(CBS/AP) Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will release the findings of a new report Wednesday that finds that five years after 9/11, many U.S. cities still have ineffective disaster communications plans, CBS News has learned.

Seventy-five metropolitan areas, all of which have adopted "policies for interoperable communications" were evaluated with widely varying results, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.

The six regions scoring the highest were San Diego; Columbus, Ohio; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Washington; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Laramie County, Wyo.

Among those scoring poorly were Chicago, Baton Rouge, La., and Cleveland.

Areas were judged on the ability of fire and police departments and paramedics to effectively communicate and how effectively local, state and federal governments have coordinated in preparation for a disaster.

Homeland Security is under the gun to improve emergency communications among first responders, and Chertoff has pledged to achieve nationwide interoperability by the end of 2008.

The Department of Homeland Security study comes five years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, revealed major problems in how well emergency agencies were able to talk to each other during a catastrophe. Many firefighters climbing the World Trade Center towers died when they were unable to hear police radio warnings to leave the crumbling buildings.

In New York now, the report said, first responders were found to have well-established systems to communicate among each other — but not the best possible.

Just over a year ago, Hurricane Katrina underscored communication problems when radio transmissions were hindered because the storm's winds toppled towers.

Democrats have said they will make improving emergency communications a priority when they take control of Congress this week, though they have not said specifically what they will do, how much it will cost or how they will pay for it.

In the study, communities were judged in three categories: operating procedures in place, use of communications systems and how effectively local governments have coordinated in preparation for a disaster.

Most of the areas surveyed included cities and their surrounding communities, based on the assumption that in a major crisis emergency personnel from all local jurisdictions would respond.

The areas with the six best scores were judged "advanced" in all three categories. The cities with the lowest grades had reached the early implementation stage for only one category.

Chicago, Cleveland and Baton Rouge, for example, were judged to have accomplished the early stage of governance coordination. Mandan, N.D., and the territory of American Samoa were both found to have gotten to the early stage of their actual usage of interoperable emergency communications.

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