the government agencies involved in each
portfolio;

·        Identification of the relevant stakeholders at the local,
state, and federal levels;

·        A stakeholder working session to define the issues, assess user
needs, and create a detailed vision of the
“end state” for each portfolio; and

·        A governance structure that ensures ongoing participation on
the part of key stakeholders at the local, State, and Federal levels.

Through this end-user input, the new OIC will produce a strategy and
action plan to address the interoperability and compatibility needs in
each of these portfolios.

The OIC structure should be an organizational reflection of the
lifecycle process it is designed to manage and support.  The main
purpose of the OIC will be to provide common standards of practice,
protocol, planning, and evaluation across the broadest spectrum of
interoperability activities and to facilitate the prioritization and
coordination of these efforts within the framework of a common,
nationwide vision.

The OIC will include a program management office responsible for
coordinating the various portfolio managers and their respective
management offices.  In addition, a cross-departmental coordinating
council or interagency interoperability policy board, chaired by the
Undersecretary for S&T, will be established to ensure that its efforts
are coordinated intra- and inter-departmentally.  This board will help
reduce duplication in programs and activities.

With respect to specific task, the new OIC has already, at the direction
of the Secretary of Homeland Security, undertaken a major initiative –
RapidComm 9/30 – to achieve near term, emergency, incident-level
interoperability in ten high threat urban areas by September 30, 2004.
Working with a wide range of Federal agencies, including the ODP, the
Justice Department, and the National Guard, we have begun working with
all ten urban areas to identify what it is in place, what is available,
and what is still needed to provide interoperability to support a major
incident.

Players: Owners, Partners, and Stakeholders

Those with a vested interest in the OIC are the people, agencies, and
organizations that will directly benefit from enhanced interoperability
of equipment and processes.  Creating interoperability requires
coordination and partnerships among office managers, partners, and
stakeholders.  Secretary Ridge has directed that S&T will be the
manager—or owner—of this office, and it will be essential for the office
to establish partnerships with all relevant offices and agencies in
order to effectively coordinate like-topic activities.  These partners
will be instrumental in ensuring that our programs address all possible
issues, ranging from grants for equipment procurement to regulatory
policy creation.  These partners and additional relevant stakeholders
include representatives from the following communities:

·        Emergency response providers represented by their national
associations;

·        Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies

a.       Operational programs and offices

b.      Research & development offices

c.       Test & evaluation programs

d.      Technical assistance providers

e.       Grant programs;

·        Standards Development Organizations; and

·        Industry

Principles for Achieving Interoperability

In order for the OIC to effectively coordinate and validate the
Department’s interoperability programs, it will need to employ a common
set of standards, policies, and procedures.  This will require that the
program employ a user driven approach and recognize the substantial
investments that public safety and homeland security agencies have
already made in existing equipment and procedures.  Additionally, this
office must recognize the challenges associated with incorporating
legacy equipment and practices in the face of constantly changing
technology.  Driving principles behind the management of this office
include:

1.      Recognizing that it must be a user driven program - Emergency
response providers and homeland security practitioners – who own,
operate and maintain more than 90% of the nation’s wireless public
safety infrastructure – will be integrated into the program from its
beginning, thereby allowing the program to create solutions that meet
their needs.  The public safety community will be involved primarily
through associations.  There are two reasons for this approach:

(1) the associations represent the leadership of their respective
constituencies; and (2) as the National Task Force on Interoperability
(NTFI) has demonstrated, the associations are an excellent way to reach
out to these communities.

2.      Extensive leveraging of what exists - Cooperation and
coordination with existing programs reduces unnecessary duplication of
effort and increases efficient use of Federal resources dedicated to
common causes.  In addition, the investments that many public safety
agencies have already made must be maximized.

3.      A standards-based approach - Standards maximize competition
across industry, encourage technology innovation, create an overall cost
savings, and increase compatibility among public safety and homeland
security agencies.

