Homeland Security Spends $430M on Radios...

The good news is that the Department of Homeland Security has invested $430 million into making sure federal agencies can communicate with each other in emergencies by using special radios tuned to a secure common channel. The bad news, according to a report by the department's inspector general picked up by ProPublica:

• Only one of 479 DHS employees surveyed was able to use the channel
• 72% didn't know the channel existed
• 25% knew it existed but couldn't find it
• 3% could find an older channel, but not the new one

• Only 20% of radios tested had all the correct settings programmed into them
• A DHS official acknowledges “some challenges in achieving department-wide interoperable communications goals.”

Read the full story here. (More national security stories.)