 | |
| (Courtesy the White House) |
Three representatives of the ARRL recently briefed members of the White House National Security Staff on amateur radio's capabilities in an emergency. The September 12 meeting, according to the ARRL Letter, was organized by White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard A. Schmidt, W7HAS. ARRL President Kay Craigie, K3KN; Chief Executive Officer Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, and Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, W5MPC, made the presentation, focusing on amateur radio's capabilities to provide Internet messaging connectivity when normal infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.
Meanwhile, though, Newsline reports the FCC and FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) jointly issued a set of tips to citizens for keeping lines of communications open during emergencies, but did not include any mention of personal two-way radio services such as amateur radio, CB or the Family Radio Service (FRS).