4.      Compliance with key policy documents and initiatives –
Compliance with the National Incident Management System, the National
Response Plan, and relevant Homeland Security Presidential Directives
will provide a consistent nationwide approach for agencies at all levels
of government to work effectively and efficiently together to prepare
for, prevent, respond to, and recover from major incidents.

5.      An effective outreach program - Outreach efforts will emphasize
the need for interoperability, and tools for its implementation, to
practitioners and policy makers at all levels of government, and the
public safety community.

Portfolio Example:  Communications Interoperability

As a public safety practitioner driven program, and as part of OIC,
SAFECOM is working with existing Federal communications initiatives and
key public safety stakeholders to address the need to develop better
technologies and processes for the cross-jurisdictional and
cross-disciplinary coordination of existing systems and future
networks.  SAFECOM has three objectives:  (1) developing standards in
partnership with Federal, State, local, and tribal public safety
organizations to define the requirements for first responder
interoperability at all levels; (2) building from those standards,
developing a national architecture in coordination with the work under
the National Response Plan to assist in the progression towards wireless
interoperability; and (3) developing and implementing a process to
coordinate the Federal government’s wireless interoperability
investments and programs.  The customer base includes over 50,000 local
and State public safety agencies and organizations.  Federal customers
include over 100 agencies engaged in public safety disciplines such as
law enforcement, firefighting, public health, and disaster recovery.
Because it is a government-wide E-Gov initiative, SAFECOM is not a part
of the S&T’s FY 2005 budget request.  Rather, SAFECOM is currently
funded by multiple partner agencies that transfer funds to DHS.

SAFECOM Achievements To Date

Over the last year, SAFECOM has made significant progress in both
achieving its short-term goals and building the foundation for a longer
term, comprehensive program.  It has established itself as the umbrella
program within the Federal government coordinating with local, tribal,
State, and Federal public safety agencies to improve public safety
communication and interoperability.

Coordinated Funding Assistance - In FY 2003, SAFECOM developed grant
guidance in keeping with the needs of public safety for use by Federal
programs funding public safety communications equipment to State and
local agencies.  Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and ODP incorporated this guidance
into their public safety communications grants.  This guidance marked
the first coordinated approach to funding requirements.  In further
support of the coordinated grant process, SAFECOM organized and funded
the peer review process for the joint grant solicitation from COPS and
FEMA.  SAFECOM also supported the Department of Commerce National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Summit on Interoperability
that was the first step towards identifying all the Federal and national
programs involved in public safety communications so that a broader
coordination effort can continue.
Statement of Requirements Development - SAFECOM recently developed the
Statement of Requirements (SoR) for Wireless Public Safety
Communications and Interoperability in coordination with the National
Public Safety Telecommunications Council, NIST, and the Department of
Justice’s AGILE Program.  The SoR contains interoperability scenarios
describing how SAFECOM envisions technology enhancing public safety.
From these scenarios, operational requirements are defined and
functional requirements of the technologies are extrapolated.  The
requirements identified in the SoR will drive the development and
creation of interface standards that will satisfy public safety
practitioner needs.  The SoR will also offer industry a resource for
understanding the users' needs in the development of new technologies
and serve as a guide for SAFECOM to develop its research development,
test, and evaluation program and constitutes the first national
definition of what interoperability must accomplish.

SAFECOM is on track to achieve these critical milestones in 2004:

June: SAFECOM Strategic Plan Update

·        SAFECOM will conduct a strategic planning session at the
Executive and Advisory (EC/AC) Committee Meetings in June.  The EC and
AC are comprised of senior level stakeholders from the local, State, and
Federal public safety communications communities.  At this time,
strategic initiatives developed at the December Joint Planning Meeting
will be reviewed, and new objectives will be developed for the short and
long term goals of the program.  Afterwards, SAFECOM will produce and
distribute a modified strategic plan based off the stakeholder comments
presented at these meetings.

July: Detailed Interoperability Project Plan for
Virginia

·        SAFECOM will develop a detailed project plan using the result
of the strategic planning session and the project team’s technical
expertise.  This project plan will include tasks that need to be
accomplished by the Commonwealth along with realistic timeframes for
completion.  Like the Virginia Strategic Planning Session, this plan
will serve as a model for other
States as they work towards achieving communications interoperability
for public safety first responders.

