The Homeland Security Department should set up a national operations center to integrate federal agency response and give a unified view of disasters, according to recommendations made by the White House and released in a report today.
The 217-page report, titled The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned, identifies more than a dozen major problems in federal emergency preparedness and response, and makes 125 recommendations to the president. The report comes a week after a House Select Committee issued a highly critical report about federal response to the catastrophe.
One of the recommendations is to create a new national operations center, from which federal officials from multiple agencies can provide national coordination during a crisis. It also must have the capability to create and export a unified view of the events.
"The mission of the National Operations Center must be to coordinate and integrate the national response, and provide a common operating picture for the entire federal government,” the White House report said. The common view must be “capable of being exported in real time to other federal operations centers.”
Furthermore, the operations center must combine the situational awareness mission of the Homeland Security Operations Center, the operational mission of the National Response Coordination Center and the strategic role of the Interagency Incident Management Group. It also must be capable of receiving reports from all departmental and agency command centers, as well as the Joint Field Office operating at the disaster site.
The staff of the operating center must include logistical experts who can “track moving resources anywhere across the nation,” and operations experts who know how to deliver needed items and services to affected areas.
The report also recommends building up the department’s regional capabilities so that each region has the ability to establish a “self-sufficient initial Joint Field Office on short notice anywhere in its region.”
The goal of creating a new operations center that integrates existing operations centers is likely to utilize additional IT networks and software.
Additional recommendations
The White House report recommends that DHS review existing laws, policies and strategies regarding communications. After the review, DHS should work with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop a National Emergency Communications Strategy to promote communications interoperability.
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