FEMA & ARRL Announce Disaster Communication Partnership
Hartford, Conn. – Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) announced a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that increases cooperation between FEMA and ARRL in the area of disaster communication. FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, and ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, signed the agreement during the ARRL National Centennial Convention at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
This agreement will allow FEMA and ARRL to work together to provide resources, services and personnel, as available, in order to strengthen capacity in areas of emergency communications, mass care and emergency assistance, disaster preparedness, response and recovery, while also raising public awareness about the use of Amateur Radio as a public safety resource.
“Radio is one of the most resilient communications technologies we have,” Fugate said. “When the power is out and telecommunications are down, the Amateur Radio community can serve as a vital resource in support of emergency responders and survivors during a disaster. This MOA will strengthen FEMA’s partnership with ARRL and build upon our work to expand emergency communications capabilities and the use of Amateur Radio in emergency management.”
The agreement outlines the ways in which FEMA and ARRL will cooperate to carry out their respective responsibilities, with respect to disaster mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery operations in the event of a natural or man-made disaster. The agreement sets forth the terms by which FEMA and ARRL will provide resources, services and personnel, as available, in order to strengthen capacity in areas of emergency communications, mass care and emergency assistance, disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
“From the earliest days of experimentation with radio to the present time, amateur radio volunteers have combined their passion for exploring radio technology with their devotion to assisting the governmental and charitable agencies that respond to disaster,” Craigie said. “This combination of inventiveness and service has saved lives for a century. We look forward to working with FEMA to further develop opportunities for trained, equipped and prepared amateur radio operators to serve the public interest whenever and wherever disasters affect our country and its communities.”
Amateur Radio operators have been responding to disasters since the beginning of the Amateur Service in the early 1900s. Through the ARRL-sponsored Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and other groups, federally licensed Amateur Radio operators have volunteered their time, equipment and expertise to their communities and country for all kinds of public service events and disaster efforts.
Following recent events, ARRL has supported local communities as they prepare for and recover from the devastation caused by disasters. As part of this agreement, FEMA and ARRL will strengthen their partnership and encourage first responders and citizens to consider joining the ranks of radio amateurs and their long and legendary history of public service to the nation.
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FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate all hazards. More information is available from www.fema.gov.
The ARRL’s mission is based on five core areas, or “pillars”: Public Service, Advocacy, Education, Technology, and Membership. Founded in 1914, the American Radio Relay League is the national association for amateur radio in the USA. Today, with more than 164,000 members, the ARRL is the largest organization of radio amateurs in the world. More information is available at www.arrl.org.
This press release can be found at: http://www.fema.gov/news-release/2014/07/18/fema-arrl-announce-disaster-communication-partnership
Mixed feelings about this. If the relationship puts some top-down pressure through state emergency mgmt offices to counties and local agencies to welcome ARES at the table as a legitimate ICS/NIMS resource to be incorporated into planning and response, then this is a good outcome. ARES operators are committed to serving their communities. Still, cozying up to FEMA on anything strikes me as unsettling.
Agreed.
Growing trend…
1. FEMA/DHS Shows up and pretty much take charge (in both training and real-world situations).
2. Volunteers from within the community in ARES/RACES have increasingly limited access to EOC facility.
3. FEMA/DHS increasingly showing up with their own (organic) Amateur Radio Operators.
4. Members of your community asked to sit in the hallway, where they’re told they will be called upon if needed.
5. All of this after fingerprinting, background checks, and a stack of invasive questionnaires.
Sounds like the federal agencies have trust issues with folks whose loyalties might be in question — such as loyalty to their communities and key leadership personalities? It’s only natural they (Fed gov) would want to ‘partner’ (read: Influence/Control) with the largest non-government organization of volunteer communications specialists in the world.
This move makes me nervous.
I have been involved in ARES, some other emergency service organizations, and am a member of ARRL. I read the announcement with some unease. Over the past 3 years I have seen some changes with the attitude towards volunteers working for emergency service organizations. We have moved from a presumption of trust, to a presumption of dis-trust, where the volunteer must be vetted first and then prove themselves. I understand the need for training so that volunteers can work well with the organization, but this smells more like control for control’s sake.
If I may open another can of worms, I am seeing indications that ham radio operators are being used in a continuity-of-government role. If you think the best way to help the people is to help the government, then of course you don’t see a problem with this. While I do think there is some overlap in helping the government and helping the people, I do not think they are the same thing. Food for thought.
I’ve been a HAM for just over two decades and an extra class for one. I’ve been in and out of military and have held my share of clearances. I’ve participated in, organized, and even managed my share of emergency preparedness and other field training events, and they were mostly successful.
The shift I’ve watched in the southeast post-Katrina is despicable. DHS/FEMA and other government clubs rolled in, ‘took command,’ and promptly removed all traces of salt-of-the-earth volunteers.
Churches were removed, men of men were removed, and all involvement had to be managed through their services.
The title of this article uses the word ‘partnership’ but there simply is no partnering with the DHS/FEMA. It’s their way with no highway option, and I’d be remiss to say it any other way.
We’re watching HAM radio volunteerism die and I believe that this is by design. ARRL looks to be another stooge.
It’s only paranoia if it’s untrue.
-POWDER