States activated EMAC in response to a variety of emergencies, including  hurricanes; floods; wildfires; and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In recent years, the volume and types of resources deployed under EMAC  have also increased. EMAC Membership Has Increased to 52

EMAC membership has grown from a handful of members in 1995 to 52  today. For example, of the estimated 40,000 people who responded to  the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York, New York officials  requested only 26 emergency management personnel under EMAC to  supplement state emergency management efforts. EMAC provides a framework that helps its members to overcome  differences in missions, organizational cultures, and established ways of  doing business in order to achieve a common outcome—streamlining and  expediting the delivery of resources among members during emergencies. The Lack of Clearly Defined Roles and Responsibilities in Some Areas Limits EMAC’s Effectiveness

While the compact and its accompanying protocols establish roles and  responsibilities that have worked well for smaller-scale deployments, they  have not kept pace with the growing use of EMAC, sometimes resulting in  delays and limiting EMAC’s overall effectiveness. We identified challenges in five areas: (1) gaps in EMAC protocols  with regard to communicating resource needs sometimes yielded  deployment delays and confusion among requesting state officials and  resource providers; (2) the lack of a comprehensive system to support the  tracking of resource requests from initial offers of assistance through  mission completion in 2005 caused delays, duplications of effort, and  frustration; (3) existing reimbursement standards are not designed to  facilitate timely reimbursement following catastrophic disasters; (4) the  lack of federal guidance to obtain advance funding resulted in delaying  some state-to-state reimbursements under EMAC; and (5) deployment of  National Guard troops under two different authorities resulted in delays in  reimbursement and additional administrative burdens. Following the  2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, the EMAC network has taken steps to address  some of the concerns associated with the reimbursement process and  standards. EMAC Network Has Developed a Basic Administrative Capacity, but Opportunities Exist to Further Support Its Mission

The EMAC network has begun to develop a basic administrative capacity  to support its operations; however, improvements in how it plans, tracks,  and reports on its performance, along with a consistent source of funding,  would help the network achieve its mission. Although the EMAC network  has adopted several good management practices, such as using a  structured approach to learn from past deployments and developing a 5- year strategic plan, opportunities exist to further enhance these efforts by  considering the experience of leading organizations in results-oriented  performance measurement. In addition, the EMAC network and FEMA  entered into a cooperative agreement that provided some federal funding  to help build the EMAC network’s administrative capacity, but this  agreement has recently expired. In May 2007, Congress  appropriated $2.5 million to FEMA for interstate mutual aid agreements,  and according to FEMA officials, FEMA and EMAC leadership are in the  process of finalizing a 3-year cooperative agreement to improve the use  and awareness of resource typing among its members, and develop  training programs to improve awareness of EMAC at the federal, state, and  local levels. At the same time, we found that opportunities exist for the EMAC  network—as well as individual members—to make improvements in  several areas, such as (1) developing member roles and responsibilities  regarding how first responders are received and integrated into impacted  areas; (2) continuing to develop electronic systems that enable the EMAC  network to track resources, from request through mission completion;   (3) continuing to improve understanding of reimbursement guidelines and  standards among member states, especially following large-scale  deployments; (4) promoting good practices across the EMAC network that  improve members’ abilities to leverage resources; and (5) enhancing the  EMAC network’s strategic and management planning efforts by  considering more robust performance measures. In addition to helping states assist one another, EMAC has shown that it  plays a critical role in our nation’s disaster response. Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

To determine the extent to which the Emergency Management Assistance  Compact’s (EMAC) membership and its use have grown since its inception  in 1995, we reviewed a number of disaster responses for which the EMAC  process was activated based on the type, scale, and time frame of the  event from information provided by EMAC officials. We performed  similar reviews of state and federal after-action reports for 2004 through  2006.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) is a collaborative arrangement among member states that provides a legal framework for requesting resources. Working alongside federal players, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Guard Bureau, EMAC members deployed an unprecedented level of assistance in response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Although EMAC played a critical role in our nation's response to these hurricanes, the magnitude of these events revealed limitations. GAO was asked to (1) examine how the use of EMAC has changed since its inception; (2) assess how well existing policies, procedures, and practices facilitate collaboration; and (3) evaluate the adequacy of the EMAC network's administrative capacity to achieve its mission. GAO examined documents and interviewed officials from 45 federal, state, and local agencies and offices.

What GAO Found

Since its inception in 1995, the EMAC network has grown significantly in size, volume, and the type of resources it provides. EMAC's membership has increased from a handful of states in 1995 to 52 states and territories today, and EMAC members have used the compact to obtain support for several types of disasters including hurricanes, floods, and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The volume and variety of resources states have requested under EMAC have also grown significantly. For example, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, New York requested 26 support staff under EMAC to assist in emergency management operations; whereas, in response to the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes, approximately 66,000 personnel--about 46,500 National Guard and 19,500 civilian responders-- were deployed under EMAC from a wide variety of specialties, most of whom went to areas directly impacted by the storms. EMAC, along with its accompanying policies, procedures, and practices, enables its members to overcome differences to achieve a common mission--streamlining and expediting the delivery of resources among members during disasters. While these policies, procedures, and practices have worked well for smaller-scale deployments, they have not kept pace with the changing use of EMAC, sometimes resulting in confusion and deployment delays. The EMAC network has taken steps to address several of these challenges, but additional improvements can be made in a number of areas including clarifying roles and responsibilities of EMAC members and improving existing systems that track resources deployed under EMAC. In addition, a lack of sufficiently detailed federal standards and policies has led to some reimbursement delays and additional administrative burdens. While the EMAC network has developed a basic administrative capacity, opportunities exist for it to further build on and sustain these efforts. The EMAC network has adopted several good management practices, such as using after-action reports to learn from experiences and developing a 5-year strategic plan. However, the EMAC network can enhance its administrative capacity by improving how it plans, measures, and reports on its performance. FEMA provided $2 million to help build this capacity in 2003, but the agreement has recently expired. FEMA and EMAC leadership are in the process of finalizing a new 3-year cooperative agreement. Such an agreement would enhance the EMAC network's ability to support its collaborative efforts.