Sen. Greg Ball, a Hudson Valley Republican, is sending a letter to President Obama urging him to address the problem of emergency radio operating during an emergency, by making it a federal funding priority.

The letter comes from one of the more benign topics of Ball’s terrorism preparedness hearing held earlier this month, which included a discussion on Islamic radicalism and Shariah, or Muslim law.

Radio problems plagued first responders in the early moments of the Sept. 11 attacks, making it all the more difficult for fire, EMT and police crews to clear the towers before their collapse.

Ball writes in the letter:

Whether the problem is a technical one, a political one, a funding issue, or a collective action licensing problem, it is imperative to fix our radio interoperability problem once and for all, and to insure the safety of the lives of our first responders, and the millions of New Yorkers they protect. A continuation of a failure to address this situation is simply unacceptable.

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