Introduction
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Preparedness Goal (NPG)[1] describes the 32 core capabilities that assist the whole community to be prepared for all types of disasters and emergencies. The presence of the core capability Operational Coordination throughout the five mission areas (prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery) demonstrates its importance in preparing the United States to be a secure and resilient nation and in ensuring the success of the other core capabilities. The core capability of Operational Coordination is described as follows:
“Operational Coordination
“Establish and maintain a unified and coordinated operational structure and process that appropriately integrate all critical stakeholders and support the execution of Core Capabilities.
“1. Mobilize all critical resources and establish command, control, and coordination structures within the affected community, in other coordinating bodies in surrounding communities, and across the Nation, and maintain as needed throughout the duration of an incident.
“2. Enhance and maintain command, control, and coordination structures consistent with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) to meet basic human needs, stabilize the incident, and transition to recovery.”[2]
The National Preparedness System[3] outlines an organized process for the whole community to move forward with their preparedness activities and achieve the National Preparedness Goal. The National Response Framework (NRF),[4] a part of the National Preparedness System, is a guide to how the Nation responds to all types of disasters and emergencies. It is built on scalable, flexible, and adaptable concepts identified in the NIMS to align key roles and responsibilities across the Nation. NIMS provides a consistent nationwide template to enable the whole community to work together to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from the effects of incidents, regardless of their cause, size, location, or complexity. NIMS consists of three major components: Resource Management, Command and Coordination, and Communications and Information Management.
The Capability Target for Operational Coordination is described thus: “Communities use standardized language to set targets that reflect the level of capability they plan to build and sustain. Communities use the same standardized language to measure how much capability they have. The standardized target for this Core Capability is provided below [:]
“Within (#) (unit of time) of a potential or actual incident, establish and maintain a unified and coordinated operational structure and process across (#) jurisdictions affected and with (#) partner organizations involved in incident management. Maintain for (#) (unit of time).”
The Core Capability Development Sheets describe the validation of that capability through this process: “Exercises and real-world events validate capabilities and are opportunities to identify areas of success or needs for improvement.” The tools include the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program[5] and the National Exercise Program.[6] In order to validate capabilities properly, those performance capabilities must first be developed.
Using the ICS outlined in the NIMS as the organizational framework and planning system, AHIMTs and IMTs are organized, typed, and deployed as a specially trained team of ICS subject matter experts who plan for and manage major and/or more complex incidents within a Federal, tribal, state, or local jurisdiction. Their use aligns with providing the “unified and coordinated operational structure” stated as a critical core capability in the NPG. They are also used to manage or assist in managing large planned events. The FEMA NIMS does not differentiate between discipline-focused IMTs and those that use the guidelines under their National Qualification System (NQS). As a result, the definition of IMTs provided in the NIMS and current typing documents should be considered, regardless of their qualifications process. The term Incident Management Teams is defined in the NIMS as follows:
“Incident Management Teams
“IMTs are rostered groups of ICS-qualified personnel, consisting of an Incident Commander and other incident leadership and personnel qualified for other key ICS positions. IMTs exist at local, regional, state, tribal, and national levels and have formal notification, deployment, and operational procedures in place. These teams are typed based on team members’ qualifications and may be assigned to manage incidents or to accomplish supporting incident-related tasks or functions.”[7]
The USFA and AHIMTA recognized this gap several years ago and worked with numerous stakeholders (USFA, NWCG, USFS, EMI, IAFC, FIRESCOPE) and other stakeholders to develop and agree on a set of shared strategic goals, National Strategy for All-Hazards Incident Management Teams (FY22–FY26). The participants collaborative effort resulted in the:
[1] U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency: National Preparedness Goal, Second Edition, September 2015 (Washington, DC, 2015).
[2] Ibid., p. 13.
[3] Refer to the National Preparedness System: https://www.fema.gov/national-preparedness-system.
[4] U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency: National Response Framework, Fourth Edition, October 2019 (Washington, DC, 2019).
[5] U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency: Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP), February 2020 (Washington, DC, 2020).
[6] Refer to the National Exercise Program: https://www.fema.gov/national-exercise-program.
[7] U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency: National Incident Management System, Third Edition (Washington, DC, 2017), p. 32. Retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/148019P32.