|
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
|
Biosecurity Briefing
DHS Releases National Response Framework By Kunal Rambhia, January 25, 2008 On January 22, 2008, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the National Response Framework (NRF).1 As reported previously in the Biosecurity Briefing, a draft of this framework was made available for public comment on September 10, 2007. According to a DHS news release the final version of the NRF reflects the input of “key stakeholders representing federal, tribal, state and local governments, non-governmental agencies and associations, and the private sector.”2 As a replacement for the National Response Plan, (NRP) the NRF is intended to be “a guide to how the Nation conducts all-hazards response” to disaster management and “is built upon scalable, flexible and adaptable coordinating structures to align key roles and responsibilities across the Nation.”1 The National Response Plan was developed in 2004 in a post-September 11 effort to establish a common planning framework. In 2006, the NRP was updated following Hurricane Katrina to incorporate lessons learned from that response. The NRF has been designed to improve upon the 2006 changes to the National Response Plan. The NRF document is organized into five chapters: Roles and Responsibilities; Response Actions; Response Organization; Planning: A Critical Element of Effective Response; and Additional Resources. Each chapter is organized by local, state and tribal, and federal objectives. In addition to stylistic and organizational changes from the September draft, the final version of the NRF contains some substantive changes, including:
In related news, DHS issued a document that outlines changes made from the NRP to the NRF. In addition to the new name, the NRF is intended to cover a broader scope and reach a wider audience, including “executive leadership and emergency management practitioners at all levels of government, as well as private sector, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).”3 The Insurance Journal reported on January 23 that DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff described the NRF as “a living document.” He commented that the NRF “is not the final word on national response…[DHS] fully anticipate[s] and frankly expect[s] that we will be getting comments of real-life lessons learned which will be embedded in future versions.”4 In addition to the document itself, DHS has posted on the FEMA website 23 annexes to the NRF document that “provide concept of operations, procedures and structures for achieving response directives.”2 The document, along with its annexes, will go into effect 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register. References
| |||||||||||||||||||||