[Boatanchors] May be of some interest

[William L Howard]

Date: Monday, March 10, 2003 10:21 PM

National Communications System

ARLINGTON, Va., March 10, 2003 -- After a nearly 40-year relationship
with the
Department of Defense, the National Communications System became part of
the
Department of Homeland Security March 5 during ceremonies at the Defense
Information System Agency's Skyline 7 auditorium here.

The NCS is a consortium of 23 federal member departments and agencies
responsible for ensuring the availability of national security and
emergency
preparedness communications. It was one many federal agencies that
officially
became part of the new department on March 1.

Lt. Gen. Harry D. Raduege Jr., NCS manager since June 2000, passed the
NCS
colors and responsibilities to Army Maj. Gen. Bruce M. Lawlor, chief of
staff
for the Department of Homeland Security, who represented Secretary of
Homeland
Security Tom Ridge. Raduege remains the Defense Information Systems
Agency
director.

Pending nomination by the president and confirmation by the Senate, the
Homeland Security Department's Undersecretary for information assurance
and
infrastructure protection will become the NCS manager.

"The NCS has accomplished each new mission it received with unmatched
excellence and great ability," Raduege said in his ceremonial remarks.
"It will
be no different as they take on their new mission with the Department of
Homeland Security. The NCS will continue to demonstrate its great
ability as
its professional team members identify and assess threats to our
homeland, map
those threats against vulnerabilities, issue warnings, and provide the
basis
from which to organize protective measures."

Lawlor, in accepting the agency colors, said the newest federal
department is
proud NCS is part of the homeland defense effort. "You are an important
and
valued member of a new team," he said. "We appreciate your experience,
understand your traditions and acknowledge your incredible achievements
over
the past 40 years."

When Office of Homeland Security began planning for the creation of the
department, Lawlor said, officials thought about linking intelligence
and
critical infrastructure into a new organization. He said the department
wanted
an organization that could look at intelligence threats, assess
vulnerabilities
in critical infrastructure, and propose and implement solutions. The
department
also wanted an organization that could inspire confidence in the private
sector
to collect and protect the information needed to accomplish this kind of
mission.

"We found that what we were thinking about wasn't so new at all -- that
the NCS
had been doing it for some time and doing it magnificently," he said.
"We
sought out the NCS as a model for how we might take what you've done and
implement across all 14 sectors of critical infrastructure that exists
across
the country. We also remembered what happened after 9-11, and we
remembered
your magnificent efforts of putting back into operation the
communications
systems that serve as the engine that drives this country."

The general also cited the NCS accomplishments with the President's
National
Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, a model for
industry-government
partnership in establishing national security and emergency preparedness
communications. "With the NSTAC, you've created an unmatched standard of
integrity that generates trust between the public and private sectors to
look
at critical infrastructures for the good of the country," Lawlor said.

"We look forward to your experiences and your commitment, your sense of
mission
and your professionalism, and we look forward to helping you help us,"
he said.

In his last action prior to the transfer, Raduege presented the NCS with
a
Joint Meritorious Unit Award and then attached the award streamer to the
agency's colors.

The award cited the NCS and DISA for "exceptionally meritorious
achievement"
from Sept. 11, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2001, where the NCS ".consistently
displayed
super leadership skills, managerial talent, technical expertise,
directly
contributing to the overwhelming success of operational forces during
the
conduct of operations to assure homeland security, overthrow the Taliban
regime
and liberate Afghanistan as part of the war on terrorism."

Although the transfer is complete, the NCS will remain at its current
site, co-
located with the DISA headquarters in Arlington, until further notice.

NCS was established in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy to assure
national
telecommunications survivability following the Cuban Missile Crisis. Its
activities currently include the Government Emergency Telecommunications
System
and Telecommunications Service Priority Program, two programs
successfully used
by national security and emergency preparedness officials during the
Sept. 11
attacks in New York and Washington.

A recent NCS initiative, and a result of the Sept. 11 attacks, is the
deployment of a nationwide Wireless Priority Service, now available in
15
geographic areas. The agency plans to expand this service across the
country by
the end of the year.

The NCS also runs the National Coordinating Center for
Telecommunications and
its Telecommunications-Information Sharing and Analysis Center, where
representatives of government and the telecommunications industry
coordinate
emergency telecommunications response efforts following national crises,
including natural disasters and terrorist events.

For more information on the National
Communications System [http://www.ncs.gov], visit its Web Site at
www.ncs.gov.

_______________________________________________________
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