Homeland Security Councils
The Homeland Security Councils were established in 2006 as a vision of the Maj. General Todd Bunting to support statewide all-hazard preparedness while reducing vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks. The Regional Councils will accomplish this by building capabilities, and developing comprehensive preparedness strategies in partnership with other government agencies and the private sector. The Regional Council’s security strategy provides the foundation for meeting the State’s vision by focusing on the following three key areas of all hazard preparedness:
- Mitigation– identify and protect critical infrastructure assets while improving the ability of state and local agencies to gather, analyze, and share information about all hazard activity.
- Response– identify and close existing gaps in basic emergency response capabilities as well as ensure effective coordination of emergency response to all hazards including CBRNE and cyber-terrorist attacks.
- Recovery– put plans and resources in place to enable an effective recovery from natural and/or manmade hazards for both public and private entities.
The purpose for the council will be to examine current response capabilities on a regional level and measure those against the desired (required) target capabilities outlined under the Homeland Security Presidential Directive – 8. From this analysis, the council will identify priorities for improvement of homeland security and recommend projects for funding and:
- Carry out the intent and purpose of the State Homeland Security Program and the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program Grants and other committee tasks which involve the first responders of the cities and counties of Kansas
- Serve as a regional emergency planning council for suggestions, ideas, and formulation of plans concerning the private industry, city and county government, hospitals, health departments and state agencies in the regions.
Coordination and Duties:
Coordination.To coordinate within their region and collaborate with all regions on all-hazards planning of first responders and secondary agencies.
Duties.The duties of each Council shall include but are not limited to:
- Establish procedures for obtaining grants involving first responders of the Region.
- Recommend guidelines to the various agencies and counties that will help coordinate Regional emergency and disaster activities.
For more information go to http://www.kansastag.gov or KSready.gov.
About KDEM
KDEM is the branch of the Adjutant General's Department that deals with mitigation advocacy, planning requirements and guidance, training and exercising, response coordination, and administration of recovery programs for the civil sector on the State of Kansas regardless of the type of hazard. It was created in 1950 in response to Cold War nuclear threats as the State Civil Defense Agency and was transferred to the Adjutant General's Department in 1955. At that time its role was expanded to include emergency management for all disasters and coordination of recovery and response activities statewide.
About Salamander Technologies
Salamander Technologies, in their own words:
source: Salamander Technologies
Our Mission
At Salamander Technologies, we are saving the lives of our first responders and the citizens they protect by offering a superior auto ID system that accounts for all personnel, verifies responder identities, and enhances situational awareness at an incident, emergency, or field event. Our contributions to homeland security will accelerate as our interTRAX® solution fulfills the national imperative for a unified system to identify and track all participants of large-scale incidents - responders, victims, and volunteers.
Our Vision
Create a simple, scalable, and survivable system for interagency personnel accountability - from the tag to the web - that complies with federal mandates for the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Personal Identity Verification (PIV).
Top 10 Benefits of CRMCS
Top Ten benefits provided by the CRMCS…
01Personnel accountability
02Resource identification
03Resource reliability due to FEMA ,NIMS, and State typing standards
04Situational awareness of an incident via InterTrax exchange
05Sharing of the workload by allowing usernames and passwords for individual agencies or organizations to update their own data
06Quick visual reference of deployable resources with ties to Kansas– MAP and its closest resource tool
07Possible medical certification / license / registration verification through KSERV
08A sunflower decal on drivers license to identify system members
09Helps facilitate mutual aid
10Accessible from anywhere with an internet connection
About CRMCS
The Kansas Division of Emergency Management (KDEM), in partnership with the Kansas Homeland Security Regions, launched a new comprehensive resource management tool in September of 2011. This tool allows county emergency managers and emergency response agencies the ability to credential personnel, provide information on availability of assets and personnel during an emergency, the ability to track those assets on scene, and complete incident visibility via the internet. The resource information is collected and stored in the web based resourceMGR web™ (RMW) / interTRAX® exchange system. Resources in the RMW system will be typed by the FEMA Tier I NIMS standards. Assets that fall outside those standards will be identified and given state specific Tier II types as defined by the subject matter experts in the appropriate discipline / Emergency Support Function (ESF). These standards for typing and credentialing are being developed now and the project is expected to be complete July of 2014.
Several of the Regional Homeland Security Councils have implemented accountability and credentialing systems in accordance with NIMS, NFPA and the State Strategic Goals for homeland security. RMW builds upon these systems to provide the entire state of Kansas the opportunity to benefit from the capability.
interTRAX® exchange is a web based tracking system that allows those with appropriate permissions the ability to track, in near real time, the people and assets on scene at an incident. This will provide the opportunity to predict possible needs to effectively manage the incident.
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