§  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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