Report Urges Congress To Act On Public Safety Network

A report detailing the unfinished recommendations from the commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks called on Congress to act swiftly to finally build a national broadband public safety network aimed at improving communications for emergency first responders.

In a report card on the steps the United States has taken to respond to those attacks, the Bipartisan Policy Center listed the failure to address the communications problems among the nine items that remain unfinished 10 years after the 2001 terrorist attacks. "The inability of first responders to communicate with each other on demand was a critical failure on 9/11," reads the report, crafted with help from the co-chairmen of the federal commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, former-Gov Tom Kean (R-NJ) and former Rep-Lee Hamilton (D-IN). "Incompatible and inadequate communications led to needless loss of life. To remedy this failure, the commission recommended legislation to provide for the expedited and increased assignment of radio spectrum for public safety purposes. To date, this recommendation continues to languish." It said the biggest obstacle at this point is a political battle in Congress over whether to give spectrum known as the D-block to public safety officials or stick with current law, which requires that the D-block be auctioned off to commercial bidders.