6 U.S.C. § 571 Emergency Communications Division

• Library: United States Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through P.L. 118-34 (published on www.congress.gov on 12/26/2023), except for [P. L. 118-31]
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 6 U.S.C. § 571

(a) In general

There is established in the Department an Emergency Communications Division. The Division shall be located in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

(b) Executive Assistant Director

The head of the Division shall be the Executive Assistant Director for Emergency Communications (in this section referred to as the "Executive Assistant Director"). The Executive Assistant Director shall report to the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. All decisions of the Executive Assistant Director that entail the exercise of significant authority shall be subject to the approval of the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

(c) Responsibilities

The Executive Assistant Director shall-

(1) assist the Secretary in developing and implementing the program described in section 194(a)(1) of this title, except as provided in section 195 of this title;

(2) administer the Department's responsibilities and authorities relating to the SAFECOM Program, excluding elements related to research, development, testing, and evaluation and standards;

(3) administer the Department's responsibilities and authorities relating to the Integrated Wireless Network program;

(4) conduct extensive, nationwide outreach to support and promote the ability of emergency response providers and relevant government officials to continue to communicate in the event of natural disasters, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters;

(5) conduct extensive, nationwide outreach and foster the development of interoperable emergency communications capabilities by State, regional, local, and tribal governments and public safety agencies, and by regional consortia thereof;

(6) provide technical assistance to State, regional, local, and tribal government officials with respect to use of interoperable emergency communications capabilities;

(7) coordinate with the Regional Administrators regarding the activities of Regional Emergency Communications Coordination Working Groups under section 575 of this title;

(8) promote the development of standard operating procedures and best practices with respect to use of interoperable emergency communications capabilities for incident response, and facilitate the sharing of information on such best practices for achieving, maintaining, and enhancing interoperable emergency communications capabilities for such response;

(9) coordinate, in cooperation with the National Communications System, the establishment of a national response capability with initial and ongoing planning, implementation, and training for the deployment of communications equipment for relevant State, local, and tribal governments and emergency response providers in the event of a catastrophic loss of local and regional emergency communications services;