Episode 18: ITS at the Emergency Operations Center

The summer of 2026 so far has been busy, if not hectic, for New York. America’s 250th birthday. Record-breaking heat waves. Visitors from around the world joining Americans to watch the World Cup games. A certain pop star taking over Madison Square Garden for their nuptials.

Behind the scenes, there is a team of talented, vigilant professionals making sure that amidst all the hubbub and chaos, New Yorkers stay secure. During emergencies and large-scale statewide events, the New York State Emergency Operations Center is activated, and this summer it was activated for 41 consecutive days.

This coordinated effort of multiple state agencies is overseen and operated by the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (often referred to as “DISHES”). When activated, the EOC provides centralized communication support, which allows disaster preparedness, or DPC, agencies to coordinate and share information quickly, keeping all teams prepared in case of an emergency so the people who need to respond can do so quickly and effectively.

ITS is on site to provide IT support not only in response to possible incidents but also to support the efforts of the EOC itself – a coordinated response relies heavily on reliable technical capabilities. 

On this episode, Scott Kislowski, Director of Operations & Emergency Management, and Mitch Dolan, Agency Emergency Management Coordinator, share tales from the recent EOC activation, including how ITS works 24/7 to help keep New Yorkers safe.

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Transcript

 0:01
 You're listening to the IT'S a Tech podcast, an engaging conversation about the game-changing technology solutions being advanced by the state's Office of Information Technology Services.

 0:12
 Learn how ITS makes IT happen

 0:15
 for more than 50 state agencies and over 20 million New Yorkers. The summer of 2026 so far has been busy, if not hectic, for New York.

 0:27
 America's 250th birthday.

 0:29
 Record-breaking heat waves.

 0:31
 Visitors from around the world joining Americans to watch the World Cup games.

 0:36
 A certain pop star taking over Madison Square Garden for their nuptials.

 0:40
 Behind the scenes, there is a team of talented, vigilant professionals making sure that amidst all the hubbub and chaos, New Yorkers stay secure.

 0:49
 During emergencies and large-scale statewide events, the New York State Emergency Operations Center is activated, and this summer it was activated for 41 consecutive days.

 0:59
 This coordinated effort of multiple state agencies is overseen and operated by the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, often referred to as DISHES.

 1:09
 When activated, the EOC provides centralized communication support, which allows the disaster preparedness or DPC agencies to coordinate and share information quickly, keeping all teams prepared in case of an emergency so the people who need to respond can do so quickly and effectively.

 1:28
 ITS is on site to provide IT support not only in response to possible incidents, but also to support the efforts of the EOC itself.

 1:36
 A coordinated response relies heavily on reliable technical capabilities.

 1:41
 On today's episode, Scott Kislowski, Director of Operations and Emergency Management, and Mitch Dolan, Agency Emergency Management Coordinator, shared tales from the recent EOC activation, including how ITS works 24/7 to help keep New Yorkers safe.

 1:58
 Scott.

 1:59
 Mitch. It has been a busy summer for both of you, so thank you for taking the time out of your schedules to talk to us today.

 2:06
 Can you both share your professional journeys that led you to ITS?

 2:09
 Scott, why don't we start with you?

 2:11
 Sure.

 2:12
 My journey started in ITS, which was previously known as OFT, as a contractor back in 2007.

 2:19
 I started with site coordination and enterprise networking solutions, ensuring that there were seamless deployments of networking equipment and end-user equipment.

 2:30
 Later throughout my throughout my career there, I learned a lot from different various units.

 2:35
 In 2019, it took more of an expansive role significantly towards emergency management, where I was able to hone my skills in developing operational strategies and strengthening our support needs for the entire agency.

 2:48
 And that's pretty much where I'm at today.

 2:51
 It just kind of dove deeper and deeper and deeper into emergency management.

 2:55
 So.  Nice, very nice.

 2:57
 Mitch, how about you?

 2:59
 Sure.

 3:00
 I started in 2018 at the start of the year as a student intern working for Caine Martin.

 3:05
 Actually, we love Caine here.

 3:08
 Yeah, Caine, Caine's awesome.

 3:09
 He really is.

 3:10
 He took me on full time soon after that.

 3:12
 Within the first year we were deploying, we're doing PC refreshes across the state.

 3:18
 So we'd travel on the road for a week as a big group of guys.

