Hi Folks,
I'm hustling out the door, but wanted to forward this so that the TC
list sees it, too.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Rex
>Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 12:11:43 -0400
>From: Herbert White <>
>To:
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>Cc: Art Botterell <>
>Subject: Re: [CAP] NOAA Undermining International Standards?
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>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject: Re: [CAP] NOAA Undermining International Standards?
>Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 10:33:48 -0400
>From: Herbert White <>
>To: Art Botterell <>
>CC: Emergency Mgt XML TC <>,
>
>References: <>
>
>
>
>To try and calm the waters here, let me try to briefly clarify the issue
>on NWS's intent and role with HazCollect. As one of the lead Federal
>agencies in operational warning dissemination, we recognize the high
>visibility of anything we do. In the case of HazCollect, NWS is taking
>the first steps needed to implement an all-hazard warning system
>enabling emergency managers to input information directly onto the NOAA
>dissemination networks and beyond in support of the National Response
>Plan. A good reason for doing it is the NWS network has the capability
>to widely disseminate the information and directly warn the public.
>
>What we're striving for is what the CAP community has been promoting all
>along: a common protocol that can be used by any system. We also have
>the requirement to support existing technology, with the requirement to
>move into new technologies.
>NOAA is NOT rewriting CAP specification and, as stated, needs to conform
>to CAP. The planned HazCollect Initial Operating Capability (IOC) is
>just the first step in the process. NOAA's intent is to fully support
>the CAP "Instruction" element. We look forward to working with the CAP
>community to implement this high priority HazCollect function.
>
>Herb White
>Dissemination Services Manager, OCWWS
>NOAA National Weather Service
>
>>
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: [CAP] NOAA Undermining International Standards?
>> Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 21:33:18 -0700
>> From: Art Botterell <>
>> To: Emergency Mgt XML TC <>
>> CC:
>>
>> 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
>> _______________________________________________
>> This list is for public discussion of the Common Alerting Protocol.
>> This list is NOT part of the formal record of the OASIS Emergency
>> Management TC. Comments for the OASIS record should be posted using
>> the form at
>> http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/form.php?wg_abbrev=emergency
>>
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>>
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>>
>> This list is not for announcements, advertising or advocacy of any
>> particular program or product other than the CAP itself.
>
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>_______________________________________________
>This list is for public discussion of the Common Alerting Protocol.
>This list is NOT part of the formal record of the OASIS Emergency
>Management TC. Comments for the OASIS record should be posted using
>the form at
>http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/form.php?wg_abbrev=emergency
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>
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>
>This list is not for announcements, advertising or advocacy of any
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>
>
>
>>
--
Rex Brooks
President, CEO
Starbourne Communications Design
GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison
Berkeley, CA 94702
Tel: 510-849-2309
