Homeland Security: Federal Leadership and Intergovernmental Cooperation Required to Achieve First Responder Interoperable Communications Page: 4 of 30
This text is part of the collection entitled: Government Accountability Office Reports and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
the assessment of interoperable problems and the development of
comprehensive plans to address those problems.
In doing our work, we met with federal, state, and local officials, obtained
and reviewed appropriate documentation, attended several meetings of
public safety communications officials, and met with staff of the National
Governors Association. We conducted our work from July 2003 through
June 2004 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards.Summary * The fundamental barrier to effectively addressing wireless interoperability
problems for public safety has been the lack of effective, collaborative,
interdisciplinary, and intergovernmental cooperation and planning.
Defining the Problem: * Interoperable communications needs are a function of effective incident
Assessing Current command planning and operations structure that defines, for different
Capabilities circumstances and types of events, who is in charge and what types of
information-voice, data, or both-would need to be communicated to
whom under what circumstances.
* The current wireless interoperable communications capabilities of first
responders nationwide has not been determined. To assess these
capabilities a set of requirements is needed that can be used to assess
"what is" compared to "what should be." The Office of Management and
Budget has designated SAFECOM, within the Department of Homeland
Security, as the focal point for coordinating federal efforts to improve
interoperable communications. In April 2004, SAFECOM issued a
document designed to serve as a set of baseline requirements and is
working to develop a baseline of current capabilities by July 2005. This is a
difficult task, and the details of SAFECOM's baseline study are still being
worked out.
Federal TLeadershi and * Th federal state nd lnnocal governmnts nll have imnnrtant roles inIntergovernmental
Cooperation Is Neededassessing interoperability needs, identifying gaps in meeting those needs,
and developing comprehensive plans for closing those gaps.GAO-04-963T
Page 2
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This text can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Text.
United States. Government Accountability Office. Homeland Security: Federal Leadership and Intergovernmental Cooperation Required to Achieve First Responder Interoperable Communications, text, July 20, 2004; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc292049/m1/4/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.