[FedCom] DHS Spent $430 Million on Radios Its Employees Don’t Know How to Use

[Roger Strohmeyer]

So the Thales radios have nothing to do with nothing and they use only
Motorola?

On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 10:34 AM, tvsjr <tvsjr at tvsjr.com> wrote:

> Treasury common, now DHS common, if I had to guess.
>
> What radios? Predominantly Moto - mobiles with W3 and O3 handheld control
> heads, XTS5000, APX.
>
>
>
> -------- Original message --------
> From: bernieS <bernies at netaxs.com>
> Date:
> To: Fedcom <fedcom at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: [FedCom] DHS Spent $430 Million on Radios Its Employees Don’t
> Know How to Use
>
> What is this "common secure channel" referenced
> in this article?  What radio models does DHS use?
>
> -bernieS
>
>
>
> http://www.ticklethewire.com/2012/11/23/homeland-security-has-spent-430-million-on-radios-its-employees-don%E2%80%99t-know-how-to-use/
>
> Homeland Security Has Spent $430 Million on
> Radios Its Employees Don’t Know How to Use
> By Theodoric Meyer ProPublica
>
> Getting the agencies responsible for national
> security to communicate better was one of the
> main reasons the Department of Homeland Security
> was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
>
> But according to a recent report from the
> department’s inspector general, one aspect of
> this mission remains far from accomplished.
>
> DHS has spent $430 million over the past nine
> years to provide radios tuned to a common, secure
> channel to 123,000 employees across the country.
> Problem is, no one seems to know how to use them.
>
> Only one of 479 DHS employees surveyed by the
> inspector general’s office was actually able to
> use the common channel, according to the report.
> Most of those surveyed ­ 72 percent ­ didn’t even
> know the common channel existed. Another 25
> percent knew the channel existed but weren’t able
> to find it; 3 percent were able to find an older
> common channel, but not the current one.
>
> The investigators also found that more than half
> of the radios did not have the settings for the
> common channel programmed into them. Only 20
> percent of radios tested had all the correct settings.
>
> The radios are supposed to help employees of
> Customs and Border Patrol, the Transportation
> Security Administration, the Coast Guard,
> Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal
> Emergency Management Agency, the Secret Service,
> and other agencies with DHS communicate during
> crises, as well as normal operations.
>
> DHS officials did not immediately respond to
> questions from ProPublica about what effect the
> radio problems could have on how the agency handles an emergency.
>
> The $430 million paid for radio infrastructure
> and maintenance as well as the actual radios.
>
> In a response letter to the report, Jim H.
> Crumpacker, the Department of Homeland Security’s
> liaison between the Government Accountability
> Office and the inspector general, wrote that DHS
> had made “significant strides” in improving
> emergency communications since 2003. But he
> acknowledged that DHS “has had some challenges in
> achieving Department-wide interoperable communications goals.”
>
> The recent inspector general’s report is the
> latest in a string of critical assessments DHS
> has received on its efforts to improve
> communication between federal, state and local
> agencies. The Government Accountability Office
> reported in 2007 that the Department of Homeland
> Security had “generally not achieved” this goal.
>
> DHS has assigned a blizzard of offices and
> committees to oversee its radio effort since
> 2003, which the inspector general’s report
> claimed had “hindered DHS’ ability to provide effective oversight.”
>
> Also, none of the entities “had the authority to
> implement and enforce their recommendations,” the
> report concluded. Tanya Callender, a spokeswoman
> for the inspector general, said the current
> office overseeing the effort hadn’t been given
> the authority to force agencies to use the common
> channel or even to provide instructions for programming the radios.
>
> The inspector general recommended DHS standardize
> its policies regarding radios, which DHS agreed
> to do. But it rejected a second recommendation
> that it overhaul the office overseeing the radios to give it more
> authority.
>
> “DHS believes that it has already established a
> structure with the necessary authority to ensure”
> that its various agencies can communicate,
> Crumpacker wrote in his response letter.
>
> ProPublica is a non-profit investigative journalism website.
>
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