Lawmakers renew push for public safety network

A report released Wednesday on the status of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations has prompted renewed calls from lawmakers to build a nationwide broadband network for first responders.

“The inability of first responders to communicate with each other on demand was a critical failure on 9/11,” the lawmakers found in their report. “Incompatible and inadequate communications led to needless loss of life.”

 The report, prepared by many of the same authors who compiled the original 9/11 Commission Report, recommended that Congress allocate the “D-block” of spectrum to create an interoperable public safety network.

“Because we don’t know when the next attack or disaster will strike, we urge the Congress to act swiftly,” the lawmakers wrote.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, has tried to win passage of a bill to create a public safety network in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. His committee approved the measure in June, but it has not yet come up for a vote in the full Senate.

“The report is a wake-up call for everyone reflecting on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks,” Rockefeller said Wednesday in a news release. “Implementing a national, interoperable radio system for our first responders is within our grasp. It will save lives all across the country, and we owe it to first responders to get it done.”

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) has introduced a similar bill in the House to allocate the D-block for public safety. 

“I was heartened to see the Commissioners repeat their support for immediate reallocation of the D-block for public safety for the construction of a nationwide, interoperable broadband network for use by America’s first responders,” King said Thursday. “I urge the House to take up my legislation, H.R. 607, as soon as possible so that we can provide our nation’s first responders with the tools they require to fulfill their mission.”

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