STATEMENT OF 
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS
Re:  Recommendations of the Independent Panel Reviewing the Impact of Hurricane Katrina 
on Communications Networks, EB Docket No. 06-119 and WC Docket No. 06-63.
 Hurricane season begins anew tomorrow. News programs are filled with predictions of 
how many and how intense this year’s storms may be; stories about the extent of preparations that 
are being made to cope with the disruptions that might once again befall New Orleans, the Gulf 
Coast and other hurricane-prone areas of the country; and stories chronicling the thus-far 
disappointing reconstruction of the areas hit so hard by Hurricane Katrina. Our nation was a 
nation scarred by the images of suffering and destruction that were broadcast into our homes in 
the days and weeks following Katrina and also Hurricane Rita. I visited the Gulf Coast with 
Chairman Martin and other communications leaders in the days following the catastrophe, and I 
know that I will never forget the searing images of devastation we witnessed there.
 The region’s suffering was severely compounded by the almost total failure of public 
safety and commercial communications networks. For a week or more, more often than not, 911 
calls went unanswered, broadcast stations were dark, public safety radio systems were seriously 
compromised, wireless phones were inoperable, and wireline phones had no dial tone. Most 
painful of all was that a significant portion of this failure was unnecessary and could have been 
prevented, or at least seriously ameliorated, by better pre-disaster planning and more coordinated 
public sector-private sector teamwork. I say this not to point fingers, but to point up our local, 
regional and national shortfalls in public safety and disaster preparedness. Part of our problem 
today, as a country, is our failure to come to grips with how much work remains to be done to 
build effective public safety communications. It is huge, it is expensive and it is totally 
necessary.
 The Gulf Coast tragedy presented us with a solemn duty to sift through the shortfalls, in 
both the private and the public sectors; to grasp the harsh lessons that needed to be learned; and to 
enhance our preparedness for the next major cataclysm. As I hope we are all aware, there will be 
a next one—certainly other natural disasters or, even more terrifying if that is possible, more 
terrorist attacks.
 The FCC undertook an active role in the days following the big storm. The Commission 
team, under Chairman Martin’s leadership, worked around the clock, for days and weeks, to 
restore communications and provide assistance all along the Gulf Coast. Communications 
industries likewise worked long and hard to restore critical services and we owe them a large 
measure of gratitude, too. Subsequently an Independent Panel was established under former 
NTIA Administrator Nancy Victory to review thoroughly what had happened, what systems had 
worked and which had not, and to provide recommendations for the road ahead. Today, after 
putting these recommendations out for comment, the Commission takes a step forward.
But it is only that—another step forward. This is not a Report and Order that brings a 
proceeding to a close. It is an incremental step against the backdrop of a challenge that will 
continue to stalk us and might even get worse in coming years as climate changes suggest more 
frequent and more intense storms and disruptions across much of the country. There is so much 
left undone and so much yet to do.
I consider it a positive step that today’s item announces two new regulations for carriers 
who fall under the Commission’s jurisdiction. First, following the suggestion of the National 
Emergency Number Association (NENA), all carriers of a certain size must now ensure the 
availability of emergency/backup power in all their central offices. Second, they must file with 
the Commission an analysis of the redundancy, resiliency, and dependability of their 911 
facilities.
 These requirements will help improve the nation’s readiness for the next disaster and I 
appreciate my colleagues’ willingness to make these measures mandatory. Their adoption 
represents recognition by this Commission that we cannot rely exclusively on the workings of the 
free market and the sometimes-too-sanguine assurances of industry when it comes to assuring 
public safety. I am pleased that we seem to be on the cusp of realizing that a more proactive 
approach may be necessary. As Justice Frankfurter once observed, “Wisdom too often never 
comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.”1 It is important that the 
Commission is taking this up.
 But I also think that record that was developed was too heavily skewed by the belief—I 
think the pernicious belief—that the FCC either will not or should not take a lead role in 
mandating network resiliency standards. I simply cannot accept this view. The nation’s 
experience with 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina indicates to me that industry best practices and 
voluntary best efforts are not by themselves always going to get the job done. You don’t have to 
take my word for it. The comments filed in this docket by St. Tammany Parish, one of the 
Louisiana areas most devastated by Hurricane Katrina, put it well: “Regarding the question of 
whether to ‘rely on voluntary consensus or other measures for enhancing readiness and promoting 
more effective response efforts’ we encourage the Commission to actively pursue positive results 
to the extent permitted. Voluntary consensus measures, while well intended, have fallen short 
many times.”
