§  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.