If state assets are not sufficient to meet the emergency response requirements, they request federal assets through the FEMA Regional Operations Center. The goals during the immediate response phase of an incident are to terminate the terrorist attack so that terrorists do not accomplish their objectives or maintain their freedom, and to minimize loss of life and damage and to provide emergency assistance to the affected area. The FBI is the lead agency for crisis management response to acts of domestic terrorism, which includes measures to identify, acquire, and plan the use of resources needed to anticipate, prevent, or resolve a threat or act of terrorism.
Crisis management is predominantly a law enforcement response.
Crisis management activities include active measures for prevention, immediate incident response, and post-incident response. Activities include command of the operational response as the on-scene manager for an incident in coordination with other Federal agencies and State and local authorities. FEMA is the lead agency for consequence management, which entails both preparedness for and dealing with the consequences of a terrorist incident. Although the affected State and local governments have primary jurisdiction for emergencies, a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction could create havoc beyond their capability to respond. FEMA would implement the Federal Response Plan, cooperating with State and local emergency response agencies.