**SEPARATE STATEMENT OF**

**COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS**

Re: *Establishment of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.*

This is a big day at the FCC as we launch our new Public Safety and
Homeland Security Bureau. As I have said many times, business as usual
is just not acceptable when it comes to public safety. That is why I
have for so long supported establishing a separate and highly visible
Bureau charged with keeping our communications networks up and running
in times of emergency. To put it bluntly, I believe this is a step we
should have taken more than five years ago in response to the searing
lessons of 9/11. We didn't then; we do now, so I applaud Chairman Martin
for his leadership in bringing us here today.

I proceed on the assumption that the launch of this new Bureau is much
more than a mere reshuffling of resources. I see this action as marking
a far-reaching commitment to ensure the safety of our citizens through a
functioning and resilient communications system. My hope is that when
history looks back on this reorganization, it will be seen as the first
step in putting the FCC out front -- where it long should have been --
in providing communications security for all Americans in this dangerous
age.

The creation of the new Bureau is the easy part. Not to minimize the
long, hard work the Chairman and the staff put into making today happen,
but now we turn to the daunting substantive issues that the Commission
and our new Bureau must confront. These are plentiful, and history will
not judge us kindly if we fail to address them head- on. What follows is
a list of what I consider to be some of the most critical public safety
and homeland security issues facing us today. I intend to revisit this
list a year from now, by the way, and I hope to be able to say then that
we have resolved or made significant progress on all of these
challenges.

-   The Bureau needs to be at the front of the pack in working to
    provide first responders and other emergency personnel with access
    to a reliable, interoperable network. I understand that developing
    interoperability will require cooperation among dozens of federal
    and literally thousands of state and local agencies. But no other
    agency in government has our expertise in communications, and we
    need to make sure that this expertise is made ***fully*** available
    to every agency that is part of this puzzle. At the end of the day,
    the really important thing is that the job gets done and that it get
    done quickly and effectively. When our nation's first responders
    rush into a burning building or a flooding house, the least we as a
    nation can do to honor their service is provide them with a radio
    that works. I don't think we can wait around for somebody else to do
    this job.

-   The Bureau should work quickly to build on the NPRM on
    communications readiness that we issued in response to the report
    from our Independent Panel Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane
    Katrina. The FCC performed with distinction in the immediate
    aftermath of the hurricanes. Now it can provide much more in the way
    of proposals and plans so we are ready next time. I know Chairman
    Martin, my fellow Commissioners and I are all looking forward to
    receiving an item that implements the many good suggestions offered
    by the Katrina Panel and its commenters. How we turn that record
    into positive results will tell us much about the efficacy of this
    new Bureau.

-   The Bureau needs to lead the way in developing an Emergency Alert
    System that will support the delivery of messages to ***all***
    wireless mobile devices. By the one year anniversary of the new
    Bureau, I hope that we have established a framework and timeline for
    this roll-out and that we are well into the job of implementation.

-   The Bureau must also work quickly to further develop our standards
    for E911 capability for both wireless and VoIP devices. On the
    wireless front, we need to provide additional guidance to ensure
    that the location accuracy figures that carriers report accurately
    reflect real-world performance and are consistent across carriers.
    We also need to continue our efforts to make sure that consumers
    understand the level of protection that their mobile phones actually
    provide them, especially within buildings. On the VoIP front, we
    need to move forward with our ongoing rulemaking regarding automatic
    location sensing technologies.

-   I note also the presence today of representatives of the deaf and
    hard of hearing community. Their safety is vitally important too and
    I hope the Bureau will work closely with them. They need to be
    central to all our deliberations here at the FCC. I am convinced
    that their access to all the exciting technologies coming at us
    depends upon a close and cooperative partnership among them, the
    industries producing new technologies, and the FCC.

-   In addition to issuing orders and regulations, our new Bureau must
    also focus on serving as a voluntary clearinghouse for new ideas and
    best practices. As I have often noted, I believe this is one of the
    most important functions the Bureau---and the Commission---can
    perform. I appreciate my colleagues' willingness to work on this
    issue with me. For example, our nation's hospitals and medical care
    providers are integral parts of our nationwide emergency response
    system. Yet the level of communications preparedness at such
    facilities varies widely. Why should each medical facility across
    the land have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to developing an
    emergency communications plan? How much better would it be if they
    could simply call an expert at the FCC and learn about what has been
    tried already, what works and what doesn't work? Think of the money,
    maybe even the lives, such assistance could save. I hope that our
    new Bureau will take seriously its role as an expediter,
    facilitator, and aggregator of best emergency communications
    practices for medical care facilities, as well as day care
    facilities, small businesses, animal shelters, and other vulnerable
    institutions that more often than not lack the resources to hire
    expensive consultants or in-house security departments.

None of these tasks will be easy, and taken together they represent a
formidable challenge. But as I have often stated, nothing this agency
does is more critical than protecting the public safety. It's the first
and most important obligation of government. I am looking for our new
Bureau to be up to the challenge, and I look forward to working with its
many excellent and hard-working team members next year and beyond.