• Military
• WMD
• Intelligence

• Security Menu                     

• Systems
• Industry
• Operations
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Space

Emergency Preparedness and Response Overview

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is the first-ever standardized approach to incident management and response. Developed by the Department of Homeland Security and released in March 2004, it establishes a uniform set of processes and procedures that emergency responders at all levels of government will use to conduct response operations.

Developed by the Secretary of Homeland Security at the request of the President, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) integrates effective practices in emergency response into a comprehensive national framework for incident management.

The NIMS will enable responders at all levels to work together more effectively and efficiently to manage domestic incidents no matter what the cause, size or complexity, including catastrophic acts of terrorism and disasters.

Federal agencies also are required to use the NIMS framework in domestic incident management and in support of state and local incident response and recovery activities.

The benefits of the NIMS system will be significant:

• Standardized organizational structures, processes and procedures;
• Standards for planning, training and exercising;
• Personnel qualification standards;
• Equipment acquisition and certification standards;
• Interoperable communications processes, procedures and systems;
• Information management systems with a commonly accepted architecture;
• Supporting technologies - voice and data communications systems, information systems, data display systems, specialized technologies; and
• Publication management processes and activities.

The NIMS Integration Center (NIC) was established by the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide "strategic direction for and oversight of the National Incident Management System. supporting both routine maintenance and the continuous refinement of the system and its components over the long term."The NIMS Integration Center is a multi-jurisdictional, multidisciplinary entity made up of federal stakeholders and state, local and tribal incident management and first responder organizations. It is situated in the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The organization of the Center includes the following branches:

• Standards and Resources
• Training and Exercises
• System Evaluation and Compliance
• Technology, Research and Development
• Publications Management

The acting director of the NIMS Integration Center is Gil Jamieson, at DHS/FEMA.

Operations of the Center are currently in Phase I, which includes the development of NIMS awareness training, education and publications; NIMS training and guidance and tools to help participants understand and comply with NIMS; and the identification of existing capabilities, initiatives and resources for NIMS and the NIMS Integration Center. Phase I also will see the establishment of an Advisory Committee, functional working groups and the preparation of programs and processes.

The NIC will facilitate the development of national standards needed in a range of areas to increase the effectiveness of incident response operations. For example, it will facilitate the development of national standards to ensure interoperability of equipment and communications and the certification of emergency response and incident management personnel. This means it will work on the development of standardized criteria for the qualification, training and certification of response personnel. It will promote compatibility among NIMS national level standards and those developed by other public, private and professional groups. And it will facilitate the development of a system of typed and categorized resources, to include equipment, teams and personnel.