Debate Rages Over Public Safety Network

As the nation approaches the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, debate continues to rage over the design of a cutting-edge communications network for first responders that's urgently needed before the next tragedy. That fateful day exposed dangerous lapses in the ability of first responders to communicate across agencies and jurisdictions in a crisis -- glitches that have not been fully corrected nearly a decade later.

"The inability to communicate was a critical element at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Somerset County, Pennsylvania crash sites, where multiple agencies and multiple jurisdictions responded," the 9/11 Commission warned in its report -- six years ago. "Nine years after the terror attacks of 9/11, the safety of our first responders continues to be jeopardized by a fragmented allocation of communications spectrum," House Homeland Security ranking member Peter King (R-NY) emphasized. Rep King has introduced legislation with 68 co-sponsors that would set aside an additional 10 megahertz of spectrum known as the "D-block" for the planned network, doubling its capacity.