NCSWIC

[N]othing [C]an [S]top [W]hat [I]s [C]oming

We’ve heard it for years. It’s been a hashtag, a rebuttal, a dream we held on to. Nothing can stop what is coming (NCSWIC). Seeing it as a recent Q delta clicked for me.

NCSWIC isn’t just a Q-ism. It’s also an acronym for the National Council of Statewide Interoperability Coordinators (NCSWIC), a division of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). It deals with communication of emergency responders at the state level.

I’ll do my best to eliminate acronyms where I can because I swear the government uses them to confuse us. In order to understand what I was reading, I had to dumb it down for myself. Hopefully it will make sense while keeping to the purpose of what I’m trying to say.

When Elon Musk forms the Department of Government Efficiency, we should write him and ask that the use of excessive synonyms and acronyms be outlawed in government. It deters anyone from reading and understanding what they’re trying to say. That’s probably the point.

As I’ve said before, I’m not an IT professional, but I’ve found some interesting connections related to emergency response communications.

The NCSWIC is comprised of 112 members (2 from each state and U.S. territory) who work together to promote communication during public emergencies. They follow the National Emergency Communication Plan (NECP) which serves as a roadmap for emergency communication between computer systems, members, and groups at all levels of government. The plan provides recommendations on how first responders and government officials communicate in the event of a disaster.

There are different groups that head up specific projects under the NCSWIC, and a couple of them stood out to me. The first is the Information Sharing Framework Task Force (ISFTF). This task force recommends ways for keeping data safe and making sure different systems work together. Their goal is to develop standards to handle large amounts of data that are suitable for systems using Internet Protocol (IP), which is how data is transmitted over the internet.

The group spent most of 2022 conducting tests and demonstrating how the Information Sharing Framework could be applied in real-world operations. They worked with the Iowa Department of Public Safety and multiple counties across Iowa to put their guidelines into practice. They also executed a test at Texas A&M to see how well the system would work in real world operations. The group wanted to improve situational awareness by making videos easier to use and share. The test included taking video streams from IP cameras at the facility and combining them with drone footage that could be displayed as video content. The video was used on a sharing platform, ESRI GIS, along with a blue force tracking application that could be shown on both laptops and smartphones.

In other words, the group war-gamed scenarios where they were able to track movement and place it on a GIS map so they could follow along. ESRI is a technology company that provides location and mapping services to government. Check your local municipal website for a GIS tracking map and you’ll likely see the ESRI GIS logo. Blue force tracking is a military application used in real-time situational awareness to track location and movement on the battlefield, using GPS technology.

Imagine a scenario where the location of every serviceman and police officer are tracked. Someone watching would be able to determine where they were at any given time by following their location in real-time on a map. The ability to communicate with them would be remarkable. Imagine we receive notification as I speculate about in my IP Addresses paper. An alert comes across our devices and we receive instructions of some sort on what is to come, and instructions on what we are to do. This would be a very anxious time for many, and may result in a brief time of chaos. It would be crucial that our first responders are protected. Tracking them via GPS would achieve that goal.

Like NCSWIC, SAFECOM also falls under the Department of Homeland Security’s CISA, and the two work closely together. SAFECOM’s goal is to improve the response to emergency communications. Their publication, Guidance on Emergency Communications Grants, provides information to grant recipients who use federal funds on emergency communication projects. It contains some interesting information.

Traditionally, emergency communications used by military or police was similar to a handheld radio (think Motorola), which used radio frequency. However, a new system has been developed that uses Broadband Push-To-Talk voice services, such as FirstNet. “Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled networks stand to transform how public officials will communicate by providing unparalleled connectivity and bandwidth that enhance situational awareness and information sharing.”  The modernization of this network is underway with the migration to a next-generation 911 infrastructure, which is an IP-based system that will replace the current system. The new 911 system will allow the public to send voice, photos, videos, and text messages directly to first responders. In addition, a nationwide public alert system is being deployed which uses traditional media, such as broadcast and cable, as well as IP-based technologies to transmit alerts to mobile phones and other devices. (See “IP Addresses? What IP Addresses?”)

“On July 19, 2024, the FCC released a Report taking steps to advance the nationwide transition to Next Generation 911.”  Unlike the current system, the new 911 system uses an IP-based format and supports the transmission of text, photos, videos, and data. As of April 2024, over 40 states had begun to adopt the new system.

FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) Modernization Act of 2015 ensures that under all conditions, the President, federal agencies, and state, local, and tribal governments can alert and warn the civilian population of threats to public safety. IPAWS is an internet-based capability that authorities can use to issue alerts, warnings, and notifications to the public quickly.

IPAWS allows authorities to deliver alerts simultaneously through many different ways to reach as many people as possible. These include the Emergency Alert System (EAS) which issues warnings through cable, satellite, and wired radio and television channels; Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) sent to mobile devices even when cellular networks are overloaded and can’t support person-to-person calls, texts, or emails; National Weather Service Radio; Unique Alerting Systems, such as siren systems, digital signage, and wall beacons; and gaming systems, Internet search engines, social media websites, wireless device applications, smart home technologies, and others. In other words, we’re going to get the message, whether we’re watching TV or playing Playstation.

