In the 1980s and 90s it was common to talk about C3I, meaning Command, Communication, Control, and Intelligence. This generally applied to the highest level when considering dealing with a potential enemy attack. One major concern, especially during the Cold War, was a first strike nuclear attack, perhaps a “bolt from the blue” whereby the means of controlling the US strategic forces would be compromised by “decapitation,” that is, destruction of the National Command Authority for distributing commands on what is to be done, by whom, and with what weapons.
Maintaining the ability to defend one’s country then requires a command structure that cannot be decapitated. Policy makers develop structures considering what parts of the command system are vulnerable and how they may remain operative even under worst-case scenarios. An example is the New York City Fire Department. When the Twin Towers disaster occurred there was no unified incident command with a single agency in charge. The responding agencies acted according to their own protocols with results that were comparable to the loss of the buildings themselves. Paramedics took their own initiative in establishing triage centers and first-line treatment sites. No one was in command, and agencies did not even have a clear understanding of what was happening beyond the obvious.
In part this was due to the loss of fire department communications, since the department’s center was in the towers and knocked out along with the building. Senior fire command personnel were also lost in the building. Thus the command structure did not work, control suffered, and communications were lost. It is interesting that the 9/11 Commission Report (the “Kean Report” found at http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf) focused on the Al-Qaeda attack and global terrorism rather than the lack of preparedness.
The 9/11 Commission Report also pointed out the following:
“Most of the intelligence community recognized in the summer of 2001 that the number and severity of threat reports were unprecedented. Many officials told us that they knew something was planned, and that they were desperate to stop it. Despite their large number, the threats received contained few specifics regarding time, place, method or target. ‘The system was blinking red.’”
This intelligence was not adequately shared with either the New York Fire Department (lead emergency responding agency in a mass disaster) or the Police Department. Thus the fourth element of an essential preparedness structure must be intelligence. The three “C’s” cannot function without it.
One would think that lessons would be learned from 9/11 that would bring changes to emergency disaster response in New York City. According to retired Deputy Chief Vincent Dunn (http://vincentdunn.com/Changes-9-11-04.pdf) these needed changes have not occurred. Specifically Dunn points out that:
1. Police and fire in New York City have no unified incident command, with a single agency in charge. The new emergency command protocol issued by the mayor's office is said by some to be ambiguous because it does not clearly define who is in charge. Union leaders representing city firefighters and fire officers have sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge criticizing the city's new emergency protocol, saying it does not meet federal requirements, and asking for a meeting to discuss their concerns.
2. Firefighter radios still are not able to transmit messages in high-rise buildings, subways and tunnels. Battalion chiefs may carry portable booster radios (each weighing 22 pounds) that enhance communications between the fire ground commanders and firefighters' portable radios. This so-called "quick fix" is nowhere near complying with the recommendation of the McKinsey & Co. consulting report Increasing FDNY's Preparedness, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta stated.
McKinsey recommended that building owners install and maintain permanent equipment (an in-building repeater) that picks up and amplifies walkie-talkie signals.
This example extends to all levels of Command and Control. Unless the four elements presented, Command, Control, Communication, and Intelligence work together the system is at risk for decapitation and chaos.
In the next blog entry this will be extended to Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, or C4ISR.
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