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Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) All-Hazards Plans (AHPs)

• Each of FEMA's ten regions is responsible for writing AHPs that guide response efforts in the wake of disasters, including large-scale catastrophes. Several regions have also written incident specific plans, which offer specific, tailored guidance for the most likely, high-level threats each region faces.
• Some of these plans are comprehensive and complete, while others are missing some sections or information, and some are incomplete or missing a lot of information.
• Clear expectations for potential types and numbers of resources are critical for DoD to be able to fully support FEMA in the wake of a disaster, particularly a large-scale catastrophe.

Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) Support Provided by DoD to FEMA

• DoD support to FEMA regional planning is working well in some areas, including DoD integration with FEMA planning, logistics support planning, and DoD participation in FEMA exercises.
• Challenges include conflicting perceptions within DoD of the relative priority of DSCA, sourcing of DoD forces for DSCA missions, conflicting objectives of DSCA exercises between DoD and FEMA, the dual-status commander construct, and lack of visibility into installation- and unit-level immediate response plans.

Disaster preparedness and response is a national priority, in which the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) plays a supporting — but potentially crucial — role. In the ten years since Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has taken steps to strengthen its ability to plan and coordinate the U.S. government's response to disasters, while the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has worked to improve its support to FEMA. This research reviews and analyzes how DoD and FEMA work together to plan and execute disaster response activities, and recommends areas for improvement. The study team (1) analyzed FEMA plans and DoD policies for Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA); (2) analyzed how DoD provides DSCA support to FEMA, including key stakeholder perceptions, in order to identify potential capability gaps that DoD could fill; and (3) developed recommendations for how DoD can improve its support — in terms of planning, coordination, and providing requested capabilities — to FEMA.

• Chapter One

  Introduction

• Chapter Two

  Review of FEMA All-Hazards Plans and Identification of Potential Capability Gaps

• Chapter Three

  Review of Policies, Plans, and Procedures for Defense Support of Civil Authorities

• Chapter Four

  Recommendations for Improving DoD Support to FEMA

• Appendix A

  Overview of the National Response System

• Appendix B

  Overview of Policy and Other Guidance