 I can’t put it any better than that. The individual citizens who bore the brunt of Katrina’s 
fury and the PSAPs who tried to cope with it certainly understand that some things need to be 
done, and done soon, and done on a mandatory basis if they are not going to be voluntarily 
implemented. These are the times when the Commission needs to step in and make it happen.
Otherwise an effective system of public safety will never be achieved. So I hope that our 
willingness today to implement mandatory actions will be the beginning of a broader and more 
general reorientation of our approach to public safety issues. I am pleased we are beginning 
down this road and I hope we stay on it. I also hope and trust that the private sector realizes the 
public trust it has been given to aid in the protection of our citizens. The private sector played a 
critical role in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita, and still does, as it rebuilds the network 
infrastructure in that devastated region. The industry’s continuing involvement in these efforts is 
essential if government and industry together are going to be successful next time. Our nation’s 
citizens deserve, and expect, no less. Public safety is not something nice to have—it is a national 
imperative and the first obligation of all of us in this room as public servants.
Another role that I suggested for the Commission was to act as a clearinghouse for ideas 
that can better prepare organizations of all sizes for the next disaster. I am talking here about the 
hundreds of thousands of public safety agencies, hospitals, nursing homes, charities, small 
businesses, and other organizations that lack the resources to come up with self-generated, 
custom-built and fully-tested disaster readiness plans. Why should each of these groups have to 
start from scratch and re-invent the public safety wheel? Wouldn’t it be far better if they could 
come to the FCC to learn about what has worked for other organizations and what hasn’t? After 
  
1 Henslee v. Union Planters Nat. Bank & Trust Co., 335 U.S. 595, 600 (1949) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting).
all, learning that your disaster plan doesn’t work in the middle of a disaster is emphatically not
the right time to make that discovery. The technologies and protocols that organizations rely 
upon in a crisis need to work every time.
 Today’s item instructs the Commission’s new Public Safety and Homeland Security 
Bureau—under its new Bureau Chief, Derek Poarch—to take the lead role in building such a 
clearinghouse. As I have noted many times before, this is where the Commission should have 
gone six years ago, right after 9/11. I commend Chairman Martin’s willingness to take a 
leadership role in this critically important area and I applaud his efforts to initiate processes that 
will hopefully put this agency in the forefront of communications readiness planning, exactly 
where it belongs.
 As with all public safety initiatives, the proof will be in the pudding. In the weeks and 
months ahead, our new Bureau and Chief are tasked with developing readiness checklists for each 
industry sector; awareness programs on alternative technologies such as satellite and paging 
systems, Wi-Fi, and WiMAX; and outreach programs for emergency medical and other 
communities. It will require significant resources to realize these and many other objectives, such 
as developing and publicizing a first-rate website that communicates the Commission’s latest 
learning on how to prepare for disasters.  Commission outreach is so central to all this and I am 
pleased that the Bureau will issue regular reports detailing our outreach activities. I, for one, will 
be monitoring these reports closely to assure myself that the Bureau is doing everything that it 
can to reach those who can benefit from the FCC’s research, experience and programs. I urge 
Chief Poarch to be aggressive in this task—to become a tireless advocate and proselytizer on this 
issue. It was never my idea that we would settle for rebuilding a communications system that was 
taken down by Katrina—a terrible storm, to be sure, but far less devastating than a direct hit from 
a Category 5 hurricane would have been. The good citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast 
have a right to expect, and should settle for no less, than the best and most up-to-date 
communications systems that our country can provide.
 So I vote to approve this item as a step along the way, but just a step, holding out the 
prospect of continuing commitment to see the job through and to deploy the full decision-making 
authority of this Commission to make it happen. Thanks to the Bureau, all the commenters, our 
hard-working bureau and staffs, and my colleagues for their efforts here.