Federal OIG Report on DHS' Communications Capabilities Released

[KS4VT]

The title of the document is a little misleading, but the conclusion is pretty amazing...

http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2...3-06_Nov12.pdf

Conclusion

DHS did not provide effective oversight to ensure that its components achieved
Department-wide interoperable radio communications. It did not establish an
effective governing structure that had the authority and responsibility to oversee
its goal of achieving Department-wide interoperability. Without an authoritative
governing structure to oversee emergency communications, DHS had limited
interoperability policies and procedures. As a result, personnel do not have
interoperable communications that they can rely on during daily operations,
planned events, and emergencies.

[fourthhorseman]

OK,the first 6 words sum that bureaucratic behemoth entirely.....

(the simpsons)
The Monorail Song
Lyle Lanley: Y'know, a town with money is like a mule with a spinning wheel.
No one knows how he got it and danged if he knows how to use it!

[MTS2000des]

No surprise there.
The DHS itself is a failure. A bunch of window dressing designed to feed more taxpayer dollars into a farce of an agency engaged in theatrical performances of epic proportions.
The OIG report is another indication of a government too big, and way out of control, run by special interests (corporations) and everyone's got their hands in someone else's pocket.

and we're all paying for it.

[FFPM571]

It has less to do with politics and what ever dark conspiricy theroys.. It has to do with education of the users and communication between departments.

My shop does the installations for. USMS, ICE, TSA, Air Marshalls, IRS CID and other federal agencies. We only install the radios. The programming is done by them In house. When I check the radios after installation, Very few of the radios over all the different have the same zone, channel or frequency list. For example. All the raidios do have the 155.475 as we call it ISPERN. Illinois State Police Emergency Radio Network. Each department has it set as something different, ISPERN, NLEEF,state police, there is no set standard to what to use as a common name. The same withe the federal interop stuff. The guy programming it goes off what he calls it or what he is told to put in the raido. Thats problem #1

The person programming the radios are programing them with the wrong PL's NAC's just plain wrong freq's. Things change all the time, as we know with narrowbanding, sometimes radios have to be programmed 2-3 times before its set up correctly because of this change and that change. The programmer may have old information, the radio may not have been updated when things were changed the last go round of programming. Ive seen plenty of times the radios have come across my bench and the last time it was programmed was 6 years ago when it was new. In 6 years alot has changed but someone is still using this radio with the wrong NAC or PL. Then there is just plain lazy programmers who clone one radio and then it gets passed to next and the next.. Problem #2

Most agents I have talked to when working with them I tell them about their new radio don't have much intrest in it. half the time I hear" just tell me where the volume switch is so I can turn it down" With these new radios they have mutiple zones, modes and scan lists. Now throw dual band into that. Very few agents are radio geeks and could care less. If they turn it on it works, unless they are told to go to zone C channel 4 labled Tac 4 they wont find it. problem #3

We just had the NATO summit here this summer. There were a bunch of out of state federal agencies here. Im sure the agent from Jerkwater Iowa's radio may or may not have stuff for the Chicago Metro area. It may have some of the federal interops, but what name is it under? whats the freq? what zone?

With NATO also we were in a crunch to get 75 APX7500 dual band U1/VHF installed for interops for the Chicago Police. How many did we get installed? 21 because cars were scheduled to come in and never made it or got postponed due to meetings or training. You cant have interop when 3/4 of the cars have 1999 astro spectras still programmed for 1999 trying to talk to APX's with the latest programming of 2012.

What the Feds need to do is get a set standard in programming with common nomenclature and educate the users on how and where to use the radios in the proper ways. As it sits there are too many cooks in the kitchen. Get everyone of the same page with programming, then take everyone from the Agent in charge to the lowly guy stamping passports and get them trained on how to use it. The best line I ever heard in a radio training class was when we were getting our new 30 zone trunked dual band APX7000XE's.Was 95% of the time you won't need to change zones but that 5% chance you do, 95% of the users wont be able to find the right zone or channel..

Will any this ever happen.. I doubt it..

[kb2vxa]

That only brought to light what we've known from the start, Homeland Security is one of the biggest con jobs pulled on America in history. The OEM and its County and Local divisions is another, Sandy brought this to the fore right in my face. Evacuation went like a well oiled machine but then it fell apart, they have NO plan to return evacuees to their homes! I could elaborate on a rant but the servers don't have room for it all.

[MOTOROLANUT]

Originally Posted by FFPM571

It has less to do with politics and what ever dark conspiricy theroys.. It has to do with education of the users and communication between departments.

