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Introduction The information contained in the NIMS section of our website was provided by the Department of Homeland Security National Integration Center (NIC) Incident Management Systems Division. On February 28, 2003, the President issued Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)–5, Management of Domestic Incidents, which directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop and administer a National Incident Management System (NIMS). This system provides a consistent nationwide template to enable Federal, State, local, and tribal governments and private-sector and nongovernmental organizations to work together effectively and efficiently to prepare for, prevent, respond to, and recover from domestic incidents, regardless of cause, size, or complexity, including acts of catastrophic terrorism.” (NIMS Document, Preface, page 6) The NIMS contains roughly six major components for organizations and agencies to implement.  The first component is “Command and Management” which includes the Incident Command System (ICS), the Multi-Agency Coordination System (MACS) and the Public Information System (PIS).  This component of NIMS consists of three organizational structures to improve the coordination and communication between multiple agencies and organizations during emergencies and disasters. The second Component of NIMS is “Preparedness”, which includes planning, training, exercising, personnel qualification and certification, equipment acquisition and certification, mutual aid and publications management.  These are all preparedness activities to be implemented prior to an emergency or disaster occurring.   “Resource Management” is the third component of NIMS.  This component establishes requirements for processes to describe, inventory, mobilize, dispatch, track, and recover resources over the life cycle of an incident. The fourth component of NIMS is “Communication and Information Management”.  There are two main elements of this component: Incident Management Communications and Information Management.  Incident Management Communications includes processes to ensure that effective, interoperable communications processes, procedures, and systems exist to support a wide variety of incident management activities across agencies and jurisdictions.  Information Management ensures that effective, interoperable communications processes, procedures, and systems exist to support a wide variety of incident management activities across agencies and jurisdictions.   “Supporting Technologies” is the fifth component of NIMS.  This component discusses the importance of technology and technological systems necessary to implement and continuously refine NIMS implementation. The sixth and final component of NIMS is “Ongoing Management and Maintenance”, which establishes a strategic approach to review and maintenance of the system for the long-term.  The NIMS management and maintenance process relies heavily on lessons learned from actual incidents and domestic incident management training and exercises, as well as recognized best practices across jurisdictions and functional disciplines. Information about the National Incident Management System (NIMS) was provided by the National Integration Center (NIC) Incident Management Systems Division.