[FedCom] Re: Heard in Portland Area 10/10/06

[Chris Parris]

> Great info. Can you elaborate on the Justice Integrated Wireless
> Network trunked system?

Hi, Blaine,

Sorry I was not able to get back to your question sooner, but I've been
trapped with travel and work...

The Justice IWN in Washington state was set up for testing and proof of
concept work. It's started as a 15-site trunked system all on VHF, seemingly
on frequencies that had previously in the FBI /Justice pool. I noted
recently that they have added at least 3 more sites near Seattle and they
are planning on continuing the system in Oregon state along the I-5
corridor. They awarded the contract to build this system to General Dynamics
and Lockheed Martin back in June;

http://www.fcw.com/article94845-06-09-06-Web

> Is this trunked network something that can be expected
> nationwide in the future?

Yes, as described on the Justice Department's site for this project, they
hope to make this a nationwide system, although I'm not sure of the actual
planned coverage;

http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/iwn/index.html

Unfortuantely, the site has not been updated in quite a while. The project
is being reviewed to see how it fits with the Border Security initiative
(formerly know as American Shield Initiative). The Treasury Department also
had plans for a national IWN, but they have joined forces with the Justice
Department on their project, so I would not be surprised of the system turns
out to be used by both agencies.

I did some on the IWN project in the Fed Files columns as well as some on
the Fed Files blog, and will be doing some updates soon...

- Chris

 --
Chris Parris
Fed Files Columnist
Monitoring Times Magazine
chrisparris at monitoringtimes.com
Fed Files Blog - http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com/