This lesson provides an examination of the Protection coordinating structures and operational planning.

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to describe coordinating structures used to support protection.

A coordinating structure is a system that maintains and delivers the core capabilities discussed in the previous lesson.

• Support steady-state Protection mission activities
• Strengthen the nation’s ability to increase its protective posture during periods of heightened alert, periods of incident response, or in support of planned special events
• Help conduct planning
• Implement training and exercise programs
• Promote information sharing
• Shape research and development priorities and technical requirements
• Address common vulnerabilities
• Align resources
• Promote the delivery of protection capabilities

On the following screen, we’ll take a closer look at different coordinating structures.

Coordinating structures can function on multiple levels, including national, state, and local levels. Let’s take a look at how coordinating structures operate on a community, local, tribal, state, or regional level.

Click on each coordinating structure to hear more information.

Now let’s turn our attention to the policy-level coordination that occurs at the Federal level.

1. National Security Council
2. Federal Departments and Agencies 
3. Interagency Coordination

Review each item before proceeding to the next screen.

Protection activities and missions are coordinated through various authorities, capabilities, and functions.

The laws and professional arrangements that govern the Protection mission activities also provide the model of how Protection activity is coordinated to secure the Nation against complex threats and hazards. In the same sense that threats and hazards impact multiple disciplines and jurisdictions, the arrangements within the Protection mission are unified by establishing connections across existing coordination structures.

Coordination structures are integrated by the joint development of national capabilities, joint plans, analytic products, and channels for information sharing that span national preparedness mission areas.

In order to deliver the Protection core capabilities, certain actions must be taken both during normal conditions, known as steady-state conditions, and in times of elevated threats. Let’s take a look at some of these Protection actions.

Planning	Public Information and Warning	Operational Coordination
Intelligence and Information Sharing	Interdiction and Disruption	Screening, Search, and Detection
Access Control and Identity Verification	Cybersecurity	Physical Protective Measures
Risk Management for Protection Programs and Activities	Supply Chain Integrity and Security

Let’s begin with the Steady-State Protection Process. The process necessary to protect against threats during steady-state conditions is shown here. For this process to work, risk management must be decentralized. In other words, the responsibility for steady-state Protection is shared by the whole community, including individuals and households, all levels of government, and the private and nonprofit sectors. As the model illustrates, Protection is a continuous process that helps identify and implement improvements.

Click on each step of the process to find out more information.

During periods of elevated threat or impending disasters, interagency coordination may be compressed so that Protection activities are coordinated more quickly.

The Protection Escalation Decision Process is shown here. The decision to conduct enhanced Protection operations can occur at any point in the Protection mission and may require enhanced coordination across other mission areas.

On the following screens, we’ll take a closer look at the steps in this process.

The assessment of the situation may indicate the initiation of Prevention, Mitigation, Response, or Recovery activities, such as community-wide risk reduction projects, that require Protection mission support. Emerging issues may also require a change from Protection steady-state to enhanced steady-state activities.

Enhanced Protection mission activities include:

• Issuing of alerts/warnings
• Greater protective presence, enhanced posture
• Enhanced operational coordination among mission partners
• Sustained efforts to address emergent Protection concerns

As we discussed in the first lesson, the National Preparedness Goal sets the vision for preparedness nationwide and identifies the core capabilities necessary to achieve that vision across the five mission areas:

• Prevention
• Protection
• Mitigation
• Response
• Recovery

So far, we’ve looked specifically at the Protection mission area. However, the Protection coordinating structures and organizations contribute directly to activities and inform efforts within the other mission areas.

Let’s take a look at how Protection relates to the other mission areas.

1. Prevention
2. Mitigation 
3. Response
4. Recovery

You will need to review each item before proceeding to the next screen.

The National Planning Frameworks, including the National Protection Framework, explain the role of each mission area in national preparedness. The concepts included in the Frameworks are used to guide operational planning, which provides further information regarding roles and responsibilities. Operational planning also identifies the critical tasks in executing the core capabilities. Additionally, operational planning identifies resourcing, personnel, and sourcing requirements across the whole community.

Planning across the full range of Protection activities is the responsibility of every level of government as well as the private and nonprofit sectors. This planning is used to determine jurisdictional priorities, objectives, strategies, and resource acquisitions and allocations needed to protect against potential threats. In doing so, the operational plan helps provide the right resources at the right time to support local, regional, state, tribal, territorial, insular-area, and Federal operations.

Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101 (http://www.fema.gov/plan) provides further information on the various types of plans and guidance on the fundamentals of planning. Additional information can be found on planning at this website.

On the following screens, we’ll take a look at two types of operational plans: Department-level Operational Plans and Federal Interagency Operational Plans (FIOPs).

Each Executive Branch department and agency develops and maintains its own operational plans in order to deliver Protection core capabilities. These department-level operational plans identify specific critical tasks and responsibilities, including how to meet resource requirements. These plans also:

• Address risk
• Include planning and exercising coordination and communication procedures
• Discuss sharing resources

At the Federal level, each Framework is supported by a mission-area-specific Federal Interagency Operational Plan (FIOP). The Protection FIOP, which has not yet been released, will describe how Federal departments and agencies work together to deliver the Protection core capabilities. Whether you are in the government, the private sector, or the nonprofit sector, you will be able to use the Protection FIOP to inform ongoing protection planning, training, and exercises within your jurisdiction or organization.

