WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Complex disasters can include major terrorist attacks, nuclear accidents or epidemic or other health-related biological crisis.
“The Department of Defense has taken action to address GAO's prior recommendations to strengthen its strategy, plans and guidance for support of civil authorities,” the report, issued on Wednesday, said.
In September 2013, GAO found the Department of Defense did not have a clear command-and-control structure for managing complex catastrophes across multiple US states, because it had not identified roles, responsibilities and relationships among command elements.
The GAO recommended the Department of Defense should “update and implement better guidance, and in the 20 months since then, the Pentagon had done so, the report said.
It had partially addressed GAO's recommendations by updating its strategy and guidance, and is “drafting an instruction on dual-status commanders,” the GAO added.
Pentagon officials reported earlier this month that Northern Command and Pacific Command had updated their plans to incorporate complex catastrophes.
“It is critical that the Department of Defense proactively and regularly engage with a broad range of interagency partners it may need to support, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Customs and Border Protection,” the GAO explained.
The Government Accountability Office is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress and investigates how the US federal government spends taxpayer dollars.
