Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Congress approves National Emergency Technology Guard (NET Guard)

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 03:36:30 -0500

House OKs
High-Tech Task Force Bill

Matthew Daly
Associated Press Writer
Nov 25, 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -- A bill to create a high-tech task force
to help safeguard telecommunications networks during emergencies
is on its way to the president's desk to be signed into law.

Congress approved the proposed National Emergency Technology
Guard, known as NET Guard, this week in the massive bill creating
the Department of Homeland Security.

With its chamber almost deserted, the House used a voice vote to
approve a final version of the bill containing technical changes
this week made by the Senate, combining the Customs Service, Coast
Guard and 20 other agencies into a single Cabinet-level department
to challenge terrorism.

The new NET Guard was proposed by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., after
the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Wyden said the nation needed a
high-tech counterpart to the National Guard to keep its
telecommunications infrastructure up and running during disasters.

NET Guard will establish a network of private experts and
companies ready to organize after emergencies to rebuild a
communications infrastructure. Teams would be required to have
both expertise and access to equipment before being deployed in a
disaster, Wyden said.

On the day of the Sept. 11 attacks, telephone and cell phone lines
in New York City were so jammed that engineers who tried to warn
about the collapse of the World Trade Center towers could not get
in touch with emergency crews just a few blocks away, Wyden said.

"I firmly believe that technology is this country's best hope to
detect, deter and respond to terror attacks -- conventional,
biological or even nuclear assaults," Wyden said.
AP-

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/