ABSTRACT
National Incident Management System (NIMS) provides a consistent nationwide template to enable all government, private sectors, and nongovernmental organizations to work together during domestic incidents. NIMS is composed of several components that work together as a system to provide a national framework for preparing, preventing, responding to, and recovering from domestic incidents. NIMS identify the requirements for standardized framework for communications, information management, and information-sharing support at levels of incident management. A joint information center (JIC) is the physical location where public information staff involved in incident management activities can collocate to perform critical emergency information, crisis communications, and public affairs functions. National-level preparedness standards related to NIMS will be maintained and managed through a multijurisdictional and multidisciplinary center, using collaborative process at the NIMS Integration Center. Using NIMS as a basis, all preparedness stakeholders will be able to attain and sustain the level of readiness necessary to respond to the range of domestic incidents facing the United States today.
