To assist in integrating state and federal responses to domestic emergencies, the Homeland Security Council developed 15 national planning scenarios in 2004 whose purpose was to form the basis for identifying the capabilities needed to respond to a wide range of emergencies. The scenarios focus on the consequences that federal, state, and local first responders may have to address, and they are intended to illustrate the scope and magnitude of large-scale, catastrophic emergencies for which the nation needs to be prepared. These include a wide range of terrorist attacks involving nuclear, biological, and chemical agents, as well as catastrophic natural disasters, such as an earthquake or hurricane. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which was established in 2002 to, among other purposes, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, is the lead federal agency responsible for preventing, preparing for, and responding to a wide range of major domestic disasters and other emergencies. Then-President George W. Bush designated DHS and its Secretary as the lead federal representative responsible for domestic incident management and coordination of all- hazards preparedness. In 2008, DHS issued its National Response Framework, which provides a framework for federal, state, and local agencies to use in planning for emergencies and establishes standardized doctrine, terminology, processes, and an integrated system for federal response activities. Overall coordination of federal incident-management activities, other than those conducted for homeland defense, is generally the responsibility of DHS. Within DHS and as the executive agent for the National Preparedness System, FEMA is responsible for coordinating and integrating the preparedness of federal, state, local, tribal, and nongovernmental entities. Response to disasters or other catastrophic events in the United States is guided by the National Response Framework and is based on a tiered response to an incident; that is, incidents must be managed at the lowest jurisdictional levels and supported by additional response capabilities as needed (see fig. 1). Local and county governments respond to emergencies daily using their own resources and rely on mutual aid agreements and other types of assistance agreements with neighboring governments when they need additional resources. For example, county and local authorities are likely to have the resources needed to adequately respond to a small- scale incident, such as a local flood, and therefore will not request additional resources. For larger-scale incidents, when resources are overwhelmed, local and county governments will request assistance from the state. States have capabilities, such as the National Guard, that can help communities respond and recover. If additional resources are required, the state may request assistance from other states through interstate mutual aid agreements, such as the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. If an incident surpasses community and state capabilities, the governor can seek federal assistance. The federal government has a wide array of capabilities and resources that can be made available to assist state and local agencies to respond to incidents. In accordance with the National Response Framework and applicable laws including the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act) various federal departments or agencies may play primary, coordinating, or supporting roles, based on their authorities and resources and the nature of the threat or incident. In some instances, national defense assets may be needed to assist FEMA or another agency in the national response to an incident. Defense resources are committed following approval by the Secretary of Defense or at the direction of the President. One of DOD’s missions is civil support, which includes domestic disaster relief operations for incidents such as fires, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, National Special Security Events (for example, the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, or the Democratic and Republican National Conventions), counterdrug operations, and consequence management for CBRNE events. As noted earlier, DOD is not the primary federal agency for such missions (unless so designated by the President) and thus it provides defense support of civil authorities only when (1) state, local, and other federal resources are overwhelmed or unique military capabilities are required; (2) assistance is requested by the primary federal agency; and (3) either NORTHCOM or PACOM, the two combatant commands with responsibility for civil support missions, is directed to do so by the President or the Secretary of Defense. When deciding to commit defense resources, among other factors, defense officials consider military readiness, appropriateness of the circumstances, and whether the response is in accordance with the law. For example, the Posse Comitatus Act allows military forces to provide civil support, but these forces generally cannot become directly involved in law enforcement. When they are called upon to support civil authorities, NORTHCOM and PACOM generally operate through established joint task forces that are subordinate to the command. In most cases, support will be localized, limited, and specific. When the scope of the disaster is reduced to the point where the primary federal agency can again assume full control and management without military assistance, NORTHCOM and PACOM will exit. DOD established the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs