Copyright 2006 Network World, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
The office of the CIO for the Federal Emergency Management Agency has made several changes in the past year to bettercommunicate with state and local officials, support citizens who need assistance, and keep better track of assets such as food and water. Network World Senior Editor Denise Pappalardo recently spoke with FEMA CIO Barry West and Deputy CIO Jeanne Etzell about some of these changes.
(West is about to make a career change as he heads over to the Department of Commerce to become its CIO.) What are some of the changes in your department that make FEMA better equipped to aid in future disasters?
West: There’s a lot that has happened since last hurricane season. What we’ve done is gone back and look at our core systems that we used and significantly enhanced those systems. One example is NEMIS, the National Emergency Management Information System. This system processes all disaster victim claims for issuance of checks for aid. We’ve gone back and made this system more robust using the latest and greatest from Oracle. And we’ve moved applications that were running on Microsoft to Linux.
The system does a lot of replication. We have been able to take advantage of some of the Web services features that don’t require as much transfer of data.
How will the upgrade better support disaster victims?
West: NEMIS was originally designed to support 20,000 to 25,000 applications daily. During [Hurricane] Katrina the system was stretched to support nearly 110,000 applications daily. Going into this hurricane season we’re trying to make it more robust.
Etzell: We’re trying to process 200,000 registrations per day in addition to the normal caseload activities that occur at the call centers. What we’re testing right now is putting a load on the application to simulate the call center load plus 200,000 transactions in a 24-hour period. Our results look positive, but we have an independent test firm coming in to test and get me the specifics. . . . By upgrading to the new Oracle cluster servers and grid environment we have been able to eliminate some replication that shut down the system for backup.
There were reports post-Katrina that some citizens had to return checks to FEMA. What has been done to minimize fraud?
West: We’re now using ChoicePoint for all registrations. It’s a service that verifies and authenticates data against an applicant.
If a person enters their name, Social Security number and address, this database is smart enough to know if something doesn’t add up.
I understand that about 40 percent of all applications for assistance were processed via the Web. Are you shooting for a higher percentage?
West: We would love to see more. Those numbers also include FEMA going out into the field with our Mobile Disaster Response Centers [MDRC] assisting with applications. There is a whole host of ways those Internet numbers are increasing.
Etzell: This year we are piloting a program called Internet Cafe where we have modified mobile homes to have 20 PCs and 20 telephones. They will be moving around in the disaster theatre. Victims will be able to register themselves from these units.
What type of wireless technology is being used?
Etzell: Satellite Internet access. We have about five vehicles that we are piloting this season. And then we’ll make a decision for next season if we’ll expand or not. These units are in addition to our 55 MDRCs that are directly connected to FEMA’s network.
What other technology changes have occurred in the past year?
West: We’ve just about 99 percent completed our new network at FEMA, which will make us IPv6 ready from a hardware perspective. We will still need to go back and look at some of our software that is hard-coded with IP addresses that we’ll have to change.
What benefits does the new network bring?
West: More IP addresses — that’s probably the biggest benefit. There is also some added security, such as port security.
You’ve said that communication between first responders was a significant problem post-Katrina. What has changed to improve this?
West: One area that we’ve tried to focus on is situational awareness. This is having information in the hands of all of those involved at the same time regardless of location. In other words, the information could be originating from FEMA or out in the field or [Department of Homeland Security] headquarters or the Coast Guard.
Etzell: It’s called HSIN, or Homeland Security Information Network.
What about physical communication on the ground? How has that improved?
West: When the last hurricane season ended we took a step back and really worked closely with DHS and some of our other key players such as the Coast Guard. First thing we did was take an inventory of all of our communication assets. We really didn’t have that going into last hurricane season. We knew what FEMA had, but, for example, we didn’t know what the Coast Guard had as far as tactical communications. So now we put in place standard operating procedures where if we have an event in a certain area of the Gulf Coast region we know what assets are near that event.
How is FEMA using GPS for asset tracking?
Etzell: GPS we used in a very rudimentary way last year and we now have what we call total asset visibility. It’s a system that’s going to track, via GPS technology and other software, the location of current loads of certain commodities going through two of our logistic centers, one in Atlanta and the other is in Fort Worth, Texas. . . . There are select vendors that can track the shipments by the trailer load. It tracks the trailers not the trucks.
What assets are you actually tracking with the GPS system?
Etzell: Water, ice, meals, plastic sheeting, tarps, generators and select vehicles such as our NDMS [National Disaster Medical Systems] teams. They have 99 vehicles, and all 99 are tracked via GPS. And last year when we had such challenges in the Gulf Coast we turned the GPS devices on to find some of the NDMS teams.