On
February 28, 2003, the President issued Homeland Security
Presidential
Directive
(HSPD)–5, Management of Domestic Incidents, which
directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and
administer a National Incident Management System (NIMS).
This system provides a consistent nationwide template to
enable Federal, State, local, and tribal governments and
private-sector and nongovernmental organizations to work
together effectively and efficiently to prepare for, prevent,
respond to, and recover from domestic incidents, regardless
of cause, size, or complexity, including acts of catastrophic
terrorism. This document establishes the basic elements
of the NIMS and provides mechanisms for the further development
and refinement of supporting national standards, guidelines,
protocols, systems, and technologies.
Building on the foundation provided by existing incident
management and emergency response systems used by jurisdictions
and functional disciplines at all levels, this document
integrates best practices that have proven effective
over the years into a comprehensive framework for use
by incident management organizations in an all- hazards
context (terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and other
emergencies) nationwide. It also sets in motion the mechanisms
necessary to leverage new technologies and adopt new
approaches that will enable continuous refinement of
the NIMS over time. This document was developed through
a collaborative, intergovernmental partnership with significant
input from the incident management functional disciplines,
the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations.
The NIMS represents a core set of doctrine, concepts,
principles, terminology, and organizational processes
to enable effective, efficient, and collaborative incident
management at all levels. It is not an operational incident
management or resource allocation plan. To this end,
HSPD-5 requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to
develop a National Response Plan (NRP) that integrates
Federal government domestic prevention, preparedness,
response, and recovery plans into a single, all-disciplines,
all- hazards plan. The NRP, using the comprehensive framework
provided by the NIMS, will provide the structure and
mechanisms for national-level policy and operational
direction for Federal support to State, local, and tribal
incident managers and for exercising direct Federal authorities
and responsibilities as appropriate under the law.
HSPD-5 requires all Federal departments and agencies
to adopt the NIMS and to use it in their individual domestic
incident management and emergency prevention, preparedness,
response, recovery, and mitigation programs and activities,
as well as in support of all actions taken to assist
State, local, or tribal entities. The directive also
requires Federal departments and agencies to make adoption
of the NIMS by State and local organizations a condition
for Federal preparedness assistance (through grants,
contracts, and other activities) beginning in FY 2005.
Jurisdictional compliance with certain aspects of the
NIMS will be possible in the short term, such as adopting
the basic tenets of the Incident Command System (ICS)
identified in this document. Other aspects of the NIMS,
however, will require additional development and refinement
to enable compliance at a future date (e.g., data and
communications systems interoperability). The Secretary
of Homeland Security, through the NIMS Integration Center
discussed in Chapter VII, will publish separately the
standards, guidelines, and compliance protocols for determining
whether a Federal, State, local, or tribal entity has
adopted the aspects of the NIMS that are in place by
October 1, 2004. The Secretary, through the NIMS Integration
Center, will also publish, on an ongoing basis, additional
standards, guidelines, and compliance protocols for the
aspects of the NIMS not yet fully developed.
Chapter
I - INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW >>
|
