National Communications System Briefing Template

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• Hurricane Isabel
• Government-Industry Partnership in
• Planning, Response and recovery
• CAPT J. Katharine Burton, USN
• Assistant Deputy Manager, NCS
• burton2k_at_ncs.gov
• [phone]

National Communications System Briefing Template
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NCC Telecom-ISAC Role Hurricane Isabel

• Advance hurricane path information assisted both
  Government and Industry preparation actions
• Review preparation checklists
• Confirm emergency operations staffing
  availability
• Confirm Industry and Government contact
  information
• Establish reporting procedures (changed during
  event due to FEMA and DHS HSOC schedules)
• Industry prepositioned assets (e.g., teams,
  generators, alternate fuel supplies) and
  re-routed traffic around impacted areas
• Response coordination followed NCC Telecom-ISAC
  model for Government-industry cooperative effort
• NCC Telecom-ISAC industry reps provided status
  updates / requests to NCC Operations Center
• NCS Emergency Operations Team and Watch at NCC
  coordinated Government and industry requests for
  info and assistance
• NCS EOT staffed ESF02 desk at DHS/FEMA deployed
  personnel to Region III IV Ops Centers, DFOs in
  North Carolina and Virginia

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Examples of NCC Coordination

• Request from industry for Government assistance
  
• Coordinate permission to temporarily house
  industry disaster recovery technicians on local
  military bases if hotels in Virginia disaster
  areas were not available.
• Request was granted, but need did not occurr
• Government request for industry assistance
  Communications support to disaster area
• Deployment of a satellite van to Richmond, VA
  area to provide emergency telecommunication
  service. The processed approximately 425 calls
  from an estimated 175 users and remained
  operational until 6 pm Sept 23
• Stand-by of a self-contained communications
  trailer in Knoxville, TN
• Telecom hotel in Baltimore experienced a
  commercial power failure during the evening of
  Sept 22, and had issues with refueling the
  generators.
• ESF 2 contacted ESF 12 (Energy) to highlight
  the issue with Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE)
  and facilitate restoration by 3 AM

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NCC Telecom-ISAC Role Hurricane Isabel

• Some telecom-specific issues
• Personnel restricted from access to sites on
  backup or battery power
• Lack of coordination between individual power
  companies restoration plans and notification to
  Telecom providers hampered efficient deployment
  of technicians
• Telecom lacked a priority input to Power
  restoration, which is handled at the local level
• Reporting issues
• The Government has taken lessons learned and is
  developing processes to
• Best Coordinate Timing of Reporting For Various
  Organizations
• Consolidate Information Required
• Enhanced processes will provide maximum
  operational and response results for Government
  and Industry.

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Isabel Infrastructure Impacts

• Telecom industry was well prepared before
  landfall infrastructure showed little disruption
  or damage
• Telecom emergency teams performed damage
  assessments and emergency restoration continued
  to deploy backup generators and emergency
  personnel
• Recovery efforts continued for the days following
  landfall. One provider indicated that 75 of
  reported damage was repaired by Friday, Sept 19
• Downed trees and equipment failures due to
  flooding also caused damage
• Reports included 235 downed utility poles and 258
  downed cables
• Most problems due to loss of electric power
• Reports of up to 76 of customers in VA, 50 in
  D.C. and MD losing power
• Overall, telecom faired well, with most providers
  switching to backup power generation to keep
  facilities operational. Backup power was
  adequate for sustaining services for most of the
  heavily impacted regions
• By Sept 22, the number of impacted customers
  quickly declining. One provider reported that 12K
  customers had been without service, but that
  number had been reduced to less than 4K by Sept
  23
• To aid restoration efforts, providers deployed
  generators and technicians from other regions to
  impacted areas of Virginia

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Isabel Infrastructure Impacts (2)

• Despite adequate preparation and prompt recovery
  efforts, some customers were without telecom
  service for an extended period
• North Carolinas Outer Banks had severe
  infrastructure damage and major telecom outages
  power out for nearly two weeks in some areas,
  causing telecom backup power systems to fail.
• Due to prolonged power outages, spotty wireless
  coverage and intermittent landline telephone
  service occurred in such areas.

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Sample Wireless Provider Impact Reports
Alt power battery or generator
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Sample Wireline Provider Impact Reports