National Broadband Plan - Public safety elements introduction

Hello I’m Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC’s Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau. I would like to take a few moments to introduce the Public Safety Elements of the National Broadband Plan then other Bureau staff members will describe specific portions of the plan in more detail. Safety and security are vital to America’s prosperity, Broadband can help public safety personnel to prevent emergencies and respond swiftly when they occur. But the United States does not realize the potential of broadband to enhance public safety. Today first responders in some jurisdictions and agencies can not communicate during emergencies. Emergency 911 systems still operate on a circuit switched networks. Similarly, federal, tribal, state and local governments use outdated alerting system to inform the public safety during emergencies. The United States also faces threats to the resiliency and cyber security of its networks. As the world moves online, America’s digital boarders are not nearly as secure as its physical borders. The country can do better than what we have now. In a broadband world there’s a unique opportunity to achieve comprehensive vision for enhancing the safety and security of the American people. Here’s the vision of what America needs for broadband for public safety. To allow first responders anywhere in the nation to send and receive critical voice, video and data to save lives, reduce injuries and prevent acts of crime and terror. To ensure all Americans can access emergency services quickly and send and receive vital information regardless of how it is transmitted. To revolutionize the way Americans are notified about emergencies and disasters so they can receive information vital to their safety. To reduce threats to e-commerce and other internet based applications by ensuring the security of the nations broadband networks. The hallmark of the Public Safety Plan is a truly nationwide, truly interoperable, public safety broadband network, and the plan we have developed came after months of meeting with public safety officials, industry innovators and subject matter experts. The public safety broadband network will provide the capacity and performance that the public safety needs now and for the future through a groundbreaking concept of roaming and priority access. This concept will add resiliency and redundancy. As we mentioned in the plan, public funding is essential to make sure the network is built; it is built as the commercial networks are built but if the funding doesn’t come soon we will miss the chance in a technological lifetime to solve the problems of interoperability we saw in 9/11. Broadband can also make 9-1-1 and emergency alerting systems more capable, allowing for better protection of lives and property. For example with broadband 9-1-1 call centers also known as Public Safety Answering Points or PSAPs could receive text, pictures and videos from the public and relay them to first responders. Similarly, the government could use broadband networks to disseminate vital information to the public during emergencies in multiple formats and languages. Finally, well structured and well protected broadband networks could reduce threats to internet based applications. The proliferations of internet protocol or IP based communications requires stronger cyber security. Disasters and pandemics can lead to sudden disruptions of normal IP traffic flows, as a result broadband communications networks must be held to high standards of reliability, resiliency and security. This is the vision of what broadband can do for first responders and our heroes in the public safety community; bringing more safety and faster response to our families, loved ones and our nation.