The Deployable Operations Group: A Model for a National Unified Interagency Rapid Response Command
Abstract
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created after the attacks on September 11, 2001 to consolidate all the domestic agencies responsible for protecting America's borders and national infrastructure under a single department. Since the attacks, nationwide preparedness efforts have established numerous federal rapid response teams, which are coordinated during a federal interagency response under the National Incident Management System. This hastily formed interagency command can become clumsy, because normally each of these rapid response teams is managed and functions under their independent agency. The US government has unparalleled capability and capacity to respond to crisis events, but this arrangement lacks unity of command which hinders coordination and unity of effort. The newly updated National Response Framework (NRF) and recently developed Maritime Operational Threat Response (MOTR) process provide a strategic and upper operational skeleton for interagency coordination, but do not provide the degree of unity of effort needed to avoid duplication and inefficiency in a time critical response. If each of the highly capable and independent rapid response teams scattered throughout the federal government were managed under a single body, instead of through their parent agencies, the national response effort could have increased interoperability and harmonization.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 23, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA484335
Entities
People
- Eric M. Cooper
Organizations
- Naval War College