Boots on the Ground
I spent a short period of time in the Slidell and Baton Rouge Louisiana area about 5 weeks after Hurricane Katrina came through that area. Doing this gave me the opportunity to objectively observe the recovery efforts that were in progress but more importantly to talk to groups and individuals that have been in the affected area since the day after and are implementing the ongoing recovery effort. While I was on the ground conducting my observations and interviews I found myself forming a T2C3 operational concept for First Responders and Disaster Recovery. When you are on the ground and in the middle of critical ongoing operations taking place all around it is very easy to develop “tunnel vision” and only see what is directly in front of you. While on the ground and developing some concepts I thought would be very important to implement, I was only focused on the current effort and had the impression I was coming up with some great new ideas to improve our operational concepts for this type of effort. What I soon figured out when I started putting all of my thoughts on paper was that I had only reinforced the original T2C3 concept. Yes, I was able to focus on a few things a bit closer but overall when I sat back and looked at the big picture, all I was really doing was restating the T2C3 concept.
The first big revelation I had while I was in Slidell, LA is that any solution for First Responders and Disaster Recovery efforts must be broken down into three distinct planning and capability phases. All three phases are critical to the recovery effort and each phase has its own focus and distinct duration for planning and equipment requirements. I found myself developing equipment packages to support each of these phases and found that the equipment requirements changed or transitioned dramatically for each. Simply stated:
Phase One is the initial response, rescue and recovery effort. This is the “Mad Dash”, the most time critical part of the entire response effort. The primary focus is to save lives and reduce suffering and prevent further damage from the effects of the disaster. Experience with several past events shows us that this phase lasts between 1 and 2 weeks as an average. Time and again, the personnel I spoke with on the ground indicated that they had no effective means of communications during this phase. The storm quite literally washed away all of the local and regional infrastructure and equipment. It also destroyed the entire power distribution infrastructure so that any equipment that did survive the storm and flooding or was brought in by many of the First Responders was quite useless due to lack of power. In the aftermath we found that most of the cellular towers and infrastructure was still intact but there was no way to provide power for operation. Direct, reliable voice communications was the unanimous answer to my question “What communications capability did you need during those first few days?” After digesting all the responses and information I had picked up I came back full circle to where I have always been. The two most critical issues we face on the ground are power and communications. T2C3 addresses both of these critical issues with functional and scaleable solutions that will support First Response operations and scale up for all phases of a response effort.
Phase Two is an intermediate phase. There are ongoing First Response efforts but the focus is shifting from being a race to save lives and property into a Relief and Recovery operation. We find that this phase lasts from 4 to 6 weeks on average. What I found during this phase was that the requirement for voice communications is still critical but now there are growing data communications requirements as well. During this phase some of the local infrastructure is becoming available bit by bit. While not completely reliable yet, the cellular networks are beginning to come back on line as emergency generators are put in place to provide power for critical sites and equipment. Crews are working around the clock to get power restored and lines of communications are being restored. Roads are being cleared; more personnel, supplies and equipment are arriving at a staggering pace. The communications capabilities and level of coordination required to manage and support this massive operation is also growing at an exponential rate. While improving the overall situation, this also places additional burdens on the available power and communications infrastructure. Voice communications is still critical but now there are more options and satellite is not the only means available all the time or in all areas. This is where redundant communications paths and capabilities along with interoperability become increasingly important. Again, with the T2C3 concept these capabilities are inherent in any system or subsystem.
Phase Three is the final phase and is of an indefinite duration. This part of the effort can continue for months and possibly years to complete the recovery effort. It is this phase that supports the final recovery and cleanup to bring displaced personnel back into the area so they can pick up the pieces of their lives and get back to some level of normalcy. Now agencies are working to rebuild facilities, infrastructure and homes. Communications and power have been restored and are available to all critical areas and facilities. Each day that passes brings more improvements in the overall situation. With every improvement in existing capabilities and development of new capabilities come increasing interoperability issues.
The second big revelation was that in this and many other horrific disasters, the one single hindrance to effective rescue and response is the time lag between the “boots on the ground” and the decision makers. This “lag time” or disconnect between the personnel on the ground and the decision makers is caused by a lack of interoperable communications capability. As with the Katrina effort, the decision makers were getting their information from CNN or FOX News and not from their personnel or agents on the ground. Without sufficient, timely and accurate intelligence and direct coordination with response personnel, the decision makers cannot hope to provide effective, timely, efficient and coordinated support for the response effort. Again, the answer I most heard was “we need direct, reliable voice communications”. I believe more than ever that a well planned response requires a well planned, versatile communications platform like T2C3.
I think the third and last big thing I discovered during this little jaunt to the Gulf coast area was more of a shock to me than anything else I saw or learned. The number of agencies both governmental and non-governmental alike that had sent personnel and equipment into the area to assist with the rescue and recovery efforts without communications capabilities and equipment with the intent to purchase what was needed later. Many organizations planned to get an initial assessment from their response teams and then purchase the equipment they required to conduct operations. This was to save money. The idea was to only purchase what was absolutely necessary for this operation. The basis of this thought process was that if an organization had developed and purchased equipment for this type of operation say 1 year ago that the equipment would be “old and outdated” by now and that they would not be able to support it. When I pressed for more detail I found that it was things like expendables that really drove the decision. The way it was put to me was “if we bought 10 printers a year ago we might not be able to get printer cartridges for them”. What they very quickly found was that the teams on the ground could not communicate that initial assessment back to them and then if and when the “decision makers” did get the requirements and attempted to purchase the equipment they found that most of what they needed had, at the very least, a 4 to 6 week delivery time. Any stock or inventory that had existed prior to Katrina had been, quite literally, snatched up by other organizations in the same situation. Now these organizations had responsibilities, personnel and equipment in a storm and flood devastated area with no means of communications or way to support them. These agencies were left to “scrounge” what equipment and capabilities they could find still available, purchase what they could and then ship it to their response personnel and hope it would work or that they could do something with it to make it work. In the end, these organizations spent 6 to 10 times what was necessary and still had no reliable, interoperable communications capabilities. They are the proud owners of a mountain of disparate COTS equipment that does not meet their requirements for this or the next disaster they will have to respond to.
My frustration is in the knowledge that there is a scaleable, cost effective solution available and it is not being utilized...