National Communications System NCS ESF

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National Communications System (NCS)ESF 2
Training ConferenceESF 2 Roles and
Responsibilities
Jeffrey Glick Director NCS Critical
Infrastructure Protection Division Jeffrey.glick_at_n
cs.gov 703-607-4902 20 June 2007
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Agenda

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

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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

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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.
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National Response Plan Update (cont.)

• 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.

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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
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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
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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

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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

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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

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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
Communications Branch Director (FECC)

• Staff Functions
• Govt/Industry Liaisons
• Administrative Support
• Historian
• MA/ARF Management
• SITREP/Planning
• Comms Asset Mgt
• Operations Analysis

Deputy FECC
Communications Ops and Coord Wireless Comms Comms
Planning
Communications Engineers Action Officers
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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 years 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?