. >> also it joining us is harlin mcewen. how would you describe the status of emergency communications in the u.s. today? >> if we want to start with 9/11, it was not as good as it is today. things have improved in the last 10 years fairly significantly. the issue of interoperability, it was not something that all of a sudden came up on 911. 9/11 really put a focus on it. people started to realize it was a serious problem and needed to be addressed. i think significant improvement has been made in the last 10 years. >> the report of the 9/11 commission came out just recently, and one of the original things they wanted to have done was to improve the interoperability, it was a critical failure on 9/11. today, their recommendation continues to languish. they go on to say that we support the immediate allocation of the d-block spectrum to public safety and the construction of a nationwide fraud when the broadband network. do you agree with that achieve? >> absolutely. that has been our goal for a long time. we have been develop

. >> also joining us this week is harlin mcewen of the international association of chiefs of police. chief mcewen, how would you describe the status of emergency communications in the u.s. today? >> guest: well, if you want to start with 9/11/2001, it was not as good as it is today. so things are improved, i think, in the last ten years fairly significantly. the issue of interoperability, i've been working in this arena for many years, has not, it wasn't something that all of a sudden came up on 9/11. it's something that we've been trained to address for many years. so 9/11 just really kind of put a focus on it. people started to realize it was a serious problem and needed to be addressed, and i think significant improvement has been made in the last ten years. >> host: the report, the tenth anniversary report of the 9/11 commission just came out recently, and can one of the original things that they wanted to have done was to improve the interoperability, the d block spectrum sale devoted to public safety. and this is what they write in the tenth anniversary report: >> host: and the

so those are the kind of takeaways the we got from 9/11, just a few of them. >> chief harlin mcewen come if that were to happen again today but, are we prepared, are different cities prepared at different levels? >> there's no question the of different levels of preparedness, but again, i have to continue to say that we are far better off today than we were ten years ago. we had this goal of dramatically

. >> harlin mcewen of the national association of chiefs of police, jack brown of the arlington county office of emergency management, and tim starks of the congressional quarterly. gentlemen, thank you for being on the communicators. >> thank you. >> thank you. recognizes the gentleman from which is currently numbers, >> members of congress held a ceremony for the victims of 9/11 at the u.s. capitol. coming up, we'll here from john boehner and other congressional leaders. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> ladies and gentlemen, g

. >> host: harlin mcewen of the international association of chiefs of police, jack brown of the arlington county office of emergency management and tim starks of "congressional quarterly." gentlemen, thank you for being on "the communicators." >> guest: thank you. >> guest: thank you. >> coming up next, the u.s. ambassador to libya talks about relations with libya's new government. then we're live at a conference of the congressional hispanic caucus institute for a discussion on economic issues impacting the latino community. and later the senate gavels back at 2 p.m. eastern for a period of general speeches followed by more debate on a measure to approve the renewal of import restrictions on products from burma. >> tonight following the cnn tea party express, republican presidential candidates debate, we'll have life coverage of the spin room where the candidates and their advisers are expected to speak with reporters. this takes place in tampa which is the host city for the 2012 republican national convention. live coverage begins at 10 p.m. eastern here on c-span2 and c-span.org. >> wa