Earlier I mentioned the change from radio frequency to the new broadband service, FirstNet. A law was passed in 2012 that established the FirstNet Authority and instructed the FCC to grant an exclusive license for a dedicated piece of broadband for FirstNet’s use only. Governors were given the option to opt-in or opt-out of the service. They all opted in.

FirstNet is a nationwide broadband network that provides priority wireless communication for first responders. It was created to provide a reliable network for public safety communications. Subscribers have priority access to cellular service in the United States, meaning they can get a signal when the rest of us can’t. FirstNet comprises over 250,000 square miles more coverage than commercial networks. An easy-to-understand example is when a hurricane hits and cell coverage is lost, our first responders still have service through FirstNet.

As I was researching FirstNet, I came across something interesting.

Do you remember the Christmas Day 2020 RV explosion in Nashville? A lot was going on in the country at that time. Joe Biden had been declared the winner of the stolen election, but President Trump was still in office.

At 5:30 am Christmas morning, 2020, 911 received a call of shots fired in downtown Nashville. Police arrived to find a suspicious RV parked on Second Avenue. The RV was broadcasting a computerized female voice repeatedly warning that a bomb would explode in minutes and urging people to evacuate. Responding officers went door-to-door evacuating residents. At 6:30 am, the RV exploded. Eight people were injured, none critically. The area looked like a war zone after the explosion. It was later reported that one man died, a man who had committed suicide inside the RV.

If this story is true then my sympathies go out to the man’s friends and family. If the story is true, it was very thoughtful of him to choose early Christmas morning when most people are not out and about. It was also very thoughtful of him to play a computer-generated voice warning people to evacuate the area hours before the explosion. I’m not sure what ever became of the report of gunfire.

The story was strange when it happened and I remember a lot of speculation that there were servers or something of importance in the building that was damaged. That may be true. There are many theories that could be the truth.

The reason I included the Nashville bombing in this paper is because the explosion created major damage to AT&T’s Nashville hub, where FirstNet’s network is housed. FirstNet and AT&T have a very important relationship.

When Congress created the FirstNet Authority in 2012, it set a mandate that the system must be financially self-sustaining. Although most industry analysts estimated that a new nationwide network would cost more than $50 billion to build, FirstNet assured its financial security by signing a contract with AT&T. The 25-year deal provides AT&T with access to the dedicated broadband portion that was licensed exclusively to FirstNet. In return, AT&T is responsible for building and maintaining the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network and making annual payments totaling $18 billion to FirstNet over the 25-year period of the contract. These payments were expected to fund FirstNet operations and enhancements to the system.

What I found interesting were the number of news articles that talked about the disruption to emergency communications because of this explosion.

Public-safety subscribers to FirstNet responding to the massive explosion near the AT&T network hub in Nashville experienced a four-hour outage when some services were not rerouted prior to deployable cell sites arriving at the scene. Services were eventually restored after batteries were exhausted.

“Based upon initial analysis, it appears the FirstNet network infrastructure was not directly impacted by the explosion,” the FirstNet Authority blog states. “However, because the bomb destroyed two local water mains, backup power generators were flooded and inoperable, and there was insufficient time to reroute all services before backup batteries were exhausted.”

The FirstNet Authority blog provided a timeline for the outage in the Nashville area, but did not address the length of reported outages in other locations of Tennessee and Alabama. The explosion impacted other carriers than just AT&T and FirstNet.

FirstNet and AT&T remained in close contact for an “in-depth review of how the network performed during this extraordinary attack.” Information from this event could help shape policies regarding FirstNet in the future. “As we absorb the lessons learned from this attack, we will adjust our risk-management and investment strategies as appropriate to deal with the changing threat environment.”

NCSWIC and SAFECOM released a Communication Dependencies Case Study on the events surrounding the explosion, with Key Takeaways and Best Practices for the future.

Could the Nashville explosion have been a real-world attack to test FirstNet’s capabilities and potential weaknesses? With the level of disclosure that many of us anticipate, isn’t it crucial for our emergency response systems to be in perfect working condition?

On the other hand, was the Deep State behind the attack? Did they expect the Patriots to release the disclosure while President Trump was still in office? If so, it was considerate of them to provide the evacuation warning.

Less than a month after the Nashville attack, the 56 million (now 300+ million) IP addresses were transferred. IP addresses that may be used for the next generation 911 system that can support the transmission of text, photos, videos, and data. Or IP addresses that may be used for an IPAWS alert that will be sure to deliver the message, whether we’re watching TV or playing Playstation.

In early 2024, AT&T, Verizon, and Secure Federal Operations (T-Mobile) were awarded national security emergency preparedness contracts. The 10-year contracts are to provide priority telecommunications support services during natural disasters and national security emergencies. AT&T was awarded a $151.6 million contract, Verizon was awarded a $174.8 million contract, and Secure Federal Operations was awarded $138.6 million contract.

AT&T’s website contains a press release of the contract award. The contract is the latest in a more than 30-year relationship between AT&T and the Department of Homeland Security.

All of these systems are in place to circumvent the Fake News Media. We may not know exactly when the disclosure is coming but we can have faith that it is coming soon. Because [N]othing [C]an [S]top [W]hat [I]s [C]oming.