Homeland Security, NIMS, and ICS
Through initiatives designed to continually improve the procedures integral to the operations of state-level Homeland Security, the agency may review the fit between the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command System (ICS) models and the desired outcomes of its own operations. These reviews can result in closer alignment across the three organizations, an objective with the potential to substantively increase overall cross-agency operational effectiveness. The key operational and procedural areas discussed in this review include common communication and information management systems, the management of resources, and multi-agency coordination. In the 10 years since NIMS was established, the country has experienced several natural disasters that have provided opportunity for refining the components of NIMS and ICS. This discussion provides insight into the benefits to be derived by state-level Homeland Security agencies from the NIMS and ICS models.
Nested Design and Redundancy
A first point of consideration is that the Incident Command System (ICS) is a subcomponent of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The nested structure of the key disaster response agencies is an intentional manifestation of the recognition of shared approaches, frameworks, and essential operations of several conceptually conjoined organizations. The ICS is defined by the United States Center for Excellence in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance as "a set of personnel, policies, procedures, facilities, and equipment, integrated into a common organizational structure designed to improve emergency response operations of all types and complexities" ("ICS," 2004). Within the standardized structures of multiple engaged agencies,...
Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS) The Incident Command System (ICS) is a standardized organization model or method for incident response and management during disasters. The system is made up of standard management and leadership hierarchy procedures, including processes meant to support various types of incidents. It does not just respect jurisdictional and agency authority, but also supports synchronized efforts among different disaster response and management teams and agencies. ICS
(Combating Terrorism: FEMA Continues to Make Progress in Coordinating Preparedness and Response: Participation in Interagency and Intra-agency Groups and Committees) CIMS: The Office of Emergency Management --OEM who has been collaborating with NYPD & FDNY and other City agencies to develop the CIMS, the adoption of which was declared by Mayor Bloomberg in March, 2004. CIMS makes a uniform incident management structure for every City agency that is broadly based
("About FEMA," 2007) The method followed by FEMA is to lead the country in cases of a disaster, in a risk-based comprehensive emergency management system that would have as its important tenets preparedness, protection, response and recovery, and finally, mitigation of the losses that the people have suffered. These are some of the plans that FEMA has in place, and for which it recruits trainees: the National Response Plan, strategic
organization is derived from the preparedness cycle developed by the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and utilized by the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other disaster response / emergency preparedness organizations. A primary advantage of using this proven model is that it provides a consistently implemented and commonly understood approach to disaster preparedness. The preparedness cycle is a continuously renewing series
Katrina The problem with the response to Hurricane Katrina was not that a National Response Plan (NPR) was not in place or that a National Incident Management System (NIMS) did not exist. It was that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had been in decline for years, was suffering from significant turnover among top leaders, and the individuals who were in charge lacked the appropriate leadership experience and knowledge to oversee
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