Reuters News is reporting that this hurricane season, "the Northeast may experience a hurricane larger and more powerful than anything that region has seen in a long time."

According to Chief Hurricane Forecaster Joe Bastardi of AccuWeather.com, "The Northeast coast is long overdue for a powerful hurricane, and with the weather patterns and hydrology we're seeing in the oceans, the likelihood of a major hurricane making landfall in the Northeast is not a question of if but when."

While it's hard to say whether New York, Boston, Philly or D.C. will be the next New Orleans, one thing that is certain is that if, and when, a major hurricane slams into the Northeast, the emergency response system will be just as overwhelmed as when Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast (see also Transterrestrial Musings). Although important first steps have been made to "fix the radios," over four years after 9/11 and nearly a year after Katrina the problem still remains.

The existence of regularly-occurring natural disasters in the United States is a reminder that the need to "fix the radios" is as urgent as ever. Policymakers at all levels of government must take seriously the inability of emergency workers to effectively communicate with one another, not just during major disasters but also during the "routine" emergencies that occur every day throughout America.

For policymakers to do nothing about the problem is to put the lives of emergency responders and citizens at risk. Until interoperability becomes a priority, we will be doomed to repeat the tragedies of the past.