Communications Assessment

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Communications Assessment
Painting the Common Operating Picture
Pamera Hairston, Esq. Federal Communications
Commission Pamera.Hairston_at_fcc.gov 202-418-1165
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INCIDENT
ESF-2
FEMA advance team
FECC and ESF-2 team go to
RRCC
State EOC
JFO
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Communications AssessmentPainting the Common
Operating Picture

• Provides situational awareness for operations
  managers and policy makers at the highest levels
  from those closest to the incident or event
• Gives the background and context for decision
  making

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Communications AssessmentPainting the Common
Operating Picture

• Two Step Process
• Gathering Information or Assessing the
  Incident
• Reporting the Information or Completing the
  Common Operating Picture

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Communications AssessmentGathering Information
NCS/NCC
Fuel Security Access Public Safety Systems Power
Grid Broadcasters Satellite Others
Outages Priorities Offers
JFO
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Gathering InformationConference Calls

• To and From NCS/NCC/JTRB
• Opportunity to learn priorities
• Opportunity to learn what issues need follow up
  action (run to ground)
• Opportunity to report status of follow up actions
  on subsequent calls

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Getting There From Here
Gathering InformationLocal Site Visit

• Visits to
• Local EOC
• Local Communications Officer
• Commercial Industry at Sites
• Visits via
• Car
• Boat
• Air

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Gathering InformationOther ESFs

• JFO
• State EOC

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Gathering InformationAssessing the Incident

• Initial AssessmentGenerally describes the
  immediate state of communications following an
  incident
• Subsequent Assessments Reports that provide more
  detailed information with specific needs and
  recommendations based on interviews with state/
  local officials, ESF counterparts at the state
  EOC and JFO, and on-site industry representatives

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Gathering InformationAssessing the Incident

• Whether as a part of the FEMA Advance Team or as
  part of the team arriving at the JFO, the ESF-2
  team should initiate contacts as soon as the
  boots hit the ground
• Face-to-Face is PREFERRED

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Gathering InformationAssessing the Incident

• Information should be
• Timely
• Relevant
• Correctly Annotated
• Comprehensive

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Gathering InformationAssessing the Incident

• Contact the following for initial assessment
• ESF-2 Counterpart at the state EOC
• ESF-3 (Public Works and Engineering) in the state
  EOC and JFO
• ESF-12 (Energy) in the state EOC and JFO
• ESF-13 (Public Safety and Security) in the state
  EOC and JFO
• Wireline Service Providers
• Wireless Service Providers
• State Broadcasters Association Representative

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Gathering InformationAssessing the Incident

• With every POC you meet, always get
• Contact Information Name, Cell/Fax/Sat Phone and
  E-mail
• Issues Unique to POCs Systems/Services
• Status of Systems/Services
• Proposed Recovery Efforts and Time-Frame
• (if known)
• Immediate Needs

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Gathering InformationAssessing the Incident

• Issues unique to system/services
• ESF-3 (Public Works and Engineering)
• ESF-12 ( Energy)
• ESF-13 (Public Safety and Security)
• Wireline Service Providers
• Wireless Service Providers
• Broadcasters
• PSAP/LMR Systems

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Gathering InformationAssessing the Incident
The local Communications Officer is the keeper
of critical communications services information

• Title may be official or unofficial
• Knows about the public safety services in the
  area of the incident, the maintenance of those
  services and the people to contact

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Gathering InformationAssessing the Incident

• Grueling grammar Batman, its interrogatives
• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?

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Gathering InformationAssessing the Incident

• For example
• Interview with ESF-2 Comms POC
• WHO the persons name, cell/fax/blackberry
  number
• WHAT services were provided to the area pre-
  hurricane/event
• WHAT state of services now in the disaster area
• Go through each system one at a time, letting
  the EOC Comms person describe
• WHAT systems are used
• WHERE each system is located
• HOW long the community has owned/used the system
• WHO services the system (Name/Number)
• WHO runs the system (state, local, co-shared)
• WHEN did the system go down
• HOW much of the system is down (neighborhoods,
  parishes, city/county quadrants, percentage,
  number of switches, etc.)

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Reporting the InformationCompleting the Common
Operating Picture
Based on the information gathered, the Situation
Report (SitRep) paints the picture

• That policy makers and project managers use to
  make informed decisions within the context of the
  event (NCS/PFO/FCO)
• That reflects what has been run to ground or
  needs to be run to ground
• That provides a consistent reporting format

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Reporting the InformationSituation Report
(SitRep)

• Format
• Issues
• Solutions
• Success/Results
• Field Needs/ Follow up Action

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Reporting the InformationSituation Report
(SitRep)

• All reports include
• Your name, location, contact information, date of
  report
• Names/contact information of persons who
  contributed information
• Locations visited

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Reporting the InformationSituation Report
(SitRep)

• All reports
• Indicate whether the information is anecdotal
  otherwise it is presumed factual
• Avoid clichés and vague phrases
• Keep ESF-2 Mission foremost in your mind and your
  report writing

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Reporting the InformationSituation Report
(SitRep)

• Be Consistent in
• Spelling
• Abbreviations/Acronyms http//www.fema.gov/pd
  f/plan/prepare/faatlist03_05.pdf
• Writing style
• - sentences or bullets
• - dates

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Reporting the InformationSituation Report
(SitRep)

• Those that fail to plan, plan to fail
• DEADLINES
• Check your time zone
• Check location when/where report is due
• Check time allotted for writing report

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Classroom Role Plays