Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Crazy Location for Regional Communications Center

This weekend's Washington Post tells about the new regional communications center.

District officials have opened a high-tech emergency communications center, a landmark in their efforts to reform a troubled 911 system and better prepare the city for terrorist attacks and other crises.

But it's built in DC. If I was building a center to coordinate our area for a terrorist attack, I don't think i'd put it at ground zero.

The pink-brick Unified Communications Center, built on the grounds of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast Washington, will handle all emergency police and fire calls, house the D.C. Emergency Management Agency and serve as the mayor's command center in a disaster.

The $116 million building was inaugurated Sept. 26 during a ceremony that drew dignitaries from throughout the region, including D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The building is so state-of-the-art that even Chertoff admitted to a case of "operations center envy."

I don't think he'll be suffering from envy when we are evacuating DC and our communications hub is right in the blast zone....

2 comments:

Citizen Tom said...

Regional Communications Center? What nonsense? That is just a ploy for more funding. In practice, I suspect that a "regional" Communications Center would be a mobile military command post.

The real is issue is to make certain that the military and civilian communications nodes have the capacity to communicate with each other. In addition, we routine exercises that practice this capability.

We fight the way we train.

Anonymous said...

They build a million dollar communications center while the rural fire departments can't talk to anyone out of the county. Makes sense to me, if you're an idiot. I doubt the next attack will be what they expect. I've watched lots of news since 9-11 and the 'media' has taught me how to kill thousands in almost any small city. I suspect the terrorists were watching also.