Strategic Decision-Making Roles and Responsibilities
DOD should:
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Examine the interagency decision-making process to expedite the whole-of-government response
Expand virtual and physical collaboration among supporting commands and agencies to allow for
shared situational understanding and for the collective capacity of organizations to quickly
coordinate and plan
Develop a process to identify significant disease outbreaks and conditions that may result in DOD
crisis response
Support the development of a structure for a cross-organizational USG team that can coordinate
a scalable whole-of-community contagious biological response.
o Identify positions within organizations that can activate the cross-organizational team in
order to elevate a local level of response prior to an official disaster declaration
o Develop and exercise a decision support matrix in PI&ID plans that support a graduated
response
Review procedures for operating with [United States Public Health Service] USPHS, [US Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention] CDC, HHS, USAID, and other key partners during a
contagious biological response
Examine the placement of liaisons between DOD and partner organizations, both enduring and
temporary, and their required training and experience”
Implications
If the USG does not clarify roles and responsibilities concerning disease response, a unified response could
be delayed or inadequate in the event of another major outbreak, risking a spread of the disease and
increased numbers of lives lost.
Event Description.
This lesson is based primarily on this source:
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“(U) Operation United Assistance: The DOD Response to Ebola in West Africa,” Joint and Coalition
Operational Analysis (JCOA), (6 January 2016).
Lesson Author: Katrina Gehman, Lessons Learned Analyst (Ctr), PKSOI
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