 3:21
 We'd turn over a whole office, make the customer happy, shake hands, leave, never really see him again.

 3:27
 It was, it was actually a lot of fun.

 3:30
 Around 2019, we started working with the Emergency Management team during COVID and that's kind of how I met those guys.

 3:40
 I think Kane realized I was kind of skill capped where I was.

 3:43
 He negotiated like a trade and actually brought me into Scott's team at the time and that's that's where we met.

 3:50
 I would then work with site consultation for three years, maybe four years, doing new office build outs, office expansions, network infrastructure stuff, you know, kind of project management-light type of situation and also working on the liaison roster, the Emergency Management liaison roster during that same time.

 4:12
 So from there, Scott brought me an opportunity to join his team as the Emergency Management coordinator.

 4:21
 I gladly accepted.

 4:23
 It was a big new adventure for me and that's where I am now.

 4:27
 Been about nine months now and I'm loving it so far.

 4:29
 It's been great.

 4:31
 I like this so far.

 4:32
 And then he looks over at Scott.

 4:34
 Do great.

 4:36
 So can you describe to our listeners what exactly the state's emergency operations center is and what does it do?

 4:46
 Yeah, so the state emergency operations center is sort of a central hub for coordinating emergency responses.

 4:53
 They activate for incidents requiring state level attention.

 4:57
 Those incidents range from natural disasters to man-made emergencies.

 5:03
 The EOC works with the State Watch Center, which monitors emergencies and threats 24/7.

 5:10
 They provide critical support for field operations, logistics, planning, multi-agency coordination. They facilitate information gathering, resource coordination, operational support for various agencies and partners.

 5:27
 And they manage the public communications through systems like New York Alert for real-time emergency notifications.

 5:35
 It's like a one stop shop for information during during difficult times. Correct.

 5:40
 Yeah.

 5:40
 They're sort of the central coordination piece for the entire statewide response to any given emergency.

 5:46
 Very good.

 5:47
 So this summer the EOC was activated for 41 consecutive days, which is seems like a lot.

 5:55
 What was the reasoning behind that?

 5:59
 So, the EOC was activated as more of like a preparedness posture to be there in case of an emergency.

 6:07
 So people were staged, staff were staged all across the state.

 6:11
 It could have been related to staging staff closer to the city where most of the events were taking place.

 6:17
 So which events were those?

 6:19
 So we had the quite a, quite a long list actually, but it was a, it was a very busy summer.

 6:24
 It was for people listening in the future.

 6:26
 This was a very busy summer. So we had mainly the World Cup games, which were held in New New York and New Jersey, the NBA playoffs, international naval and aerial aerial review, Sail4th, America 250 celebration.

 6:41
 They had the Taylor Swift wedding and then generic like traffic and crowd concerns with mass gatherings.

 6:49
 Of course. They had the Jones Beach Air Show, just a bunch of events really down there.

 6:54
 I think the was it the US Open?

 6:58
 So yeah.

 6:59
 So mainly the EOC is, is set up to be a preparedness measure to respond to any emergencies for any sort of planned events or unplanned events. Tight.

 7:08
 A just in case measure. Correct.

 7:12
 So what kinds of things are being monitored by the EOC when it is activated?

 7:20
 Our role in ITS Emergency Management is to support emergency operations of all kinds.

 7:27
 So we've got 24/7 support for all the needs for the SEOC in the watch center, just general operations, ensuring all the users and partners within the facility are operational to the fullest.

 7:42
 We also participate in 3ESFs, ESF 2,7 and 15.

 7:48
 That'd be communications logistics and PIO.

 7:51
 And on top of that, we we monitor and maintain and support New York responds and New York Alert, which are two of the most heavily utilized applications for all the DPC partners that operate within and outside of the USC during emergencies.

 8:10
 Sure.

 8:11
 So boots on the ground to make sure that everything is working operational and you know, the communications hub can actually, you know, communicate.

 8:18
 Sure.

 8:18
 New York Response is sort of our ticketing system intake reporting out for any sort of event.

 8:26
 It could be a chemical spill and DC is notifying us internally in the state of of some event that happens.

 8:35
 The agencies would submit a ticket or the counties or local municipalities or just the average citizens can submit a request for information, things like that.

 8:45
 We use in ITS, we use New York Response to use the ticket.

 8:52
 We, we take, we intake from New York Response and then take it into ITSM.

