VI: Surge Capability
Shore up Our Surge Capability Other Information:
The BBG needs to be better prepared for crisis broadcasting wherever it is needed. In 2000, the BBG issued its Crisis Broadcasting
Plan with a set of standing procedures to manage crises whenever they occur. Now, the BBG needs to ensure that we have the
technical means to respond to the transmission requirements of crises. Numerous crises have demonstrated that US international
broadcasting requires flexible and rapid "surge" capability, totally under BBG control. September 11, 2001, and the US response
in Afghanistan are only the most recent examples of critical, high priority needs emerging rapidly in political hot spots
around the globe. Earlier examples since 1989 include China, Iraq, Haiti, Rwanda and the Balkans. In most cases, the needs
are for an external delivery system that can broadcast across a national border. In those instances we need to broadcast over
the heads of the local government to reach the population. Sometimes, as in Afghanistan, the need is for an in-country broadcast
capability. It is not possible to predict which of those cases will apply next. It is, however, safe to say that BBG needs
to create a rapid response capability that does not exist right now, and that this needs to be under the control of the BBG.
We cannot, as we have learned in the case of Afghanistan, rely on other U.S. Government agencies to move speedily to help
us fill that void, even with the best of will.
Objective(s):
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