JP 3-16, Multinational Operations - Defense Technical Information ...

Chapter III
upon which other responding agencies become reliant, thereby creating the potential for
longer-term dependency and making it more difficult to redeploy at the appropriate moment.
The generic military role is to support and enable the effort to relieve emergency needs until
such time as disaster coping capacities no longer require military support. This decision is
taken by national government officials in consultation with their national ministry of
defense. The senior national government representative and the national TF commander will
determine the direction of military activities on the ground.
g. Although it is the primary responsibility of national civilian aid agencies,
governmental departments and agencies, civil facility authorities, and international agencies
to conduct disaster needs assessments, they may not have the ability to do so or capability to
respond fast enough depending on the complexity, size, and nature of the emergency/crisis.
In such cases, along with multilateral and bilateral agreements, military forces may be
requested to provide and/or assist in disaster needs assessments.
For NATO-specific doctrine, see AJP-3.4, Allied Joint Doctrine for Non-Article 5 Crisis
Response Operations.
III-54 JP 3-16