National Response Plan

In Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-5, the President directed the development of a new National Response Plan (NRP) to align federal coordination structures, capabilities, and resources into a unified, all-discipline, and all-hazards approach to domestic incident management. This approach is unique and far reaching. It eliminates critical seams and combines a complete spectrum of incident management activities to include the prevention of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from terrorism, major natural disasters, and other major emergencies. The end result is vastly improved coordination among federal, state, local, and tribal organizations to help save lives and protect America's communities by increasing the speed, effectiveness, and efficiency of incident management.

The NRP represents a true national framework in terms of both product and process. The NRP development process included extensive vetting and coordination with federal, state, local, and tribal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, private-sector entities, and first-responder and emergency management communities across the country. The NRP incorporates best practices from a wide variety of incident management disciplines to include fire, rescue, emergency management, law enforcement, public works, and emergency medical services. The collective input received from public- and private-sector partners has been and will continue to be absolutely critical to the implementation and continued refinement of the core concepts included in this groundbreaking national plan.

The NRP is built on the template of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which provides a consistent doctrinal framework for incident management at all jurisdictional levels, regardless of the cause, size, or complexity of the incident. Activation of the NRP and its coordinating structures and protocols—either partially or fully—for specific Incidents of National Significance provides mechanisms for the coordination and implementation of a wide variety of incident management and emergency assistance activities. Included in these activities are federal support to state, local, and tribal authorities; interaction with nongovernmental, private donor, and private-sector organizations; and the coordinated, direct exercise of federal authorities, when appropriate.

The NRP is also an essential element of the broader policy coordination and reconciliation mechanisms of the federal government. The operational and resource coordinating structures described in the NRP are designed to support existing White House policy mechanisms and decision-making entities during the response to a specific threat or incident. Although the NRP itself creates no new authorities, it serves to unify and enhance the incident management capabilities and resources of individual agencies and organizations acting under their own authorities in response to a wide array of potential threats and hazards. Implementation of the NRP and its supporting protocols will require extensive cooperation, collaboration, and information-sharing across jurisdictions, as well as between the government and the private sector at all levels.

(From Preface to the National Response Plan dated December 2004 and signed by Tom Ridge, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security)