For more information, you can view all available FIOPs (http://www.fema.gov/federal-interagency-operational-plans).

There are several resources in place to support the Protection mission. The following resources include training, exercises, and Web-based information for both government and nongovernmental partners. 

• Citizen Corps (https://www.ready.gov/citizen-corps)
• USA.gov (https://www.usa.gov/)
• Ready (https://www.ready.gov/)

There are also several guidelines that support the development of interagency and other operational plans.

• National Infrastructure Protection Plan (https://www.dhs.gov/national-infrastructure-protection-plan)
• Executive Order 13636: Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/executive-order-improving-critical-infrastructure-cybersecurity)
• Executive Order 13691: Promoting Private-Sector Cybersecurity Information Sharing (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/13/executive-order-promoting-private-sector-cybersecurity-information-shari)
• Presidential Policy Directive 21: Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/presidential-policy-directive-critical-infrastructure-security-and-resil)
• Presidential Policy Directive 41: United States Cyber Incident Coordination (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/07/26/presidential-policy-directive-united-states-cyber-incident)
• Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5: Management of Domestic Incidents (https://www.dhs.gov/publication/homeland-security-presidential-directive-5)
• National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security (https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/25/national-strategy-global-supply-chain-security-announced)
• Directives and Circulars (http://www.fema.gov/guidance-directives)

We have reached the end of this lesson. In this lesson, we described the coordinating structures and operational planning used to support Protection. Specifically, we discussed:

• Community, local, tribal, state, and regional coordinating structures
• Federal coordinating structures
• Protection actions to deliver core capabilities
• Steady-State Protection Process
• Protection escalation decision process
• The relationship of Protection to the other mission areas
• Operational Planning
• Department-level operational Plans
• FIOPs
• Supporting Resources

Let’s take a look at some the key points that were discussed throughout the course.

The goal of this course is to familiarize you with the National Protection Framework, which describes the way that the whole community safeguards against acts of terrorism, natural disasters, and other threats or hazards.

The National Protection Framework, which is part of the National Preparedness System, sets the strategy and doctrine for how the whole community builds, sustains, and delivers the Protection core capabilities identified in the National Preparedness Goal.

The National Protection Framework provides guidance on how to safeguard against acts of terrorism, natural disasters, and other threats or hazards by:

• Describing the core capabilities needed to conduct the Protection mission and create conditions for a safer, more secure, and more resilient nation
• Aligning key roles and responsibilities to deliver Protection capabilities
• Describing coordinating structures that enable all stakeholders to work together
• Laying the foundation for operational coordination and planning that aligns Protection efforts within the whole community
• Strengthening the ability of essential Protection functions and services to continue regardless of threat or hazard

The National Protection Framework sets out three principles that guide the development and execution of the core capabilities for Protection. These are:

• Resilience and Scalability
• Risk-informed Culture
• Shared Responsibility

Several partners have a role in protection, including:

• Community members and the private sector
• Individuals, families, and households
• Communities and community organizations
• Private-sector entities
• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
• Local governments
• State, tribal, territorial, and insular area governments
• Federal government
• International partnerships

The way we can measure, describe, and implement our security and resilience techniques is through core capabilities. Protection core capabilities including the following:

• Cross-cutting Core Capabilities
• Planning
• Public Information and Warning
• Operational Coordination
• Prevention and Protection Core Capabilities
• Intelligence and Information Sharing
• Interdiction and Disruption
• Screening, Search, and Detection
• Protection Core Capabilities
• Access Control and Identity Verification
• Cybersecurity
• Physical Protective Measures
• Risk Management for Protection Programs and Activities
• Supply Chain Integrity and Security

Several coordinating structures are used to support protection. These include:

• Community, local, tribal, state, and regional coordinating structures
• Partnerships
• Operational coordination (information-sharing centers, fusion centers, and task forces)
• Established systems and principles
• Federal coordinating structures
• National Security Council
• Federal departments and agencies
• Interagency coordination

The steady-state protection process protects against threats during steady-state conditions. The responsibility for steady-state Protection is shared by the whole community, including individuals and households, all levels of government, and the private and nonprofit sectors.

During periods of elevated threat or impending disasters, interagency coordination may be compressed so that protection activities are coordinated more quickly. In these cases, the protection escalation decision process is implemented.

Operational planning provides further information regarding roles and responsibilities, identifies the critical tasks in executing the core capabilities, and identifies resourcing, personnel, and sourcing requirements across the whole community.

Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101 provides guidance for developing emergency operations plans at the local, state, tribal, and territorial levels.

At the Federal level, each framework is supported by a mission-area-specific Federal Interagency Operational Plan (FIOP). The Protection FIOP can be used to inform ongoing protection planning, training, and exercises within your jurisdiction or organization.