My shop does the installations for. USMS, ICE, TSA, Air Marshalls, IRS CID and other federal agencies. We only install the radios. The programming is done by them In house. When I check the radios after installation, Very few of the radios over all the different have the same zone, channel or frequency list. For example. All the raidios do have the 155.475 as we call it ISPERN. Illinois State Police Emergency Radio Network. Each department has it set as something different, ISPERN, NLEEF,state police, there is no set standard to what to use as a common name. The same withe the federal interop stuff. The guy programming it goes off what he calls it or what he is told to put in the raido. Thats problem #1

The person programming the radios are programing them with the wrong PL's NAC's just plain wrong freq's. Things change all the time, as we know with narrowbanding, sometimes radios have to be programmed 2-3 times before its set up correctly because of this change and that change. The programmer may have old information, the radio may not have been updated when things were changed the last go round of programming. Ive seen plenty of times the radios have come across my bench and the last time it was programmed was 6 years ago when it was new. In 6 years alot has changed but someone is still using this radio with the wrong NAC or PL. Then there is just plain lazy programmers who clone one radio and then it gets passed to next and the next.. Problem #2

Most agents I have talked to when working with them I tell them about their new radio don't have much intrest in it. half the time I hear" just tell me where the volume switch is so I can turn it down" With these new radios they have mutiple zones, modes and scan lists. Now throw dual band into that. Very few agents are radio geeks and could care less. If they turn it on it works, unless they are told to go to zone C channel 4 labled Tac 4 they wont find it. problem #3

We just had the NATO summit here this summer. There were a bunch of out of state federal agencies here. Im sure the agent from Jerkwater Iowa's radio may or may not have stuff for the Chicago Metro area. It may have some of the federal interops, but what name is it under? whats the freq? what zone?

With NATO also we were in a crunch to get 75 APX7500 dual band U1/VHF installed for interops for the Chicago Police. How many did we get installed? 21 because cars were scheduled to come in and never made it or got postponed due to meetings or training. You cant have interop when 3/4 of the cars have 1999 astro spectras still programmed for 1999 trying to talk to APX's with the latest programming of 2012.

What the Feds need to do is get a set standard in programming with common nomenclature and educate the users on how and where to use the radios in the proper ways. As it sits there are too many cooks in the kitchen. Get everyone of the same page with programming, then take everyone from the Agent in charge to the lowly guy stamping passports and get them trained on how to use it. The best line I ever heard in a radio training class was when we were getting our new 30 zone trunked dual band APX7000XE's.Was 95% of the time you won't need to change zones but that 5% chance you do, 95% of the users wont be able to find the right zone or channel..

Will any this ever happen.. I doubt it..

Well said..... Even most components of DHS do not even program the channels off of the NIFOG guide. Furthermore MOU's are required with the locals to use their frequencies/talkgroups and most HQ communications branch chiefs are to lazy or really don't give a sh@t and are just soaking up GS-14 to GS-15 six figure salaries.

And lastly most fed gun toters use cell phones for 99.9% percent of conversations due to the problems you mentioned above. I am amazed they really waste as much budget money on comms as it is....LMAO

[N5TWB]

FFPM571's post ought to make the black helicopter/tinfoil hat crowd breathe a little easier since it appears confused communications may be the weak link for DHS, a favorite bugaboo for that group.

[cronst10]

More pics, please !

[ff-medic]

Originally Posted by MTS2000des

No surprise there.
The DHS itself is a failure. A bunch of window dressing designed to feed more taxpayer dollars into a farce of an agency engaged in theatrical performances of epic proportions.
.

Yep. And The first head honcho - Tom Ridge, in my opinion was not even close to genius.

Bush should have let the FBI, Department of State, and Secret Service take care of Homeland Security, instead of creating a new cabinet position.

Give the funding to them, and let them take care of Homeland Security.

They already have investigative experience, are knowledgable, experienced at gaining intel, and have the resources to do the job. The only problem I would have seen....at the time, is manpower ; BUT , Homeland Security being new - they would have had the same problem.

I am thinking right off the top of my head , by additionally funding FBI, State, and Secret Service it would have been cheaper than creating a new agency - Personnel, staffing, buildings, vehicles, computers and ect. However expensive supporting three already EXPERIENCED agencys...but not as expensive as creating a new agency. The Federal Agencys - FBI , Secret Service, State.....already understaffed and overworked in my opinion - would have liked the additional funding and increase manpower.

Investigations, Intelligence and Counter Intelligence, along with threat surveys and analysis. People already trained, and already having the right equipment, and experience - could get more answers, and evidence ; and be more reliable to the American public.

Since the FBI is responsible by charter for intelligence gathering in the United States - a senior FBI offical could be the Special Agent in Charge. He or she reports to the Director of the FBI.

Tom Ridge was no leader by any means in my observations. Nor was he "Up to snuff" on intelligence or National Security matters. Security is a frame of mind in alot of instances, and you have to have the proper frame of mind. He was not even close in my opinion.

