[CAP] [emergency] NOAA Undermining International Standards?

[Bob Robinson]

Richard, et al,

You might want to pass this info on to other vested
groups in the Emergency Management Community, such as
IAEM and the All-Hands Community Network.  They could
be helpful in getting the word out to those who can
help bring focus and if needed, pressure to bear.

Regards,

Bob Robinson


--- "Rudman, Richard A" <rar01 at earthlink.net> wrote:

> I sent a message to my prime NOAA NWS contact about
> this simply  
> saying that I have heard that CAP will not be fully
> implemented  
> within HazCollect and asking for more information. 
> I would also like  
> to see the specifics. I agree with Rex that going
> public with this  
> may be necessary.
> 
> Richard Rudman
> ======
> On Jun 1, 2006, at 6:12 AM, Rex Brooks wrote:
> 
> > Thanks for the heads up, Art,
> >
> > Can you provide the specific parts of CAP that are
> not being
> > implemented? If we are to successfully influence
> this situation in a
> > way that can ameliorate or alleviate the problem,
> we need to know
> > this.
> >
> > My general approach in circumstances like this is
> to find those with
> > the most practical clout who are willing to listen
> to sanity, and
> > give them the kind of ammunition they need to
> apply the right
> > leverage.
> >
> > That would be a clear example of how the real
> world consequences of
> > some policy such as this will have obvious harmful
> affects which can
> > be clearly linked back to the decision makers in
> question. If it
> > looks like they could be on the receiving end of
> the responsibility
> > for a calamity, the chances are they will buck
> whatever corporate or
> > political pressures being brought to bear on them.
> >
> > However, it is also useful to craft a few arrows
> for use on those
> > corporate or political pressure groups just to
> give our champions
> > more ammunition.
> >
> > At the same time, it is necessary to be able to
> get press focused on
> > the probable calamity-result in such a way that
> the pressure groups
> > understand that they will also be held
> responsible.
> >
> > In a sense, the aftermath of Katrina with the
> start of this year's
> > hurricane season, the lingering aftereffect of the
> Tsunamis,
> > especially with the recent Indonesian Earthquake
> puncutated by the
> > volcanic rumblings or Mount Merabi and the
> impending Avian Flu
> > Pandemic, which is showing the first signs of
> manifesting human to
> > human transmissibility are all our friends, sad to
> say. But we have
> > to make use of the public awareness of these
> disasters, both in spite
> > of and because of disaster fatigue since we are
> all quite ready to
> > lynch whoever rubs our collective nose in further
> negligence in the
> > face of such non-stop disasters.
> >
> > Ugh!
> > Rex
> >
> > At 9:33 PM -0700 5/31/06, Art Botterell wrote:
> >> Friends -
> >>
> >> As you may be aware, the National Oceanic and
> Atmospheric
> >> Administration (NOAA), in a bid to expand its
> role in national
> >> public warning, is representing its new
> "HazCollect" all-hazard
> >> warning program as using the OASIS Common
> Alerting Protocol (CAP)
> >> standard.
> >>
> >> Regrettably, what NOAA is proposing to roll out
> nationwide in the
> >> next few months is a crippled and incomplete
> version of the CAP data
> >> format.
> >>
> >> If NOAA was a warning system provider like any
> other, that might be
> >> a minor and ultimately self-correcting glitch. 
> But what NOAA is
> >> about to unwrap is nothing less than a national
> backbone network for
> >> public warnings of all kinds.  The sheer size and
> scope of the NOAA
> >> effort means there'll be strong pressure on other
> warning technology
> >> providers to conform to the NOAA-variant
> specification.  That will
> >> leave firms and agencies in the U.S. and abroad
> that already have
> >> implemented CAP per the international
> specification at a severe
> >> disadvantage.
> >>
> >> Despite numerous requests over the past six
> months, and spurning
> >> offers of technical assistance and even of funds
> from local
> >> governments to bring HazCollect into full CAP
> compliance, the NOAA
> >> officials in charge of HazCollect have stubbornly
> declined to have
> >> their contractor, the Battelle Memorial
> Foundation, make the
> >> relatively minor--by their own
> admission--adjustments required for
> >> full CAP compliance.
> >>
> >> Regrettably, we can no longer ignore the
> possibility that NOAA is
> >> trying deliberately to drive a wedge between
> implementers and the
> >> international standards process.  One reason
> might be that the
> >> restrictions NOAA is trying to impose on CAP
> serve to mask serious
> >> and long-standing shortcomings in existing
> warning systems,
> >> including ones operated by NOAA.
> >>
> >> But we don't need to speculate about motives to
> see that we are at a
> >> crossroads for the adoption of open standards by
> the U.S.
> >> Government.  If federal agencies start to rewrite
> science-based
> >> consensus standards by dint of raw administrative
> muscle, that will
> >> leave the technology market at the mercy of
> unrestrained
> >> bureaucracy.  It will inflict huge costs on
> industry and the public
> >> and be an enormous setback for international
> humanitarian relief and
> >> the global war on terror.
> >>
> >> It's too bad that quiet diplomacy was unable to
> resolve this before
> >> it became public.  However, with the national
> deployment of
> >> HazCollect's "initial operating capacity" just
> weeks away, it's time
> >> for the standards community to take a stand for
> standards compliance
> >> and transparency.
> >>
> >> Therefore, speaking as the original architect and
> editor of the
> >> Common Alerting Protocol, I'm calling on the
> OASIS Emergency
> >> Management Technical Committee and its members to
> demand that
> >> HazCollect not be declared operational until its
> CAP implementation
> >> is complete and fully compliant with the
> published specifications.
> >>
> >> Our integrity is being tested now.  Either we
> stand up for open,
> >> non-proprietary standards or we stand by as our
> work becomes a
> >> stalking-horse for narrow institutional
> interests.  I'm confident
> >> that the agencies, organizations and individuals
> who've invested so
> >> much hard work in standards development over the
> last few years
> >> won't let that work be distorted or dismissed.
> >>
> >> - Art
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
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