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NCS Conducts Emergency Support Function -2 Training in New Orleans

New Orleans June 28, 2007 - At the site where Hurricane Katrina devastated the lives and homes of thousands, nearly 200 Federal emergency communications professionals applied lessons learned from one of the Nation’s worst disasters and trained to be better prepared should another major disaster hit the country.

From June 19-28, communications professionals from eight Federal departments and their subordinate agencies took part in an Emergency Support Function-2 (ESF-2) conference held here to update basic emergency communications requirements and meet with Federal, State and New Orleans area officials to better understand their disaster communications experiences after Katrina.

Brian Carney (right), Manager of the National Communications System’s National Coordinating Center, discusses emergency communications with retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Jerry Sneed, Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness for the City of New Orleans. The visit was part of a tour of emergency response facilities attended by Federal communications officials during Emergency Support Function 2 (Communications) training held in New Orleans June 19-28. (Photo by Steve Barrett, National Communications System.)

The group also participated in a nine-day tabletop training exercise regarding a fictitious “Hurricane Carl,” where exercise controllers placed emergency response teams on alert to prepare and respond to situations they would receive under real conditions.

According to Chatry Perry of the National Communications System (NCS) Critical Infrastructure Protection Division, the conference goal was to prepare emergency communications teams “…with the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to ensure effective communications coordination, assessments, and restoration between Federal, State, local, tribal agencies, and the private sector.”

ESF-2 is one of 15 emergency support functions under the National Response Plan. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) NCS, a consortium of 23 Federal Government department and agencies that responds to national security and emergency preparedness communications, is the lead agency for ESF-2.

In this exercise, the NCS teamed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and others organizations to design the nine-day training program and scenario. In addition, members of the telecommunications industry – key partners in the NCS’s NS/EP communications mission – were also on hand to brief, observe and participate in team training and demonstrate emergency communications equipment displayed for the training.

“The Department [of Homeland Security] strives to provide the best possible support to our emergency communications response personnel during a national emergency,” said Greg Garcia, the DHS Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Communications (CS&C), during a luncheon he addressed here June 25. “One of the ways we do this is by testing our operational capabilities and looking for ways to make it better. Your participation, your time and energy; and, your commitment to national preparedness during this exercise will provide us with crucial data and experience that will help your government to better serve in times of crisis.”

Garcia added that training exercises allow the Department to see firsthand how communications and response activities are affected by catastrophic events. “The information gained through this and other exercises is absolutely invaluable to helping us better prepare our response efforts, and to mitigate impacts most effectively,” he said. “Your work here will have a lasting impact on our Nation’s emergency preparedness and response posture.”

Perry said that the nine-day conference and its concurrent exercise was not designed as a formal test to respond to an emergency. “The intent is to educate Federal responders on the requirements necessary to establish and maintain ESF-2 operations for their regions,” said Perry, “then have the opportunity to apply what they are learning in a concurrent exercise under the control of the NCS staff.” Perry said participants were in New Orleans to learn and understand the ESF-2 concepts. He said the teams would apply those concepts in a simulated emergency scenario, receive feedback from NCS staff on their performance, and carry the lessons learned back to their regional areas to train and prepare their staffs for future exercises and real-world emergencies.

In addition to the training, emergency response teams had the opportunity to meet with state, city, and parish emergency communications officials, who gave emotional accounts of their experiences after Katrina, their issues regarding emergency communications during and after the storm, and the steps they’ve taken to improve communications redundancy in their jurisdiction.

Federal agencies that participated in this exercise included the Departments of Homeland Security, State, Defense, Agriculture, and Energy; FEMA; the FCC; the Coast Guard; the General Services Administration and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

Debbie Warden, communications manager for the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) in Baton Rouge, La., directs a tour of the emergency communications center for Federal communications personnel. Federal workers toured a variety of emergency communications facilities during parts of their nine-day Emergency Support Function-2 training held June 19-28 in New Orleans. (Photo by Steve Barrett, National Communications System.)

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