FCC Forms Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted unanimously to create a new Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, according to the group’s release.

The new unit will be in charge of functions that were previously spread across seven different bureaus or offices, including public safety communications, such as 911 call center issues; disaster management issues; alerts and warnings for U.S. citizens; and continuity of government operations and continuity of operations planning, among others, according to the release.

“The new bureau is designed to provide a more efficient, effective, and responsive organizational structure to address public safety, homeland security, national security, emergency management and preparedness, and disaster management, and other related issues,” the release reads.

Before the changes are finalized, Congress must approve them, and a local union must also OK any modifications that would affect its work force.

The new unit will be broken down into three divisions: the Policy Division, the Public Communications Outreach & Operations Division, and the Communications Systems Analysis Division.

The Policy Division will create and administer rules, regulations and policies, and it will handle spectrum licensing for public safety groups like police and fire departments.

The Public Communications Outreach & Operations Division will head up emergency response procedures and operations, including public safety, homeland security, national security, disaster management and related functions, on a daily basis and during emergencies.

The Communications Systems Analysis Division will collect required information—network outage reports, for instance—and will examine and study collected data.

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