Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 118.djvu/3869

 118 STAT. 3839 PUBLIC LAW 108–458—DEC. 17, 2004 (2) appropriate minimum identification standards to gain access to those facilities. Subtitle C—National Preparedness SEC. 7301. THE INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM. (a) FINDINGS.—Consistent with the report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Congress makes the following findings: (1) The attacks on September 11, 2001, demonstrated that even the most robust emergency response capabilities can be overwhelmed if an attack is large enough. (2) Teamwork, collaboration, and cooperation at an incident site are critical to a successful response to a terrorist attack. (3) Key decisionmakers who are represented at the incident command level help to ensure an effective response, the efficient use of resources, and responder safety. (4) The incident command system also enables emergency managers and first responders to manage, generate, receive, evaluate, share, and use information. (5) Regular joint training at all levels is essential to ensuring close coordination during an actual incident. (6) In Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5, the President directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop an incident command system, to be known as the National Incident Management System (NIMS), and directed all Federal agencies to make the adoption of NIMS a condition for the receipt of Federal emergency preparedness assistance by States, territories, tribes, and local governments beginning in fiscal year 2005. (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Congress that— (1) the United States needs to implement the recommenda- tions of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States by adopting a unified incident command system and significantly enhancing communications connectivity between and among all levels of government agen- cies, emergency response providers (as defined in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101), and other organizations with emergency response capabilities; (2) the unified incident command system should enable emergency managers and first responders to manage, generate, receive, evaluate, share, and use information in the event of a terrorist attack or a significant national disaster; (3) emergency response agencies nationwide should adopt the Incident Command System known as NIMS; (4) when multiple agencies or multiple jurisdictions are involved, they should follow a unified command system based on NIMS; (5) the regular use of, and training in, NIMS by States and, to the extent practicable, territories, tribes, and local governments, should be a condition for receiving Federal preparedness assistance; and (6) the Secretary of Homeland Security should require, as a further condition of receiving homeland security prepared- ness funds from the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness, that grant applicants document VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:54 Nov 10, 2005 Jkt 029194 PO 00000 Frm 00373 Fmt 6580 Sfmt 6581 C:\STATUTES\2004\29194PT4.001 APPS10 PsN: 29194PT4

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