The Wolf at the Door

[Commentary] Hurricane Katrina left no doubt that our nation’s leaders have failed to prepare for the worst. There is nothing new about the need to establish communications systems that can still operate in the case of a flood, or high winds, or a terrorist attack. There is nothing new about the need to establish a reliable means of communication among local and federal emergency responders. After Katrina swept through, after the levees broke, millions were left without a communication system, without a lifeline they had come to take for granted. Newspapers, television and radio broadcasts were not available. Basic telephone service, cell phone service and Internet service went down after generators, designed to power the phone lines, ran out of fuel or were flooded. At a minimum we need advanced communications networks with more emergency power systems at secure locations. Spectrum must be set aside for emergency responders’ satellite technologies. With lives at stake, with more hurricanes on the way, with the wolf at the door, we cannot leave our protection up to the whim of markets. There should be no confusion about this: The devastation to the Gulf Coast and to New Orleans was anticipated. The problems with our basic national communications infrastructure were exposed on 9/11. The call for a more intelligent use of the electromagnetic spectrum has gone unheeded by this administration and by this Congress for too long. We need communications policies established in the public interest, not in the interest of the highest bidder. Will we go back to taking communications for granted? “We always discover the same thing," said Reed Hundt, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. "We need a national emergency communications network and we don't have one."
[SOURCE: Center for American Progress, AUTHOR: Mark Lloyd]