He supervised people, whom performed jobs and tasks, he was not even vaguely familiar with. In some instances - it helps to have some experience in a certain field, before you lead others...or tell them what to do. This helps leadership wise, and lets you have the respect of your peers and subordiantes. From the beginning it was evident that Mr.Ridge was a " Short timer ". I guess it is exciting to be in the loop when it comes to National Security and Intelligence, and have the privledge to brief the President of the United States.

When Mr.Ridge spoke on camera to media outlets, I believe he did not seem certain in his speech, nor was he assertive enough in his statements to be believable. It was like he frequently made media speeches amd spoke with "Doubt".

He spoke as if there was alot doubt in his explanations, and some statements was " Pulled out of the air ". Like the "Color Scale" he made for terrorism - it was something to throw at the American people to justify that DHS was doing its job. He needs a class on sincerity in my opinion.

When a Federal Agencys I.G speaks , people darn well better listen. From the lowest employee , to the politicians. Sometimes when they ( I.G ) speak , it hurts later. And it hurts alot. Few times when an Inspector General ( Federal ) issues a report, someone is held accountable. They are good at assigning the blame, and with the blame comes detailed facts. In some instances, heads roll, and careers are permanently ruined - not only criminally, but also due to financial iresponsiblity. It was Federal monies they misused / abused / overspent, or failed to account for. When it is gross negligence, or malicious - they most usually go ape crazy. REMEMBER - the Inspector Generals office has bosses, and they have to account for themselves and show progress, and how they protect the U.S Government, as well as the agency it is charged with overseeing.



FF - Medic !!!

[FFPM571]

What does all the ranting and raving about DHS have to do with the fact is they can't talk to each other in an emergency. Tom Ridge has nothing to do with programming radios and educating the field agents how to use them.

[kb2vxa]

Lack of communications is a symptom of the disease infecting America.

[ptolemy9200]

I agree. Totally. I have seen similiar last I was in the loop and it is a mess down in the southwest region in allot of areas.

Originally Posted by FFPM571

It has less to do with politics and what ever dark conspiricy theroys.. It has to do with education of the users and communication between departments.

My shop does the installations for. USMS, ICE, TSA, Air Marshalls, IRS CID and other federal agencies. We only install the radios. The programming is done by them In house. When I check the radios after installation, Very few of the radios over all the different have the same zone, channel or frequency list. For example. All the raidios do have the 155.475 as we call it ISPERN. Illinois State Police Emergency Radio Network. Each department has it set as something different, ISPERN, NLEEF,state police, there is no set standard to what to use as a common name. The same withe the federal interop stuff. The guy programming it goes off what he calls it or what he is told to put in the raido. Thats problem #1

The person programming the radios are programing them with the wrong PL's NAC's just plain wrong freq's. Things change all the time, as we know with narrowbanding, sometimes radios have to be programmed 2-3 times before its set up correctly because of this change and that change. The programmer may have old information, the radio may not have been updated when things were changed the last go round of programming. Ive seen plenty of times the radios have come across my bench and the last time it was programmed was 6 years ago when it was new. In 6 years alot has changed but someone is still using this radio with the wrong NAC or PL. Then there is just plain lazy programmers who clone one radio and then it gets passed to next and the next.. Problem #2

Most agents I have talked to when working with them I tell them about their new radio don't have much intrest in it. half the time I hear" just tell me where the volume switch is so I can turn it down" With these new radios they have mutiple zones, modes and scan lists. Now throw dual band into that. Very few agents are radio geeks and could care less. If they turn it on it works, unless they are told to go to zone C channel 4 labled Tac 4 they wont find it. problem #3

We just had the NATO summit here this summer. There were a bunch of out of state federal agencies here. Im sure the agent from Jerkwater Iowa's radio may or may not have stuff for the Chicago Metro area. It may have some of the federal interops, but what name is it under? whats the freq? what zone?

With NATO also we were in a crunch to get 75 APX7500 dual band U1/VHF installed for interops for the Chicago Police. How many did we get installed? 21 because cars were scheduled to come in and never made it or got postponed due to meetings or training. You cant have interop when 3/4 of the cars have 1999 astro spectras still programmed for 1999 trying to talk to APX's with the latest programming of 2012.

What the Feds need to do is get a set standard in programming with common nomenclature and educate the users on how and where to use the radios in the proper ways. As it sits there are too many cooks in the kitchen. Get everyone of the same page with programming, then take everyone from the Agent in charge to the lowly guy stamping passports and get them trained on how to use it. The best line I ever heard in a radio training class was when we were getting our new 30 zone trunked dual band APX7000XE's.Was 95% of the time you won't need to change zones but that 5% chance you do, 95% of the users wont be able to find the right zone or channel..

Will any this ever happen.. I doubt it..

[cronst10]

That Goverment which Governs the Least, governs the best, Thoreau.

[KS4VT]

With all of the Federal Agencies that I have personally worked with locally, I have found that DOJ and the US Marshals have their act together more so than any other Federal entity to date with regards to communications and local cooperation.