to oversee homeland defense and civil support activities for DOD, under the authority of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and, as appropriate, in coordination with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This office develops policies, conducts analysis, provides advice, and makes recommendations on homeland defense, defense support of civil authorities, emergency preparedness, and domestic crisis-management matters within the department. The Assistant Secretary assists the Secretary of Defense in providing policy directions to NORTHCOM and other applicable combatant commands to guide the development and execution of homeland defense plans and activities. This direction is provided through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This office is also responsible for coordinating with DHS. While most of the National Guard’s roles and responsibilities in the disaster-response area are not federal ones, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau is a principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on matters involving nonfederalized National Guard forces. In this role, the National Guard Bureau provides NORTHCOM, PACOM, and other DOD organizations with information on National Guard capabilities available in the states for disaster response so that DOD can better anticipate what, if any, additional capabilities it may be asked to provide. The process whereby DOD provides capabilities to assist civil authorities has changed over the past 5 years. In 2004, a series of four hurricanes struck Florida, and DOD received a large number of civil requests-for- assistance that all had to be approved by the Secretary of Defense. DOD and others concluded that the process was time-consuming and complicated. To streamline the process, the Joint Staff developed operational guidance for DOD commands—referred to as an Execute Order—modeled after the Execute Order for Operation Noble Eagle, the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s activities to defend American skies begun in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A standing Defense Support of Civil Authorities Execute Order has been several times, but an important purpose has been to pre-identify forces that NORTHCOM and PACOM can request from the Secretary of Defense in the event of a disaster. The Execute Order places DOD capabilities into four categories. Category 1 comprises capabilities assigned to the combatant command (that is, the Defense Coordinating Officer and staff, service component command staff, command and control personnel, and communication capabilities). Category 2 comprises pre-identified capabilities, such as helicopters for rapid area assessments, C-130 aircraft that can refuel helicopters, and capabilities for search and rescue, that NORTHCOM and PACOM can place on 24-hour prepare-to- deploy status after notifying the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense. Category 3 comprises capabilities for DOD use (for example, combat camera, or public affairs). Category 4 comprises large-scale response forces (rarely used except for large-scale disasters such as Hurricane Katrina). Finally, local installation and unit commanders have the authority to respond to localized events as requested by local civilian authorities. These responses, conducted under immediate response authority, do not normally exceed 72 hours and require notification of the relevant service commands as well as the Secretary of Defense. Additionally, local installations may establish mutual aid agreements for things such as fire and ambulance support with the communities surrounding their installations. NORTHCOM and PACOM are not involved in either of these responses. However, depending on the nature of the local incident, including possibility of media involvement, NORTHCOM and PACOM may receive a spot report regarding the local incident as part of the process of informing DOD senior leadership. NORTHCOM is the unified military command responsible for planning, organizing, and executing DOD’s homeland defense and federal military support to civil authorities’ missions within the continental United States, Alaska, and U.S. territorial waters. PACOM has these responsibilities for the Hawaiian Islands and U.S. territories in the Pacific. Both combatant commands receive support from a variety of commands and organizations in their direct chain of command and throughout DOD. Table 1 shows examples of these commands. As part of the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, NORTHCOM has placed a Defense Coordinating Officer with associated support staff, known as the Defense Coordinating Element, in each of FEMA’s 10 regional offices, placing greater emphasis on the Defense Coordinating Officers’ mission. Figure 2 shows the 10 FEMA regions. Prior to October 1, 2006, the Defense Coordinating Officers had full-time jobs commanding training units for the First and Fifth Continental U.S. Armies. The Defense Coordinating Officers, along with their 40-person training staff, served part-time as Defense Coordinating Officers and only did so when requested by FEMA or another federal agency. Upon establishment of Fifth U.S. Army as the Army component to NORTHCOM, 10 full-time regional Defense Coordinating Officers were established and located in the FEMA regional offices. Defense Coordinating Officers are senior-level military officers (typically Army colonels) with joint experience and training on the National Response Framework, defense support of civil authorities, and DHS’s National Incident Management System.