Army Emergency Management Program - Federation of American ...

11–6. Emergency communications
a. Requirement. All installations shall establish and maintain operable emergency communications across all assigned
functional areas Category 5 personnel and with all designated mission essential functions Category 1 personnel.
Emergency Communications shall follow existing Army policy, to include AR 25–1, DA Pam 25–1–1, DA Pam
25–1–2, AR 25–12, AR 25–6, AR 190–13, AR 525–13, AR 525–27, and AR 420–1. Emergency communications shall
be incorporated into all aspects of the installation EM plan and supporting annexes, appendixes, and SOPs. Emergency
communications should be interoperable with military and civil partners. In light of material interoperability costs and
transition times, installation commanders shall pursue nonmaterial solutions to interoperability challenges, including the
use of liaison officers at the installation EOC and ICP levels and the standardization of language, procedures, and
objectives through adoption of NIMS. All new and/or future communications systems should meet APCO 25 standards,
whenever applicable. Installation-owning commands (IMCOM, AMC, USARC, ARNG) will determine their requirements
for fielding and maintaining the LMR system and manage execution through their assigned communications and/
or information technology departments.
(1) Land Mobile Radio . If LMR system is in operation at an installation, then the following issues must be
addressed:
Frequency allocations and conflicts.
Interoperability with local community.
Capability to rapidly establish multiple incident site channels for interoperability.
Adequate coverage on the installation.
Adequate LMR communications for all designated Category 5 personnel.
Work-around methods for when LMR services are not available.
Location of radio repeaters, identification of dead spots not covered by LMR, and workarounds for emergencies in
such areas.
Compliance with narrowband requirements.
(2) Amateur Radio. Amateur radio services are an invaluable resource to the EM program and all installations shall
coordinate and integrate with these volunteer services to the maximum extent possible, if available. These services
include the military affiliate radio system, Amateur Radio Emergency Service, radio amateur and civil emergency
service, and the NOAA-sponsored Hurricane Net and SKYWARN system (and associated Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) systems). See http://www.arrl.org and http://www.noaa.gov for additional information. All use of amateur radio
services will comply with AR 25–6. The installation emergency manager, in coordination with NEC IT Support
Systems, shall coordinate amateur radio resources for the EM program.
b. Budget and/or resource responsibilities. No requirement within this publication requires emergency communications
capabilities in excess of existing standards set forth by the references above. The EM program and, by direct
association, the VIPP MDEP shall serve as the resource sponsor solely for those material solutions fielded under
JPM–IPP and AEFRP in excess of pre-existing inventory. Sustainment funding of pre-existing inventory remains the
responsibility of the original functional area who procured that inventory, whether law enforcement, fire and emergency
services, public works, information technology, or other department. Responder communications procured
through the application of combating terrorism readiness initiative funds are the sole responsibility of the installation
AT Program and supporting VTER MDEP.
11–7. Joint Information System
a. Overview. A critical component of effective EM is an EPI capability closely integrated with the other elements of
the Army EM Program. EPI is an ongoing process throughout all phases of EM designed to engage and inform the
array of publics potentially affected by an emergency. EPI is usually implemented through the employment of the Joint
Information System, which integrates information and public affairs into a cohesive organization designed to provide
coordinated, accurate, accessible, timely, and complete information prior to, during, and after emergency operations.
The mission of the Joint Information System is to provide a structure and processes for (1) developing and delivering
coordinated interagency messages, (2) developing, recommending, and executing EPI plans and strategies, (3) advising
the incident commander and the installation EOC concerning public affairs issues that could affect the response and
recovery efforts, and (4) controlling rumors and inaccurate information that could undermine public confidence in the
emergency response effort.
b. Joint Information Center. The establishment of a JIC provides a focal point for Joint Information System
activities. In coordination with local civil jurisdictions, installation commanders shall pre-select at least one primary
and one alternate site near the installation for establishment of a JIC. The preferable site for a JIC, in order to support
joint and interagency staffing with Federal, State, local, and other authorities, is outside the jurisdictional boundaries of
the installation. Locating the JIC outside installation boundaries is necessary to preserve the adequate exchange of
public information when and if the installation is closed to the public during an emergency. JIC locations should be
expected to shift based upon the incident and the lead jurisdictional authority, so prior coordination with military and
civil partners is essential. At installations without full-time public affairs staffing, installation commanders shall
DA PAM 525–27 20 September 2012
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