Panel: Military firefighters a priority
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Three years ago, a state-appointed panel said finding ways to quickly get military helicopters and planes airborne to battle raging wildfires should be a "high priority." Yet, last week, delays launching aircraft revealed a system still suffering from communication and planning shortfalls.
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By Josh Hoke, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.  Feb. 10--BUCKSVILLE COMMUNITY -- Five foresters spent much of Friday starting and controlling a small fire they said could prevent larger blazes in the area.
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THE THREAT: More than three years after Sept. 11, Congress hasn't decided how it would respond to a disaster that kills or incapacitates many members.
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Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today announced the formation of an independent panel to look into what he called an "unacceptable situation" with outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and he vowed that those responsible will be held accountable.
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The former commander of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and several soldiers who were treated there are slated to appear before a congressional committee on Monday as lawmakers probe poor conditions at part of the service's premier hospital.
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While the military is lending assistance to battle wildfires in Southern California, it's also keeping an eye on the horizon in case it has to evacuate bases there.
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The rules for using military force will be a key focus for an international panel working to update and reform the United Nations, a member of the panel said on Monday.
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Army Chief of Staff George W. Casey Jr., who is scheduled to testify today before the House Armed Services Committee, intends to move as quickly as possible to grant soldiers more relief from the war zone, having argued that the troop rotations of 15 months in combat and 12 months at home --...
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By Erin Sherbert, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif. Feb. 24--Far East County residents appear to want better fire protection services, but whether they are willing to pay for it is questionable, fire officials said.
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ABOARD THE USS JOHN F. KENNEDY -- In a cramped war room below deck, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday joined 18 of his counterparts in the terrorism fight in discussing the way ahead in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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When the alarm goes from warm to wild, the U.S.D.A. Forest Service calls in the Air Force Reserve for assistance in fighting fires.  Under a unique arrangement codified by law, the U.S.D.A.
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Officials are considering seeking a change in Pentagon policy that would allow for longer and more frequent call-ups of some reservists.
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The Army and Marine Corps are planning to ask incoming Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Congress to approve permanent increases in personnel, as senior officials in both services assert that the nation's global military strategy has outstripped their resources.
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(InfoWorld) - Police and fire organizations called on the U.S. Congress to give them more radio spectrum for communications interoperability than the 24MHz they're due to get in early 2009. Representatives of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the International Association of Chiefs of Police on Thursday told a U.S. Senate committee that they need an additional 30MHz of spectrum. The government is scheduled to auction spectrum to commercial users as U.S. television stations abandon the upper 700MHz spectrum band in February 2009, under a law passed last year. The additional spectrum would help public safety agencies deploy broadband communications systems that would fix the radio interoperability problems that plagued emergency workers following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said Charles Werner, fire chief for Charlottsville, Virginia. Congress must act before the spectrum is auctioned to private companies in the next year, he said. "I encourage Congress to take advantage of this very limited, one-time opportunity," Werner said. "We cannot suggest too strongly the urgent and identified need for broadband capability that public safety can use with assurance that it will work when needed, be available when needed, and is affordable." But some members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee questioned the plan to put the additional 30MHz of spectrum into a public safety broadband trust. The new spectrum plan, first advanced by Cyren Call Communications last April, could potentially cost the government billions of dollars in lost auction revenue, said Senator Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican. The committee, in its DTV (digital television) transition bill, budgeted at least $10 billion to be raised by the spectrum auctions, with $1 billion going to fund emergency communications interoperability efforts. The Cyren Call plan is "impossible for us to do fiscally," Stevens said. Stevens' criticism echoed the High Tech DTV Coalition, a group of technology vendors, whichÂ on Tuesday called on the Senate to stick to the original spectrum plan. Cyren Call Chairman Morgan O'Brien said the company's plan calls for the broadband trust to raise $5 billion from private investors to pay for the 30MHz of spectrum. Private investors would pay for expensive public safety broadband networks instead of Congress or local governments, he said. Nearly all public safety organizations support the broadband trust concept, O'Brien added. "This is a crying out for help," he said. "We're sending men and women into dangerous situations every day knowing their devices are inferior." But the spectrum auctions could raise billions of dollars more than what the Cyren Call plan offers to pay, Stevens said. And Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA, a trade group representing wireless carriers, questioned whether the broadband trust would find enough investors to fund a broadband wireless rollout for public safety, especially in rural areas. Other senators suggested alternative approaches to the Cyren Call plan. Senator John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican, suggested that public safety agencies could better use the 25MHz of spectrum they already have. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Washington state Democrat, said public safety agencies in her state and elsewhere are finding success using existing spectrum with radio over IPÂ devices. This "boot-strap" approach using open standards and radio over IP could cost as little as $300 million across the U.S. as opposed to an average of about $1 billion per state using other equipment, said David Billstrom, chairman and CEO of public safety consulting group National Interop and a volunteer firefighter. Â
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By Peter Callaghan, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.  Sep. 24--Members of the Tacoma City Council's public safety committee were sympathetic toward the local firefighters union and its Fill The Boot campaign.
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US government advisers&#39; report finds tentative evidence that exposure to combustible products affected the health of vets, but they stop short of declaring a solid connection.
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WASHINGTON -- The US military must improve its planning for postwar operations, Robert M. Gates, the nominee for defense secretary, told a Senate panel.