Let’s get FirstNet right, now

We all remember Sept. 11, 2001. It was the first time the nation watched in real time as a large-scale terrorist attack unfolded on our soil. As a member of Congress at the time, it was not long before we learned how communication failures were impeding essential command and control operations that may have contributed to the tragedy that day. In a country as advanced as ours, it is simply hard to fathom that our first responders — firemen, policemen and others — could not work as effectively with one another as they needed in a crisis like the one unfolding before all of our eyes, in real time. Since that time, numerous emergencies — such as Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy and the Joplin tornado — have shown that our first responders are still challenged to communicate in an effective manner when we most need them to do so. A solution to this problem was outlined by the 9/11 Commission: building a nationwide interoperable broadband network for first responders known as FirstNet.

{mosads}Since 2002, Congress has passed several laws intended to create a nationwide emergency communications system. Just three years ago, Congress passed Public Law No. 112-96, which calls for “planning, building, and managing a new, nationwide, broadband network for public safety communications … and assigned additional radio frequency spectrum to accommodate the new network,” according to the Congressional Research Service. Congress authorized $7 billion for FirstNet.

We knew that launching a new broadband network for public safety was bound to be difficult. There are federal, state, and local needs and requirements to be considered. There are commercial next-generation wireless networks being built. The current communications systems for emergency personnel in our country operate on more than one system.

FirstNet has also had to conform to federal hiring requirements and federal funding uncertainty. These realities have raised their own challenges as work started on actually conceiving, designing and developing a public safety broadband network. Given the scope and objectives of FirstNet, it’s not surprising that it carries a high price tag, one that Congress will need to continue to support for a long time. FirstNet has its blemishes too. The recent Inspector General report for the Commerce Department pointed out some genuine failures by the program’s board. Congress and the public have a right to expect decisions to be made without conflicts of interest. Increased transparency from the FirstNet administration must be a priority.

But these challenges have not stopped the momentum toward building FirstNet. In the original law, Congress set aside $7 billion from a future auction of wireless spectrum to help underwrite the network. We learned this past December that, incredibly, over $40 billion is expected from that auction, and FirstNet backers rightfully believe that more money is now available for an emergency responder communications system.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) have called for hearings in 2015 on FirstNet and I applaud those developments. Congress should make the necessary policy changes to FirstNet so that its development and deployment can continue as soon as feasible. Congress should also recognize that the price of the failure of building out these capabilities that will be needed in the next crisis will be difficult to explain to the American public. Congress has the power of the purse and the power to steer the ship. Clearly, more leadership is needed. But now is the time, before the next crisis hits and the American people are left asking “what, if anything did we learn from the failures on 9/11?”

Bono is a former congresswoman who represented California’s Inland Empire and Desert Region in the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2013. She is currently senior vice president at FaegreBD Consulting in Washington, where she leads a technology, privacy and cybersecurity practice.