Emergency Communications Help Americans Be "Resilient Together"

The 2025 severe weather season is upon us. This month, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) ushered-in the fourth annual Emergency Communications Month to help honor our nation’s emergency responders and emphasize the importance of emergency communications for protection of life and property.

When the worst-case scenario happens, our first responders must maintain the ability to communicate. CISA’s Emergency Communications Coordinators help make this possible.

During an emergency, like wildfire or severe weather, it is the wrong time to realize your communications are not interoperable or resilient.

This year, we continue to focus on how the nation can be “Resilient Together,” highlighting the importance of secure, interoperable emergency communications. CISA encourages critical infrastructure organizations—including state, local, tribal, and territorial governments—to enroll in free priority telecommunications services like the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) and Wireless Priority Service (WPS).

These services grant additional priority and enable essential personnel to communicate when networks are congested. We also encourage them to continue to communicate the importance of resiliency and emergency preparedness.

We’ve also delivered a workshop template for building a “Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency” (PACE) plan for emergency communications teams across the region.

PACE planning is more than just having four ways to reach someone. It requires thinking through what you need to communicate, with whom, and how to make those communication paths resilient to the threat environment you face. It outlines how an organization thinks about, supports, and implements communications, power, and personnel during a crisis.

The template encourages response agencies to identify their basic elements of need during a crisis. Filling out a PACE plan forces consideration of what phones, radios, and other equipment are available and accessible. It questions which channels to use, which facility has what line of sight, and which personnel can get where and how.

Ultimately, a PACE plan identifies how to communicate during a disaster if any of your primary means of communication are disrupted.

CISA is committed to enhancing interoperable communications across the Eastern Iowa region and ensuring that all aspects of the emergency communications ecosystem are prioritized and protected during disruptive events or incidents.

I am confident that through collaboration and creativity, all American communities can collectively overcome any adversity or adversary. We are stronger, together.

To learn more about Emergency Communications Month and find available resources, visit CISA.gov/emergency-communications-month.

No single person can do it alone. We must be resilient together.

Chris Maiers is emergency communications coordinator with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)