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