Sec.  201.3   Policy.

   (a)  The Federal Government is responsible for resources mobilization,
   including determination of the need for and the extent of mobilization
   necessary in all crises and emergencies, wartime and non-wartime.

   (b)  The  President  has  limited non-wartime NS/EP telecommunications
   functions, and wartime NS/EP functions under the Communications Act of 1934
   (as amended), which have been delegated to Federal agencies under Executive
   Order 12472. Federal, State, and local governments share the responsibility
   for conservation of the Nation's telecommunications resources.

   (1) The achievement of survival and recovery during a crisis or emergency
   would establish an unavoidable interdependence between and among Federal,
   State, and local authorities; therefore, there should be no barriers between
   Federal and State levels of authorities and between State and local levels
   of authorities which would impede, obstruct, or otherwise hinder effective
   conservation and equitable allocation of telecommunications resources and
   services to the needs of the Nation.

   (2)  The Federal Government will rely upon State governments and their
   telecommunications management organizations for management or control of
   intrastate  carrier  services and continuity of interconnectivity with
   interstate carriers to assure that national objectives and priorities are
   properly  served. Applicable regulations of the Federal Communications
   Commission govern the extent of the allocation of responsibility between
   Federal and State authorities for the management of NS/EP intrastate carrier
   services  and  the  interconnectivity of intrastate services for NS/EP
   telecommunications functions.

   (c) A system of telecommunications service priorities will be established
   which  facilitates  the provisioning and early restoration of services
   considered vital to national interests during those events or crises which
   warrant NS/EP treatment.

   (d) The President is authorized during, or in anticipation of, an emergency
   or  major  disaster (as defined in the Disaster Relief Act of 19/4) to
   establish  temporary  telecommunications  systems  and  to  make  such
   telecommunications available to State and local government officials and
   such other persons as deemed appropriate (42 U.S.C. 5185).

   (e) The President also is authorized, during war, when necessary in the
   interest of national defense and security, to direct or establish priorities
   for essential communications with any commercial or governmental carrier and
   to prevent obstruction of telecommunications. The President may also suspend
   or amend rules and regulations, close stations and facilities, and authorize
   U.S. government use and control of telecommunications resources with regard
   to:

   (1) Radio communications (during war, or Presidentially declared threat of
   war, public peril, disaster or national emergency or a need to preserve the
   neutrality of the U.S.) and

   (2) Wire communications (during war or threat of war).

   (f) During an attack on the United States by an aggressor nation, and in an
   immediate  postattack  period,  all  decisions  regarding  the  use of
   telecommunications resources will be directed to the objective of national
   survival  and recovery. In order to achieve this objective, postattack
   resources will be assigned to activities concerned with the maintenance and
   saving of lives, immediate military defense and response, and economic
   activities essential to continued economic survival and recovery.

   (g) The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy will serve
   as the central authority to control, coordinate, and direct the activities
   of the Nation's telecommunications facilities, systems, and services during
   periods  of  wartime  emergency as determined under section 706 of the
   Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 606), as amended.

   (h) Telecommunications resources of the Federal Government will be employed,
   as  required,  to best serve the continuity of government and national
   interests.

   (i) Federal agencies will, in the development of emergency operational
   plans, minimize, to the extent feasible, dependence upon telecommunications
   services for continuity of essential operations.
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                        Last updated: August 7, 2006