[FedCom] NEST Article

[fedcom@mailman.qth.net]

I would venture to guess NEST has a combination of common (NexTel, Cellphones, etc), Nationwide Federal (Piggyback on FEMA or other systems) and Portable Communications (Go Boxes w/each team, etc). So no matter how serious the threat/reality is of a Nuclear Incident, they can communicate. 

Team members are probably made up of various agencies that operate much like alot of federal response agencies. Get the initial people on scene for assesment, info. & recon. Then as the whole team arrives develop & execute the plan. They conceivably work for all sorts of government agencies & the private sector (I.e. employees of Nuke Plants, FBI agnets, etc). This would allow them to have people close without sitting a guy in an office waiting for something to happen like a security guard. National Guard troops trained in this stuff might even be part of this team. 

While I am an advocate of open communications among our government officials and feel all this new "Encryption" crap on all government levels is B.S. & show they have something to hide. I have to admit this is one of a few cases where encryption is honestly needed for two reasons. As mentioned, the terrorists might get tipped off, move the device & the NEST has to start over (although Ive heard of almost "NO" terrorist with a scanner!!!). Secondly, depending on the severity of the incidnet, the Panic/Mob effect if the public knew that these guys were in your neighborhood looking for the "Really Bad Crap" could hinder the operation. Cause more injuries/confusion in the area. And most likely tip off the terrorists anyway that somethings up (more so than the first reason). Imagine if the people in Times Square at Noon figured out there a NEST team on the frantic search for a Dirty Bomb in the area?  

Another thing that sets these guys apart from recent developments is that these guys come in low, stealthy & quietly into the public, do their jobs & get out. No politicians threatening my freedoms & liberties. Would I like to know if I was sitting on a nuclear device? Hell Yes! But I'd probably be killed by the mob anyway running away from it. For all any of us know, it's already happened. Like the fire service, we can't keep statistics on what "Prevention" did in saving lives. And sometimes ignorance really is bliss.

John Marcel/K1FDD
Concord, NH Fire Dispatch.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, 1759