§ 202.2 Criteria and guidance.

NS/EP planning in government and industry with respect to effective conservation and use of surviving telecommunications resources in a disaster, emergency or postattack period must provide for orderly and uninhibited restoration of services by the carriers and authoritative control of services allocation which will assure that priority will be afforded the most critical needs of government and the private sector with respect to these objectives. (a) The preservation of the integrity of characteristics and capabilities of the Nation's telecommunications systems and networks during wartime or non-wartime emergencies is of the utmost importance. This can best be accomplished by centralized policy development, planning, and broad direction. Detailed operations management will remain decentralized in order to retain flexibility in the use of individual systems in responding to the needs of national security, survival and recovery. Each Federal agency responsible for telecommunications systems operations, and the carriers, are responsible for planning with respect to emergency operations. Guidance in this matter has been issued from a number of sources and contained in: (1) Annex C-XI (Telecommunications), Federal Emergency Plan D (Classified). (2) National Plan for Telecommunications Support in Non-wartime Emergencies. (3) The National Communications System Management Plan for Annex C-XI (Telecommunications) Federal Emergency Plan D (Classified). (b) The continuity of essential communications services will be maintained through the use of controls and operational procedures to assure that priority is given to vital services. NS/EP telecommunications services entail policies, procedures and responsibilities as described in parts 211 and 213 of this chapter. (c) The Nation's telecommunications systems facilities are vulnerable to physical and radiological damage. Planning factors with respect to the resumption of services in a disaster or postattack period must consider the probable loss of facilities which formerly provided direct and/or alternate intercity services among surviving population centers. Since surviving areas and population centers would serve as the sources of support to crippled areas of the Nation, the resumption of services between and among surviving metropolitan areas will be a high priority with the carriers.