August: Interoperability Grant Peer Review

·        SAFECOM will facilitate interoperability grant peer review
sessions enabling public safety communications subject matter experts to
evaluate and comment upon grant applications for FY 2004 COPS and FEMA
communications equipment grants.  These reviewers will ensure that
grants will be distributed only for projects that meet SAFECOM developed
interoperability requirements.

September: RapidCom9/30 Completed

·        SAFECOM is undertaking an initiative to ensure a minimum level
of public safety interoperability is in place in ten key urban areas by
September 30, 2004.  The RapidCom9/30 project will provide incident
commanders in charge of managing/directing various responding agencies
the ability to adequately communicate with each other and the respective
command center within one hour of an incident.  Due to this effort’s
limited scalability, it is not meant to serve as comprehensive public
safety communications solutions, but as an interim solution that
provides minimum interoperability capability during emergency responses.

September: Narrowbanding Report Released

·        SAFECOM will release a report detailing the program’s
recommendations on spectrum policy in regard to narrowbanding in the 700
MHz band.  As recent events in the 800 MHz band have shown, coordinated
spectrum policy is important for public safety communications, and
SAFECOM’s input to any plan in the 700 MHz band will allow for more
efficient spectrum use when allocated frequencies become available in
the next decade.

September: National Guard Study Released

·        SAFECOM will release a report outlining how National Guard Land
Mobile Radio (LMR) resources can be incorporated into the plan to
achieve nationwide interoperability.  It will also identify how local
public safety organizations can leverage National Guard assets.  The
National Guard already has a great deal of investment in LMR facilities,
and this report will help local and State public safety organizations
utilize resources that may already be present in their communities.

October: Communication Device Report Released

·        SAFECOM will release a report detailing the findings of its
testing and evaluation program.  The first report will focus on the
performance of public safety communications equipment with the P25 Phase
I standard.  This report is the first step in developing a comprehensive
national architecture plan for communications interoperability.

November: Portal for Interoperability Information
goes live

·        The Web Portal of Interoperability Information will be the
“One-Stop-Shop” for information pertaining to public safety
communications interoperability.  As a portal, it will be an interactive
community space, allowing registered users to research potential
solutions as well as share their thoughts on existing technologies.
Version 1.0 of this portal, which will be released in November, is the
first attempt to provide first responders with a central repository of
critical information pertaining to communications interoperability.

December: National Interoperability Baseline

Methodology Released

·        SAFECOM will release a methodology detailing how a baseline of
the level of interoperability nationwide can be established.  The
baseline is required in order to understand the current level of
interoperability at the local and State levels and will be used to
measure the success of the SAFECOM Program in achieving national
communications interoperability for first responders in the coming
years.

Conclusion
Our nation is heavily invested in an existing infrastructure that is
largely incompatible. As I stated earlier, current efforts within the
Federal government to address the interoperability problem are being
coordinated to incorporate the needs of local, State, and Federal
practitioners.  We must continue to pursue the current comprehensive
strategy that takes into account technical and cultural issues
associated with improving communications and interoperability, and
recognizes the challenges associated with incorporating legacy equipment
and practices given the constantly changing nature of technology.

The many obstacles facing public safety interoperability and
compatibility make for complex problems with no one-size-fits-all
solution.  Flexible and dynamic resolutions are necessary to combat the
unique challenges presented by distinct localities and States.  The new
OIC, with its partners, will work towards a world where lives and
property are never lost unnecessarily because public safety agencies are
unable to communicate or lack compatible equipment and training
resources.

[1] “National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical
Infrastructures and Key Assets,” The White House, February 2003, page
43.

[2] As defined in the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Section 2(6), “The
term ‘emergency response providers’ includes Federal, State, and local
emergency public safety, law enforcement, emergency response, emergency
medical (including hospital emergency facilities), and related
personnel, agencies, and authorities.” 6 U.S.C. 101(6)

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