VARs Needed For Integration Services In Capitol Region

The National Capital Region (NCR) offers huge opportunity for solution providers and systems integrators that can enhance information sharing and security -- particularly in crisis situations. Incorporating two states and the District, the designated NCR requires more coordination than a typical command post, said Guy Swan, commanding general of the Military District of Washington at a homeland security conference Thursday hosted by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA).

The NCR, which encompasses 2,500 square miles and 4.3 million residents, touts 40 federal, state and local law-enforcement jurisdictions and 230 federal agencies. And, of course, it stands tall as one of the nation's biggest targets for attacks. Given that, President George Bush established a Joint Force Headquarters (JFHQ-NCR) in the region in 2003 for land-based homeland defense, and for support to civil authorities and incident management in the region. To achieve that mission under the omnipresent threat of terrorist attacks and national disasters, there needs to be enhanced coordination of law-enforcement and first-responder units.

"It comes down to situational awareness," Swan said. "We don't know what [the crisis] will be, but it's going to be big and catastrophic. And [should that happen], the requirement goes up, but our response is somewhat delayed."

To keep that delay to a minimal, a rapid and integrated response plan needs to be in place, along with interoperable communications and seamless information flow. That requires, first and foremost, that all area networks are integrated into the National Incident Management System (NIMS) framework.

"NIMS is our doctrine for dealing with crisis, [but] a challenge for all agencies is figuring out how to take existing systems and insert them," Swan said, especially when classified information requires enhanced security provisions. "How do we stay plugged in?"

The answer to that question in large part is through help from the private sector. Already, solution providers provide a combination of military-specific systems and off-the-shelf applications that enable all responders to not only respond to crises but also prevent them. The challenge moving forward is to constantly enhance and augment that technology to avoid another situation like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina.

"You'd be surprised how far things have come in the last few years," Swan said. "Now, the big question in the event of a crisis is not do we have enough [enforcements], but rather, how are we going to synchronize all the players."