As the participants revealed these important distinctions in the nature of disasters of both national and non-national interest, they pushed their conversation further to examine the information flows and the roles and responsibilities of various organizations from national, state, regional and local levels. Many of the workshop participants raised concerns about roles, responsibilities, and non-duplication of services. Less clear to the participants was who is responsible at what point in time in the event of an incident. This lack of clarity about responsibility, or “who is in charge” at the regional level, echoes findings in the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) Report to the President on the National Coordinating Center (May 10, 2006), which was used as background for this project.

In the event of a national or state-wide emergency, the National Response Plan (NRP) and the State Emergency Response Plan (SERP) are called into effect; however, in regional or local incident response, according to the participants, there is currently no coordinated information sharing plan. In the absence of a cohesive, regional information-sharing plan there is the potential for duplication of information and increased complexity in the coordination of various actors.

A key point highlighted by the participants is that real-time data and cross-organizational information sharing are even more significant in the smaller, localized events where only one critical infrastructure is involved. Participants noted that certain local events may fall under the radar of even a regional coordination effort. However, they identified the importance of keeping the appropriate government officials informed so they can reassure and advise the public in a time of crisis.