Command and Control During the First 72 Hours of a Joint Military-Civilian Disaster Response
Abstract
Civilian emergency response has a number of unique properties that make joint military-civilian operations particularly challenging. Chief amongst these attributes is the collaborative nature of civilian emergency response that often includes multiple disciplines such as police and fire, each with its own mission, protocols, role, resources, and command structure. Furthermore, while military C2 is designed to proactively manage multiple tactical operations in the context of a larger strategic objective, civilian operations are planned to reactively contain a single incident. This combination makes joint response particularly exigent during the first 72 hours of an incident, when diverse technical and human resources must rapidly fuse under crisis conditions to mount an effective response. This paper focuses on rapidly linking military and civilian C2 infrastructures for joint disaster relief operations. We first compare civilian and military C2 models and discuss differences that impact collaborative response. We then discuss purely technical requirements, such as communications, messaging, and network interoperability. The paper will then analyze unique civilian elements such as self-dispatched responders, emergent volunteers, total or partial disintegration of civilian command, role of law, and local customs. We conclude with a proposed model for joint operations suitable for the first 72 hours of a major incident.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA481439
Entities
People
- Michael Manno
- Nina Zumel
- Robert Dourandish