[officerdave]

[QUOTE=FFPM571;1854923]

The best line I ever heard in a radio training class was when we were getting our new 30 zone trunked dual band APX7000XE's.Was 95% of the time you won't need to change zones but that 5% chance you do, 95% of the users wont be able to find the right zone or channel..

QUOTE]

10-4 FFPM571 .... if you can get 5% able to change, your class must have had a great teacher. Our folks could care less to talk to anyone outside our dispatch area ....ESPECIALLY not interested in talking to the FEDs. Thirty years of using public safety radio in Northern Illinois and we still cant play together in the same sand box. Millions of dollers of wizbang computer driven radio and you cant overcome the human " dont care about anyone else" factor.

The only FED interops in radio I have every seen work well, is Wildland Fire out West. Federal wildland guys know how to change their gear on the fly ....their lives depend on it....

[kb2vxa]

"Was 95% of the time you won't need to change zones but that 5% chance you do, 95% of the users wont be able to find the right zone or channel."

Classic lack of training that reminds me of when the local po po "upgraded" their system to P25 with the encryption option. When they were testing it nobody had a clue since it all sounds the same to a so equipped radio, many said the switch wasn't working. Then somebody got the bright idea to switch them all to encrypted and patrols ordered to "hands off the switch"... the rest is history.

[e911god]

Originally Posted by ff-medic

...Bush should have let the FBI, Department of State, and Secret Service take care of Homeland Security, instead of creating a new cabinet position. Give the funding to them, and let them take care of Homeland Security.

They already have investigative experience, are knowledgable, experienced at gaining intel, and have the resources to do the job. The only problem I would have seen....at the time, is manpower ; BUT , Homeland Security being new - they would have had the same problem.

I am thinking right off the top of my head , by additionally funding FBI, State, and Secret Service it would have been cheaper than creating a new agency - Personnel, staffing, buildings, vehicles, computers and ect. However expensive supporting three already EXPERIENCED agencys...but not as expensive as creating a new agency. The Federal Agencys - FBI , Secret Service, State.....already understaffed and overworked in my opinion - would have liked the additional funding and increase manpower.

FF - Medic !!!

They didn't create a "new Agency"...they created a new "Department" and moved already existing agencies from one Department to the other. For example, the Secret Service and legacy U.S. Customs were previously under the Department of Treasury and were moved to DHS along with some reorganization and name changes. Same goes for legacy INS/Border Patrol which was under Justice going to DHS. All that manpower, equipment, building, vehicles, etc. just moved from one to the other.

As far as calling these above agencies inexperienced, maybe you didn't know that Customs (now CBP and ICE) has been around since 1789. ICE/HSI is the second largest investigative agency in the G with around 6,700 special agents. Do some research and see when the others were formed. Do you even know how many CBP Officers and Border Patrol Agents there are? You think the FBI can take over that responsibility with some additional manpower and funding???

DOS pretty much does visa fraud as far as investigations. Same goes with USSS doing counterfeit. The majority of their time is spent doing protection. To call them more experienced than some of the others is a serious misstatement. FBI is known among many of the three-letter agencies as "Famous But Incompetent."

While I agree that government has become too big and is depended on too much by society, I have to disagree with some of your statements. I do agree with your statements regarding Tom Ridge as well as people like Janet Napolitano. Instead of having investigative agencies ran by people who worked their way up the ranks doing the job, they let political appointees with no background call the shots.

I also agree with others by saying a lot of the OIG report has to do with the lack of training. I have seen the codeplug in DHS radios...they have every VCALL/TAC, LE, IR, DHS COMMON, FEDCOM, etc channel that you can imagine. But for the most part the radios are used on a specific simplex tac channel for surveillance. They hardly even use any of the 850 other channels programmed in.

[kb2vxa]

Card shuffling makes little to no difference in performance. Da gubmint is like a computer (GIGO comes to mind) so all they did was move sub folders into a new folder.

"Instead of having investigative agencies ran by people who worked their way up the ranks doing the job, they let political appointees with no background call the shots."

Instead of having agencies run by people who worked their way up the ranks doing the job, they let political appointees with no background call the shots.

Now you have a correct statement. You forgot administrative and other agencies, like the FCC that has been a paper tiger ever since budget cuts were implemented many years ago. I could rave on page after page but I don't want to bore you with a history lesson.

[commstar]

Hopefully OIG guidance will be properly adopted.

[ab3a]

Something needs to be said for simple, dumb, and stupid radio systems.

In fairness to the officers involved, they are not radio experts --they have other things to do.

However, even when everyone can talk to everyone else, we still have this idiotic tower of Babel situation with ten codes that aren't the same, and phonetics that are different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

International aviators have made use of pro-words and the standard NATO phonetics alphabet and it just plain works. Why can't these guys?