 8:56
 And then that's how we engage all the rest of the downstream resolvers in ITS.

 9:00
 So it's, it's sort of our, to, to relate it to ITS people.

 9:04
 It's, it's sort of our ITSM.

 9:06
 But New York Response is for DHSES. And ITSM is the internal ticket system that we use for agencies.

 9:11
 So when someone's printer breaks, that's what that's how they they let us know.

 9:17
 So it seems like ITS is kind of playing a really pivotal role.

 9:21
 So is there, what other kind of assistance are we providing to our New York State partner agencies while the EOC is up and running?

 9:29
 Sure.

 9:31
 ITS we provide and maintain the functionality of all the applications for most of the DPC partner agencies, if not all of them.

 9:42
 We provide network connectivity, telecommunications, things like voice, data, cellular connectivity.

 9:50
 We stand up and support SharePoint sites for specific events.

 9:57
 This time around we created one for the FIFA World Cup and the 250th anniversary of the country.

 10:02
 That's a really smart idea. Right?

 10:03
 So that served as a hub for both internal and external partners for communication throughout the entire 41 days.

 10:13
 That was kind of a constant.

 10:15
 Yeah, information sharing, right, right.

 10:18
 In addition to that, we, we, we provide infrastructure and we stand up remote and additional sites on demand with that would be standing up the network, offering the phones, staffing the facilities, both local and regionally.

 10:38
 So we'd be communicating and working with multiple different divisions and bureaus throughout the agency to make that happen.

 10:43
 And that can be one site or multiple sites at a time.

 10:47
 This time around it was just Corning Tower for the 4th of July.

 10:50
 Sure, yeah, Emergency Management is often thought of as a DHSES dedicated team function, but it's really ITS's Emergency Management.

 11:01
 So there's, there's always help from multiple different bureaus and groups.

 11:05
 And yeah, it's setting up one regional operation Center for an OGS ask through New York Responds to us is, is something that we're familiar with doing.

 11:15
 And then we would just receive that NYR and then take it downstream to all the other groups within ITS and, and fully support that, that mission.

 11:23
 Right.

 11:23
 This is the the behind-the-scenes logistics.

 11:26
 People don't necessarily think about.

 11:27
 They're just, oh, this happened and everything was fine.

 11:30
 It was like, well, this is what happens to make sure that everything is fine. Correct.

 11:35
 See guys, we do cool stuff here.

 11:37
 So I understand that the ITS employees who assisted were a mix of senior leaders who had emergency management experience during previous EOC activations.

 11:46
 And also those were pretty kind of new to this type of work.

 11:50
 Can you tell us why that's important going forward?

 11:54
 Sure.

 11:56
 The roster started with approximately 8 staff.

 12:01
 As careers advance and personal life, you know, interferes, so to speak, on a bad way, but. Work life balance, guys, it's very important. Correct.

 12:10
 Things change.

 12:11
 You know, several people have respectfully stepped away from their duties in Emergency Management and, and we support that.

 12:18
 It opens up opportunity for others to come in and train.

 12:23
 It provides this event provided an opportunity to expand our our roster in Emergency Management.

 12:30
 I think in years past there were other people that have reached out asking for an opportunity to learn more about Emergency Management, what ITS does to offer.

 12:40
 So we did expand the roster pretty significantly.

 12:43
 But our senior roster was created back in I think it was 2019-2020 something. Nothing happened in 2020 to constitute an emergency.

 12:55
 It was fine.

 12:56
 Everything was fine.

 12:57
 Sure, sure.

 12:58
 But our senior roster is, is still comprised of Dave Kolpakis, who started back in 2018, Shane Stone, Dan Snyder and Shaun Weiss, who started in.

 13:09
 Yeah, 2019.

 13:10
 Yeah, yeah.

 13:14
 To piggyback off of what Scott said, we we expanded the roster significantly.

 13:18
 We brought in 18 new liaisons that we're calling them the...hybrid liaison. Hybrid liaisons, right.

 13:28
 The initiative was really designed to facilitate cross training efforts between both the seniors and the hybrids.

 13:35
 The the new 18 members, the, the goal is for the new folks coming in to teach the seniors some of their day-to-day work.

 13:44
 That'd be level 2 work, customer support, endpoint device-related things and the seniors to sort of guide them on how to navigate the agency at large.

 13:57
 They've been around a lot longer.

