Federal Communications Commission	



Released:  October 19, 2021

FCC ANNOUNCES 	AGENDA FOR OCTOBER 26 VIRTUAL FIELD HEARING ON IMPROVING COMMUNICATIONS RESILIENCY AND RECOVERY DURING DISASTERS
Diverse Range of Stakeholders to Testify on Lessons Learned from Recent Disasters

PS Docket Nos. 21-346 and 15-80; ET Docket No. 04-35

Washington, D.C. – The Federal Communications Commission today announces the panels and panelists for its October 26 virtual field hearing on improving the resiliency and recovery of communications networks during disasters. The hearing, which will explore lessons learned from Hurricane Ida and other recent disasters, will inform Commission recommendations and actions to bolster communications reliability. 

Disaster Communications Field Hearing

The virtual field hearing will be conducted during the Commission’s October Open Commission Meeting on Tuesday, October 26, 2021.  The Open Meeting begins at 10:30 a.m. EDT, with the virtual field hearing expected to commence at 11:00 a.m. EDT. 

Panel 1 – Lessons from the Ground 

Panel 1 will examine first-hand accounts from public safety and communications industry stakeholders responding to disasters with the goal of exploring what works, what doesn’t, and what lessons can we learn from their experiences.

Janet Britton
General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Human Resources, EATEL

Jeff Johnson
Chief Executive, Western Fire Chiefs

Polly Prince Johnson
President and CEO, Louisiana Association of Broadcasters

Francisco Sanchez, Jr.
Deputy Homeland Security & Emergency Management Coordinator, 
Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Jack Varnado 
Captain, Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office

Panel 2 – Building Resiliency into U.S. Networks

Panel 2 will explore steps that have been, could be, and should be taken to build resiliency into networks to improve their availability and accessibility for all affected communities.

Scott Bergmann
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, CTIA - The Wireless Association

Donald Cravins, Jr.
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, National Urban League

Louis Dabdoub, III
Director, Incident Response, Entergy

Harold Feld
Senior Vice President, Public Knowledge

Linda Mastandrea
Director, Office of Disability Integration and Coordination, FEMA 

The event will be open to the public via live feed from the FCC’s webpage at www.fcc.gov/live and on the FCC’s YouTube channel.  Stakeholders and members of the public are invited to share their perspectives on these topics in the form of written statements via filing with the Commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) in PS Docket No. 21-346 and 15-80 and ET Docket No. 04-35, either at www.fcc.gov/ecfs or by using the Commission’s express comment filing portal at www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express.  Written statements of the panelists and the recording of the hearing will be made part of the public record in these dockets.  

Open captioning and an online ASL interpreter will be provided for the event.  Other reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities are available upon request.  Requests for such accommodations should be submitted via e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or by calling the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau at (202) 418-0530 (voice).  Such requests should include a detailed description of the accommodation needed.  In addition, please include a way for the FCC to contact the requester if more information is needed to fill the request.  Last minute requests will be accepted but may not be possible to accommodate.

For additional information about the field hearing, please contact Rebecca.Lockhart@fcc.gov.
 


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