Disaster Management Communicating with Standards Office for Interoperability and Compatibility

1. Disaster Management Communicating with Standards Office for Interoperability and Compatibility Panel Discussion Command, Control and InteroperabilityScience and Technology Directorate November 6, 2007

2. Agenda • A panel discussion on the value, implementing and role of local, tribal, state and federal groups in the standards process • A live demonstration of the Emergency Data Exchange Language (EDXL) Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) and Distribution Element (DE)

3. The Panelists • MODERATOR • David Lamensdorf, Chairman, Emergency Interoperability Consortium (EIC) • PANELISTS • Denis Gusty, Director, Office for Interoperability and Compatibility, Department of Homeland Security • Elysa Jones, Chair, OASIS Emergency Management Technical Committee • Xenophon (Yo) Gikas, Captain, City of Los Angeles Fire Department • Donna Roy, Director, Enterprise Data Management Office and National Information Exchange Model (NIEM)) Executive, Department of Homeland Security

4. OIC Background – Denis Gusty • Established the Office for Interoperability and Compatibility (OIC) in 2004. • Managed by the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate, OIC is assisting in the coordination of interoperability efforts. • Purpose to strengthen and integrate interoperability and compatibility efforts in order to improve local, tribal, state, and Federal emergency preparedness and response. • OIC is committed to developing tools—methodologies, templates, models, and educational materials—that effectively meet the critical needs of emergency responders in the field.

5. Practitioner-Driven Approach OIC advocates a unique Federal approach: • “Bottoms-up” approach • Practitioner-driven governance structures benefit from the critical input of the emergency response community • Local, tribal, state, and Federal policy makers and leaders • Input ensures that OIC resources are aligned with responders’ needs Highest Highest • Creating the Emergency Data Exchange Language suite of standards • DM’s Practitioner Steering Group ensures that initiatives and tools effectively meet practitioners’ information sharing priorities and requirements. Local Agency-Specific Regional Inter-Agency & Inter-Disciplinary Usage Priority State and Federal Lowest Lowest

6. Emergency Interoperability Consortium The EIC is made up of organizations that share the same goals for interoperable emergency communications. The Executive Committee leads the consortium which participates in educational and outreach activities to the public and federal communities on incident and emergency management issues. David Lamensdorf ChairmanEmergency Interoperability Consortium

7. EIC Role in Standards • The Consortium's primary objectives are to: • Create a national approach for data interoperability through an public-private consortium • Promote the development of Web services / XML data interoperability standards necessary to support the timely and accurate exchange of incident information throughout the Emergency Management community • Ensure every responder has appropriate access to whatever information they require - when and how they need it 7

8. National Information Exchange Model – Donna Roy • NIEM is partnership of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security • Purpose to develop, disseminate and support reusable enterprise-wide information exchange standards and processes for all levels of government • NIEM defines data-exchange standards for information that is commonly shared across the broad justice, public safety, emergency and disaster management, intelligence, and homeland security enterprises

9. NIEM • NIEM embraces collaboration with preexisting standards • Reuse of standards allows organizations to reduce the costs of developing information sharing capabilities • Information Exchange Package Documentation (IEPD) provides all the technical resources to quickly develop and deploy interoperable standards

10. Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards • What is OASIS? • International Standards Body founded in 1993. • Not-for-profit consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of open standards for the global information society. • Standards are Free • There is no charge to use any of the Standards. All completed works can be found at www.oasis-open.org. • Standards are Open • The OASIS process allows input from any person or organization during the public comment periods. All communication among the technical committees are open for the world to monitor and review during the standards development process.

11. Emergency Management Technical Committee • Charter • The mission of the EM-TC is to create incident and emergency-related standards for data interoperability. • Current Standards • Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), a simple message format encapsulating for all information needed for alert and notification • Emergency Data Exchange Language Distribution Element (EDXL-DE), a content based header used for defining the routing assertions for the attached payload • Standards in Development • EDXL Hospital Availability Exchange (HAVE) • EDXL Resource Messaging (RM)

12. Emergency Communications Los Angeles City Fire Department LA Region Interoperability Project Mission Statement: DELIVER MISSION CRITICAL INFORAMTION TO EMERGENCY DECISION MAKERS • Goals: • Open Platform – Standards Based (CAP/EDXL) • Internet Protocol – World Wide Connectivity • Interoperable – Regional, Multi-Discipline, Common Operating Picture Captain Xenophon (Yo) Gikas

13. LAFD Standards Based Projects • Tactical Information Program (TIP) • Regional Communication (Radio IP, EDXL & CAP) • Police, Fire, EMS & Military using GIS/AVL/CAD • Information Sharing, Common Operating Picture • Hazardous Materials Interoperability Project (HMIP) • Wireless Interoperable Handheld Sensor Data Collection • Data Sharing & Alert notification (CAP, DE & EDXL) • Area Wireless Reconnaissance & Evaluation (AWARE) • Pre-Deployed Large Event/Venue CBRNE Detection • Data Sharing & Alert notification (CAP, DE & EDXL) 13