National Response Plan

National Response Plan (NRP) is a United States government initiative designed to ensure that the nation can effectively respond to all types of emergencies, including natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other man-made incidents. The plan is coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Overview

The National Response Plan was created to provide a comprehensive framework for the management of significant domestic incidents. It is intended to be flexible enough to manage any type of incident, regardless of cause, size, location, or complexity. The NRP is built on the template of the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which provides a consistent nationwide approach for federal, state, local, and tribal governments to work together to prepare for, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents.

Components

The NRP consists of several key components, including:

• Incident Command System (ICS): This is a standardized approach to the command, control, and coordination of emergency response. It provides a common hierarchy within which responders from multiple agencies can be effective.

• Emergency Support Functions (ESFs): These are the primary mechanisms through which federal assistance is provided to support the State and local response to a disaster. There are 15 ESFs, each led by a federal agency or department with expertise in the function.

• National Operations Center (NOC): This is the primary national hub for situational awareness and operations coordination across the federal government for incident management.

Implementation

The NRP is activated when an incident occurs that requires a coordinated federal response. The Secretary of Homeland Security initiates the NRP in anticipation of, or in response to, a nationally significant incident by activating the NOC and the relevant ESFs.

Criticisms and Revisions

The NRP has been criticized for its complexity and for the perceived lack of clarity in its implementation. In response to these criticisms, the NRP was superseded by the National Response Framework (NRF) in 2008, which aimed to provide a simpler and more directly applicable framework for national incident response.

See Also

• National Incident Management Assistance Teams
• National Emergency Management Agency
• Emergency management