 13:58
 They they know all the escalation paths and they have the Rolodex established to reach out to whomever may be required for the particular ask.

 14:07
 And their name carries some weight, as well.

 14:09
 So right, the unspoken rules, right.

 14:11
 Yeah.

 14:12
 So the goal is to kind of have those two parties teach each other during the activation over the summer.

 14:18
 We got almost all of those 18 members and I believe all but but one or two, which was awesome.

 14:25
 That's amazing.

 14:26
 This is so it's really taking a, a, a challenge and turning it into opportunity, like a succession planning, cross-training opportunity.

 14:34
 It's really cool.

 14:35
 Neat.

 14:36
 So for the first time ever, the EOC created a Joint Information Center to work right alongside the technical and operations group.

 14:45
 Why was that specific component added this time around?

 14:49
 Sure.

 14:49
 So it's very important to align and centralize communications between different PIO agencies, PIOs and their communications teams.

 15:01
 So getting them into one room in, you know, steps away from the emergency operations center it it does help communications and fast tracks our response and making sure that they're all on the same page together.

 15:14
 Some PIOs might be able to help other PIOs out and it just really unifies the the state of New York's stance.

 15:22
 So. Absolutely and relationship building, too.

 15:24
 Yes, absolutely.

 15:25
 If you ever need to put a face to a name or you know you're used to years worth of communications back and forth where they're just through e-mail or phone, yes, putting in meeting each other and having that contact, which is great.

 15:38
 Absolutely, absolutely.

 15:39
 I know Scott Reif, who is our chief communications officer.

 15:42
 He found a very valuable experience overall.

 15:46
 So Scott, Mitch, it is almost time for us to wrap up this episode.

 15:49
 But before you go, there's one more question you both get to answer.

 15:54
 What are you most looking forward to this year?

 15:55
 It can be related to your job.

 15:57
 It can be related to your hobbies.

 15:59
 It's completely up to you.

 16:00
 You tell me.

 16:02
 I look forward to continuing to work with the team and watching them grow.

 16:06
 Mitch has done a great job.

 16:07
 He's been here for, like you said, nine months, I think something like that going on a year.

 16:13
 So, you know, watching all the newer people come in and witnessing their interests to this event was really sort of inspiring for me 'cause I've been doing it quite a while, like new, bringing a new life to, to Emergency Management.

 16:27
 So yeah, it's, it's an, an unusual task too.

 16:31
 So it's something that can be like really exciting for a new person.

 16:33
 Yeah.

 16:34
 And, and years ago, part of my transition from my older previous roles, moving into this role, I had transferred over to learn the customer relations side from LWE portfolio.

 16:47
 And Sandra Burnell and her team were excellent in giving me that guidance and sort of showing me like what what else there is in in ITS in the entire agency.

 16:58
 So this for me was another opportunity to watch how many people actually are driven and want to do more and aren't just sitting, you know, sitting being complacent, doing their job maybe really, really well, but they want more.

 17:10
 So they're hungry.

 17:11
 Yeah.

 17:12
 That was that was good to see.

 17:13
 That's really cool.

 17:14
 Mitch, how about you?

 17:16
 Well, I've got a lot to look forward to both personally and professionally at this point in time.

 17:21
 It's been a been quite the year for me.

 17:25
 Around the same time I started this job with Scott I my first baby was born.

 17:30
 My little girl is Mia.

 17:31
 So she said "dada" for the first time yesterday.

 17:35
 Oh, my goodness.

 17:36
 So that's quite exciting.

 17:38
 That's kind of the personal component for sure.

 17:40
 There really aren't many words to describe that besides what I've already said.

 17:44
 Absolutely.

 17:45
 That's amazing.

 17:46
 Yeah.

 17:46
 And professionally, I'm really just excited to see where this where this new exciting and kind of obscure role takes me.

 17:54
 It's constantly changing and the team's still maturing and evolving, and I've got good leadership and I'm just really looking forward to see what happens there.

 18:05
 That's amazing.

 18:06
 Great answers, both of you.

 18:08
 So both of you, thank you again for sharing your experience at the EOC.

 18:12
 And on behalf of myself and all of our listeners, thank you and thank you to everyone deployed during this activation for helping to keep New Yorkers safe this summer.

 18:22
 Thank you, thank you. Thank you for listening to IT'S a Tech Podcast.

 18:27
 For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov.