Inter-Agency Communication a Problem
by John J. Monahan, Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette
More than a year after emergency responses at the World Trade Center were tragically complicated by mismatched radio systems, Massachusetts and many other states have yet to overcome such inter-agency communication problems.
Boston has a new surveillance system to monitor emergency rooms and primary care centers for symptoms of illness from biological agents. Experts believe that type of system will provide vital early detection in case of biological attack, but it is still years from being set up to cover other parts of the state.
Similarly, the program to create an open exchange of intelligence on terrorist threats and to report suspicious activity, between local police and the FBI-led state and federal AntiTerrorism Task Force, remains partially implemented, and faces problems from a lack of money for training.
That picture of a work in progress was apparent last week as state and federal antiterrorism officials outlined efforts in Massachusetts to improve the state’s ability to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks.
They met for the Northeast Regional Emergency Management Conference at the Worcester Centrum Centre. More than 900 emergency response officials from around the Northeast attended.
By all accounts, the state has advanced rapidly from the days when terrorism was primarily a foreign concern, and worries about biological attack and terrorist bombs were the subject of theoretical planning. But officials said technical, funding and training problems still affect efforts to protect the state from possible terrorist attacks in the future.
Stephen J. McGrail, director of the state Emergency Management Agency, reported yesterday that the state has taken a major step to overcome the lack of “interoperability” in communication systems, that experts said hampered coordinated rescue and evacuation efforts at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
Using $1.4 million in federal Justice Department grants, he said, 350 new radios have been delivered to emergency response coordinators around the state that will allow interagency radio communications during terrorism or disaster responses.
In case of an emergency, officials said, response commanders at the scene will be able to communicate directly with state police, national guard and federal and state emergency agencies using the new radio system that is linked to the Massachusetts State Police communications network and federal public safety frequencies.
Four sets of special radios for use in that system will be kept by police and fire emergency coordinators in each county. In addition large cities such as Worcester will use a new base station and transmitter link to the system.
But the radio communications problem remains far from solved, Mr. McGrail said. While Worcester police, fire, DPW, and ambulance systems now operate on a shared 800 megahertz radio system and can share communications on the local system, most cities and towns have separate systems for each emergency service and cannot fully use the new statewide emergency response radio system.
“It is just obviously the start of solving a real problem that we face,” Mr. McGrail said of the new radio linkage. “We’ve made some great strides. We are way ahead of where we were. But we still have a way to go.
“There are both technical problems and cost problems,” standing in the way of universal radio systems that can link local, state and federal emergency response agencies, he said.
“There are some complications with the width of the band out there and there is interference with cellphones and pagers. It’s a huge problem. This is a building block,” he said of the new statewide system put in place this week.
Meanwhile, the ambitious Statewide AntiTerrorism Unified Response Network, also known as SATURN, started this year, will require more police training, emergency drills, local planning and funding to become fully effective. But it could establish one of the most comprehensive homeland security operations in the country, officials maintain.
But even as state Public Safety Secretary James P. Jajuga, who led formation of the plan to link police, fire, and emergency services with state and federal antiterror operations explained the program yesterday, some wondered whether SATURN would survive intact, if he is replaced in that post by Gov.-elect Mitt Romney in January.
Richard S. Swenson, director of commonwealth security, a post formed after 9-11 to coordinate state antiterror efforts, said beyond completing ongoing efforts, more is needed to secure the state.
“There are a number of things we are still working on. We need to do more with cyberterrorism and we have to do more to prioritize our infrastructure,” he said. That effort would set priorities over which facilities would get priority security protection when terror-threat levels are elevated and manpower and resources are limited.
Worcester police lieutenant and Civil Defense Coordinator William A. Trotta said that, while the improvements in the radio system are not a total solution to the interoperability problem, they will significantly improve communication abilities for emergency incident commanders.
“It’s the first time that I have linkage with the state police. Now the state is providing me with the actual base station and permission to talk over that radio,” he said. “It’s light years from where we were yesterday.”
With the city departments already linked on the city system, he said, the state and federal radio links will allow communications to be relayed through the city command center to all city emergency personnel, or from city personnel to state and federal agencies.
He said the problem that arose at the World Trade Center on 9-11 cost lives. “The New York Police and Fire have their own radio systems. They didn’t have a unified command system. When the helicopter gave the alert to police to evacuate, there was a breakdown,” he said.
With the improved state radio system, he said, suburban towns, even without universal local emergency communications systems, will at least have direct radio links with the state and federal system by using the portable phones issued this week.
The problems, he said, have built up over many years with cities and towns buying different systems without regard to interoperability with other emergency services, neighboring communities or state and federal communications links.
“There was no true coordination over the years. This is the beginning of getting statewide interoperability for the very first time,” Lt. Trotta said.