Open Source Homeland

Fran Spielman has the story:

City quietly builds backup 911 site at O’Hare Airport :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: City Hall
Amid cloak-and-dagger secrecy, the Daley administration is building a backup 911 center at O’Hare Airport to handle emergency calls if a terrorist attack or natural disaster damages Chicago’s primary facility in the West Loop, City Hall sources said Wednesday.

Sources said the backup facility will be located in an O’Hare building that houses the airport’s communications nerve center.

A stinging, detailed critique showing what the downtown heat emergency related to the LaSalle Bank Marathon has to say about emergency preparedness in Chicago

Second City Cop: Who’s Culpable?
The inefficiency of City agencies to coordinate a large scale response to an emergency situation run by a private entity should really bring pause to anyone who thinks this town is anywhere near ready for an Olympics or a terror attack.

 Chicago received cash today to help solve the problem identified in recent interoperability reports. Got to get less turf war between county and city.

City to get $16M for police, fire communications upgrades | Crains
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the money will answer “the urgent need for firefighters, police, and other first responders to be able to communicate effectively with one another.”

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the money should get the entire country up to a basic standard of effective emergency communication by 2009 — but only if the local authorities coordinate with each other and avoid turf fights.