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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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October
2005
Volume
9 - Number 1 |
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FEMA’s National Response Plan and Federal Response Responsibilities On January 6, 2005, the U. S. Department of Homeland
Security released The National Response Plan to establish protocol for the
appropriate agencies in the event of a domestic disaster. This plan supercedes
the Federal Response Plan (FRP), the Federal Radiological Emergency Response
Plan (FRERP), the Initial National Response Plan (INRP) and the U. S. Government
Interagency Domestic Terrorism Concept of Operations Plan (CONPLAN).
This plan brings together the “best practices and procedures” of the various incident management disciplines, including: public health, public works, law enforcement, homeland security, responder and recovery worker health and safety, emergency medical services, firefighting, emergency management and the private sector. This plan would be used in the event of a domestic incident such as terrorism, natural disaster or man-made emergency. The role of the federal government in a response effort involves various agencies and persons within those agencies. The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is the “principal Federal official” for managing domestic incidents. In other words, he or she has primary responsibility for oversight and is sometimes required to coordinate Federal resources. The Attorney General under the Department of Justice assumes the primary role of investigation for incidents related to terrorism. The Secretary of Defense, under the direction of the President and in certain circumstances, is responsible for authorizing Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA). The Secretary of State has responsibility for the safety of U.S. interests and U.S. citizens overseas and therefore is required to coordinate international preparedness and prevention in addition to response and recovery for domestic incidents. In addition to the key players listed above, there are often other government agencies that are called upon during an Incident of National Significance. Some agencies are provided the independent authority to pronounce emergencies or disasters. An Emergency Support Function (ESF) is sometimes deployed, bringing together the competence of both government and private sector agencies to offer services, resources and support. ESF’s are comprised of both primary and support agencies. In the event of a national incident such as a hurricane or a terrorist attack, it is essential that the various government entities, including state, local and tribal and the private sector have a plan in place as to what their role is and also identifies appropriate leadership in a time of crisis. You can find the National Response Base Plan and Appendices (PDF, 114 pages, 2MB) at: http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRPbaseplan.pdf or if you want the Full Version (PDF, 426 pages, 4MB), please go to: http://www.dhs.gov/interweb/assetlibrary/NRP_FullText.pdf |