Chapter Appendix A - Recommendations
Section Public Communications
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Critical Challenge: Public Communications
Lesson Learned: The Department of Homeland Security should develop an integrated public communications plan to better inform, guide, and reassure the American public before, during, and after a catastrophe. The Department of Homeland Security should enable this plan with operational capabilities to deploy coordinated public affairs teams during a crisis.
Recommendations:
73. DHS should revise the NRP to improve the Public Affairs Support and External Affairs annexes to ensure a better coordinated, more effective response.
a. DHS should revise standing operating procedures, command relationships, training, organizational structure, and communications between Federal Public Affairs Offices (PAOs) and their State and local counterparts.
b. DHS should revise the NRP to delineate clearly when National and Incident JICs should be required to activate and deactivate. This guidance should also determine the proper location and number of JICs to be established in response to catastrophes.
c. DHS should revise the NRP to delineate a clear structure for a fully coordinated, integrated, and synchronized public communications strategy, across the Federal government and with State and locals.
74. DHS should establish rapidly deployable Public Affairs teams, able to operate self-sufficiently, in austere conditions. These deployable Public Affairs teams should be established across all Federal departments and agencies with key Homeland Security responsibilities. These teams should be capable of providing Public Affairs assistance within hours to incident locations. These teams could be used to form the Incident JIC. All Federal departments and agencies with domestic operational responsibilities should establish programs to use embedded media where appropriate.
75. DHS should expand Federal partnership programs with State and local Public Affairs Officials (PAO).
a. DHS should strengthen its relationship with groups such as the National Governors Association to provide joint incident communications training programs for State governments.
b. DHS should also strengthen relationships with the Defense Information School, Navy Post Graduate School, National Defense University, and other academic institutions. These Federal partners can assist in providing training and certification to State and local emergency management and the PAOs of key DHS organizations (e.g., DHS, FEMA, U.S. Coast Guard) and personnel such as PFO and Federal Coordinating Officer candidates. Such training would help to improve incident communications efforts.
76. Develop a Public Communications Coordination capability for crisis communications at the White House. Designate a senior White House Communications official to be responsible for the Homeland Security Council and crisis communications portfolio. In close collaboration with DHS’ Office of Public Affairs, this official would be responsible for:
a. Coordination of public communications and public affairs within the homeland across all relevant Federal departments and agencies;
b. Establishing a permanent strategic communications capability, to facilitate messages to the public, the media, and all departments and agencies;
c. Developing a national public communications and public affairs strategic plan;
d. Develop “Risk Communications” to communicate pre-incident expectations to private citizens. This may be carried out by identifying credible spokespersons who can frequently update the public on preparedness, current threats and crisis communications.
77. DHS should establish an integrated public alert and warning system in coordination with all relevant departments and agencies.
a. The system, building on the Emergency Alert System (EAS), must leverage advanced communication technologies and existing Federal, State, and local systems.
b. Federal, State and local levels of government must have the means to communicate essential and accurate emergency information to the public prior to, during and after a catastrophe.
c. Use the National Preparedness Goal’s Target Capabilities List as a reference to build and sustain the system.
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