The Board motion authorizing the ad hoc emergency communications committee says the final report is due at the annual meeting in 2007. That's how Board committee things usually work so none of us thought much about it. However, there has been some bucking and snorting in the field about how we can justify doing nothing to improve the status quo until after next year's January meeting. If the Board and Staff had taken an authoritarian or dictatorial stance on this subject, we could make a lot of changes real fast. Then many of the members who are upset now because they think we are going to take too long would be angry because we acted too hastily and without consulting the expertise that exists in the field. Shoved things down people's throats, etc., etc. If it were the intention to do nothing until after the January '07 meeting, then I would agree that it is not justifiable and smacks of fiddling while Rome burns. But in fact we do not mean to let the clock tick while we talk. We know hurricane season is just around the corner and other kinds of major disasters are so unmannerly that they do not have predictable "seasons." Harold Kramer and the staff are working on incorporating lessons-learned from the Headquarters operation end of things, and I am sure Harold will brief the Board about that when he decides the time is right. Regarding the ad hoc committee that I am chairing, when we arrive at a time-sensitive recommendation which Staff is able to implement administratively, I'm sure Staff will act on it. If we arrive at a time-sensitive recommendation which has policy implications, it will be brought to the EC or to the Board in July, as the case may be. The PSC will be in the consultative loop, either way. Recommendations that are not time-sensitive can be held for the final report to you next January. If any Board member thinks it is a bad idea for the League to proceed before January '07 with making changes based on lessons-learned since 9/11 and the last two hurricane seasons, I would appreciate the opportunity to talk with him or her privately on the phone. As the committee chairman, I am sensitive to members' feelings of urgency about the League becoming better prepared for major disasters, but the committee is not going to run wild out of control and fail to respect the procedures that govern our membership organization. 73 - Kay N3KN