Looking For Lifelines

ohn Gilligan, deputy chief information officer for the Air Force, was in his office overlooking the Pentagon's bus terminal when American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the building's west side. He didn't hear or feel a thing. A voice came over the Pentagon intercom telling everyone to evacuate. "After we left the building, all we could see was smoke," he says. "It was unclear just what had happened." Outside, Gilligan tried his cell phone to no avail. He found a pay phone but it, too, proved useless. He hurried to his car and drove home, alone and out of touch. Once there, Gilligan discovered the Internet was working and logged on to his e-mail account, finding it the most reliable form of communication in the aftermath of the attacks.

Gilligan was not alone. As many wireless and regular telephone systems were jammed and unable to operate, millions of Americans flocked to the Internet to communicate with families, friends and colleagues. Unable to make calls during a startling governmentwide evacuation, federal workers across the country turned to the Web, e-mail and a federal emergency telephone system to communicate in what turned out to be electronic government's first major crisis.

The destruction of the World Trade Center devastated New York's telecommunications infrastructure. Verizon Communications, New York's largest carrier, lost a communication center that controlled 200,000 phone lines and 3 million data circuits when the twin towers collapsed. The company normally handles 115 million calls a day in New York and 35 million in Washington. A day after the attack, with its infrastructure crippled, Verizon struggled to handle 340 million calls in the two areas. Repair efforts were hampered by flooding, poor air quality, debris and unstable buildings.

The cellular infrastructure suffered as well. In the four hours following the attacks, Cingular Wireless reported that cell phone calls skyrocketed by 400 percent, causing significant connection problems. The telecommunications system was so rickety that international carriers such as France Telecom were asked to restrict calls to the United States during the crisis to keep trans-Atlantic links open. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell says the FCC was in "constant contact" with companies working to get phone networks "operating efficiently and effectively."

While most Americans were having trouble placing calls, a little-known federal telephone system provided federal executives, relief workers, utility managers and financial leaders the most effective way to communicate during the crisis. The National Communications System (NCS) activated the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS). Headquartered in Arlington, Va., NCS was created in 1963 to ensure telecommunications security and preparedness during emergencies. Its director reports to the Secretary of Defense and doubles as the head of the Defense Information Systems Agency. GETS calls are connected before all others on standard phone lines operated by AT&T, Sprint and WorldCom. GETS users call a special telephone number, enter a personal identification number, and then make their call. In the week after the attacks, 4,000 GETS calls to and from Manhattan were successful 95 percent of the time, says NCS Deputy Manager Brenton Greene. Three thousand GETS calls were made in Washington. NCS has distributed 23,000 GETS calling cards to public and private sector officials, in case of emergency, and keeps another 20,000 to hand out at disaster sites. NCS also manages the Telecommunications Service Priority System, which has coordinated the repair of critical phone and data service outages in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency moved immediately into both disaster areas and set up two field offices concurrently. FEMA field offices now use a wireless network that is quick and easy to set up, says Ron Miller, FEMA's CIO. As repair problems in New York dragged on, FEMA had to rely on satellite communications. Miller admits he prefers wires because they are more reliable. Still, he acknowledges "there are a lot of No. 1 priorities down there at ground zero."

Success and Failure

The terrorist attacks revealed both the strengths and weaknesses of electronic government. Some agencies fully tapped the Internet's potential for delivering fast, accessible and accurate information. Others failed to use their Web sites during the first hours after the attacks or used them only sparingly and provided limited information. "E-government has a huge role to play in this new age," says George Molaski, former CIO at the Transportation Department. "Citizens have to know that the information they get from government sites is trustworthy and correct. The worst thing the government can do is let rumors and misinformation prevail."

On the day of the attacks, federal employees tried in vain for hours to get into the Office of Personnel Management's Web site, a central source of federal human resources information. Most federal workers in the Washington area left their offices, fearing further attacks. Employees who went online to find out whether the government would reopen on Sept. 12, found OPM's entire site unavailable. OPM had shut it down, fearing acts of information terrorism. "We felt we had to take precautions with our Web site to be as secure as possible," says OPM Web Site Manager Vivian Mackey. Yet no attacks came from cyberspace. A federal information security official who asked to remain anonymous says the danger of cyberattacks turned out to be minimal. "We never advised any federal agency to shut down its Web site after the attacks," says the official. Spokesmen for the U.S. Space Command, which monitors military networks, reported no rise in malicious network activity on Tuesday and Wednesday.

OPM brought its site back online late in the afternoon of Sept. 11 without activating any links. It simply announced that federal agencies in Washington would be open on Sept. 12 and that employees could take unscheduled leave. The site later returned to normal activity. Some executives believe OPM should have stayed online immediately after the attacks. "OPM has a role to serve in the federal government and is a necessary information source," says Gilligan, who also co-chairs the federal CIO Council Committee on Security, Privacy and Critical Infrastructure Protection. OPM's "most valuable contribution is helping to provide guidance and reassurance," he says.

Other agencies remained online throughout the crisis. The Defense Department's official Web site, DefenseLink, contained information about the attack on the Pentagon and photos of the damage. FEMA kept its site operating Tuesday and worked through the night to update it. "We treat the site as a key communications tool," says FEMA spokesman Marc Wolfson. "We give it a lot of attention during emergencies. We know from our statistics that when disaster hits, people tend to turn to our Web site for information." Wolfson says 500,000 people typically visit the FEMA Web site each day. On Sept. 11, that number spiked to more than 2.3 million. By Sept. 13, the site displayed 11 articles on subjects ranging from how to help the victims to advice on how to talk to children about the attacks. Late Sept.12, the federal government's official Web portal, FirstGov, posted a page that pulled together information from important entities-including federal, state and local agencies and nongovernmental organizations-involved in the crisis.

The FBI began investigating the attacks immediately. The bureau debuted a Web site created by its Internet Fraud Complaint Center seeking tips about the attackers. By noon Sept. 17, the FBI had received 80,000 tips and leads; more than half-47,052-came through the site. The FBI's hot line generated 7,850 tips while the bureau's field offices contributed 26,816. "The Internet really blows all the other figures to pieces," says FBI spokeswoman Debbie Weierman.

Some agencies worked to relate their mission to the tragedies and updated their Web sites accordingly. The Social Security Administration, for example, prominently displayed information on how to file for survivors benefits. The Web was even more valuable considering that, like the IRS, SSA was forced to shut down its toll-free telephone number on Sept. 11 when operators were sent home. But perhaps getting more to the heart of the matter, workers at the Fish and Wildlife Service used its site as a support network by posting their thoughts and feelings about the attacks.