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Hurricane Katrina highlighted serious deficiencies in America's national approach to emergency management of Incidents of National Significance (IoNS). Although Homeland Security Presidential Directive Five identifies a broad, unified effort to respond to domestic incidents, barriers to the achievement of this goal exist in our culture, policies and processes. When viewing our national response from the perspective of network theory and knowledge management, specific gaps are identified in doctrine, organizational composition and technological capability. An agenda for change to the National Response Plan and National Incident Management System should integrate the strengths of the network design and address the critical role that knowledge plays in shaping response efforts at all levels. A comprehensive strategy to change the culture and approach of our response community includes streamlining organizational roles of the Unified Command and local Emergency Operations Centers, expanding the Unified Command to include the private sector and NGOs as equal partners, implementing a Knowledge Management Annex to the National Response Plan and deploying a mesh network communications system as part of the proactive federal response.

Hurricane Katrina highlighted serious deficiencies in America's national approach to emergency management of Incidents of National Significance (IoNS). Although Homeland Security Presidential Directive Five identifies a broad, unified effort to respond to domestic incidents, barriers to the achievement of this goal exist in our culture, policies and processes. When viewing our national response from the perspective of network theory and knowledge management, specific gaps are identified in doctrine, organizational composition and technological capability. An agenda for change to the National Response Plan and National Incident Management System should integrate the strengths of the network design and address the critical role that knowledge plays in shaping response efforts at all levels. A comprehensive strategy to change the culture and approach of our response community includes streamlining organizational roles of the Unified Command and local Emergency Operations Centers, expanding the Unified Command to include the private sector and NGOs as equal partners, implementing a Knowledge Management Annex to the National Response Plan and deploying a mesh network communications system as part of the proactive federal response.