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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.
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