Over an extended crisis/emergency, how should technology planning and technology operational issues be incorporated into the command structure?
Part of the problem in emergencies is that information technology can malfunction, breakdown and create ancillary problems. The larger the scale of the crisis/emergency in terms of number of people affected and the number of responders, the more likely it is that technology problems will occur. Currently the Incident Command System (ICS) doesn’t adequately address how information technology will be supported, maintained and mobilized during an incident. More technology planning is needed for crisis/emergency management and potential Incident Commanders need an increasingly high level of technology sophistication. Emergency simulations and exercises need to use a wide variety of technologies and technology breakdowns should be simulated. As far as ICS information technology operations … follow the KISS approach … Keep It Simple Stupid.
