NASA Headquarters' Directives
HQPR 8710.1 Effective Date: October 07, 2008 Expiration Date: June 07, 2019 Cancellation Date: April 18, 2022 Responsible Office: LP2	Emergency Preparedness Plan [CANCELLED]

This document is uncontrolled when printed.
Check the NASA Online Directives Information System (NODIS) Library
to verify that this is the correct version before use.

CHAPTER 2. ASSUMPTIONS

2.1 Assumptions

2.1.1 The Headquarters facility may be exposed to hazards that could potentially disrupt operations, create damage, and cause casualties. Current national policy requires the preparation of plans that will provide direction and assign responsibilities in the event of a national emergency. In addition to this requirement, there is a need to establish and implement plans that cope with a broad spectrum of local emergency situations that can arise with little advance warning. Examples of these types of emergency situations are terrorist attacks on the National Capital Region (NCR) the might involve weapons of mass destruction (WMD), including biological, chemical, and radiological weapons; and natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, heavy snowfall, and ice storms. Other disaster situations could develop from a hazardous material accident, fire, major transportation accident, or civil disorder.

2.1.2 Although the EPP contains some elements required for Continuity of Operations (COOP), it is not intended to be the Headquarters' COOP plan. A separate COOP plan has been developed for Headquarters specifically addressing the actions and duties required to restore and maintain mission essential operations for NASA Headquarters as a center. The focus of the ICP is to carry out short-term initial disaster response and recovery tasks. Implementation of the EPP will reduce or prevent disaster- related losses.

2.1.3 Events impacting the National Capitol Region and or warranting a multi-agency or NASA wide response will result in activation of the Agency Emergency Operations Center (EOC). Communications to and from NASA with outside entities including the FEMA Operations Center (FOC) and the Joint Information Center (JIC), will be through the EOC. The ICP will report all actions to the Designated Official and the EOC. The Designated Official will provide HQ status reports to the A-Suite with the EOC providing information on Agency status and requests from and to external Departments/Agencies.

Figure 3. Lines of Communication