# Presentation: 280349

## National Communications System (NCS)ESF #2 Training ConferenceESF #2 Roles and Responsibilities

**Jeffrey Glick**
-  **Director**
**NCS Critical Infrastructure Protection Division**
**Jeffrey.glick@ncs.gov**
** ****	****703-607-4902**
** ****	****20 June 2007**

## Agenda

**National Response Plan Update**
**JFO Structure**
**Leadership Roles and Responsibilities**
**Communications Branch Structure**
**Staff Roles and Responsibilities**
**Future Training**

## National Response Plan Update

**In November 2006 DHS began revising the National Response Plan (NRP) with the goals of:**
- Shortening the NRP
- Making it easier to understand
- Making in more compliant with the National Incident Management System
**The NRP revision process is currently on hold, with no new publish date announced**

## National Response Plan Update (cont.)

**	****The NRP provides the framework for national response to disasters. Emergency Support Function #2 delineates responsibilities for the coordination of communications response.**

| Emergency Support Function | Primary Agencies |
| --- | --- |
| 1 Transportation | Department of Transportation |
| 2 Communications | National Communications System, Federal Emergency Management Agency |
| 3 Public Works and Engineering | Department of Defense |
| 4 Firefighting | Department of Agriculture |
| 5 Emergency Management | Federal Emergency Management Agency |
| 6 Mass Care, Housing, and Human Services | Federal Emergency Management Agency, American Red Cross |
| 7 Resource Support | General Services Administration |
| 8 Public Health and Medical Services | Department of Health and Human Services |
| 9 Urban Search and Rescue | Federal Emergency Management Agency |
| 10 Oil and Hazardous Materials | Environmental Protection Agency |
| 11 Agriculture and Natural Resources | Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior |
| 12 Energy | Department of Energy |
| 13 Public Safety and Security | Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice |
| 14 Long-Term Community Recovery and Mitigation | Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, and Treasury, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Small Business Administration |
| 15 External Affairs | Federal Emergency Management Agency |

## National Response Plan Update (cont.)

| ESF #2 Coordinating Agency | NCS |
| --- | --- |
| Primary Agency:
	for Communications Restoration
	for Tactical Communications | 
NCS
FEMA
 |
| Support Agencies | USDA, DOC, DOD, DHS, DOI, FCC, GSA |

**NCS and FEMA have been working together closely to define organizational structures for ESF #2 response operations given the evolving roles and responsibilities of both organizations**
**In the latest draft of the NRP ESF #2 Annex, NCS is still the ESF #2 Coordinating Agency, but both NCS and FEMA are Primary Agencies.**

## JFO Structure

**The Communications Branch**
- Executes ESF #2 operations during an incident
- Is a part of the Operations Section in a NIMS-compliant Joint Field Office (JFO) structure

- Principle Federal Official (PFO)/Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO)

- Ops
- Section

- Logistics
- Section

- Planning
- Section

- Admin/
- Finance
- Section

- Communications Branch

## JFO Structure (cont.)

**The Communication Branch is lead by an NCS appointed Federal Emergency Communication Coordinator (FECC) and consists of a FEMA led Tactical Communications Division and an NCS led Communications Restoration Division**

- PFO/FCO

- Ops
- Section

- Logistics
- Section

- Planning
- Section

- Admin/
- Finance
- Section

- Communications Branch

##  Leadership Roles and Responsibilities

_**Communications Branch Director/FECC**_
**Oversees the Communications Branch and ESF #2 operations during an incident**
**Coordinates with the Office of the Manager, NCS**
**Is the Federal point of contact in the incident area to:**
**Coordinate with industry to restore public communications infrastructure**
**Coordinate priority telecommunications service requirements**
**Coordinate with Federal agencies to provide communications resources to augment existing capabilities**

## Leadership Roles and Responsibilities (cont.)

_**Communications Branch Director/FECC (cont.)**_
**The FECC is selected from a cadre of qualified personnel from ESF #2 Support Agencies**
**This cadre will be certified, trained, and exercised by the NCS**
**In the future, the NCS will establish an official training program to produce three levels of FECC qualification, the highest level being suitable for catastrophic incidents, the lowest level being suitable for lower-impact, localized incidents**

## Leadership Roles and Responsibilities (cont.)

_**Communications Restoration Supervisor**_
**Surveys the status of the public communications infrastructure, determines residual capabilities, and assesses the extent of damage within the incident area **
**Assists the FECC in coordinating with industry to restore public communications infrastructure**
_**Tactical Communications Supervisor**_
**Provides communications support to Federal, state, local, and tribal response operations**
**Coordinates the restoration of Public Safety Communications systems and first responder networks **

## Communications Branch Structure

**Communications Branch Staff Functions support both the Tactical Communications and the Communications Restoration Divisions**
**The staffing of the Communications Branch will depend on the requirements of the incident**

- Communications Branch Director (FECC)

**Communications Branch**

- Communications Ops and Coord
- Wireless Comms
- Comms Planning

- Communications Engineers
- Action Officers

- Deputy FECC

- _Staff Functions:_
- Gov’t/Industry Liaisons
- Administrative Support
- Historian
- MA/ARF Management
- SITREP/Planning
- Comms Asset Mgt
- Operations Analysis

## Staff Roles and Responsibilities

_**Government/Industry Liaisons**_
**Coordinates with industry to respond to requirements for restoring and providing NS/EP-related communications services**
**Coordinates with Federal agencies providing communications assets to the incident area**
_**Administrative Support**_
**Executes administrative functions such as: filing documents and logs; preparing correspondence; arranging meetings and conference calls; and directing incoming phone calls and visitors **

## Staff Roles and Responsibilities (cont.)

_**Historian**_
**Maintains a daily log that includes a timeline record of ESF #2 activities and a summary of events, challenges, mitigation measures, and questions to be resolved**
**Retains copies of all significant documents, e-mails, and other communications**
**Documents all significant issues and activities**
_**Mission Assignment (MA) Manager**_
**Coordinates with FEMA and GSA to monitor the status of all Action Request Forms, MAs, and FEMA Forms 60-1 and 40-1 that are received or initiated by the Communications Branch**
**Oversees the disposition of funds that are allocated to the MAs**

## Staff Roles and Responsibilities (cont.)

_**SITREP/Planning**_
**Compiles and writes Situation Reports (SITREP)**
**Compiles Communications Branch strategic planning documents**
**Coordinates with the JFO Planning Section and ESF #5**
_**Communications Asset Manager**_
**Uses the Communications Asset Database (CAD) to identify government and industry assets available to support incident response**
**Tracks the location of all communications assets deployed to the incident area and develops and maintains a communications picture of deployed assets**

## Staff Roles and Responsibilities (cont.)

_**Operations Analysis**_
**Provides liaison to National level Analysis Response Team (ART) to assist them in developing detailed analyses of the communications infrastructure**
**Provides first-hand, local data to ART**
**Helps interpret analysis products for the JFO and field personnel**

## Future Training

**NCS is committed to two team-wide training events per year:**
**Fall training will review after action reports and lessons learned from that year’s hurricane season and will include a non-hurricane table top exercise**
**Spring training will include updates to policy and procedures, classroom instruction, hurricane preparations, and will feature a scenario-driven deployment exercise**
**Function-specific training events will be developed**
**FECC Cadre training and certification program will be developed after the 2007 hurricane season**
**Questions?**