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The US government is looking at convergence technologies as a way to make sure its president can address the public in any eventuality; be it terrorist attack, war or natural disasters. Reports say that the US Government's department of homeland security has been ordered by President Bush to come up with a policy that will give the president the ability to communicate to citizens, and not just government agencies, during crises. Having such a system in place is important for effective governmental response to emergencies. Critics of the current system note that state and local officials did not use the existing emergency public address system to warn the public in advance of Hurricane Katrina, for instance. The aim behind president Bush's directive is to overhaul, at the very least update, outmoded communications systems. In some cases these were designed in the 1950s in the era of the Cold War. They include the emergency broadcast system that is still tested daily on broadcast TV stations. In an age of cell phones, PDAs and the Internet, convergence has to be looked at by all governments when setting up infrastructure to reach millions in emergencies. The US president now says he wants a plan that will attempt to accomplish this directive within 90 days. The proposed plan should also report at least once a year, thereon, on how well the plan is being implemented. Separately, the US Congress has already set aside $25 million to fund a similarly described three-year study. Whichever plan comes into effect, it would embrace IP networking that can support voice and data, reach many people by multiple means and be designed to survive disasters.
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