The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday announced the establishment of the National Incident Management System Integration Center.

The NIC will support direct participation and regular consultation with other federal departments and state, local, and tribal incident management entities, as well as private organizations for incident response.

"This multi- jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary National Incident Management System Integration Center will provide a valuable resource to better coordinate our response to all-hazards," said under secretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response Michael Brown.

"The establishment of the NIC allows for a mechanism to provide ongoing coordination among federal, state, local and tribal incident management entities with emergency responders to coordinate our mission to better protect our citizens."

The National Incident Management System strengthens America's response capabilities by identifying and integrating core elements and best practices for all responders and incident managers.

Through a balance between flexibility and standardization, and use of common doctrine, terminology, concepts, principles, and processes, execution during a real incident will be consistent and seamless. Responders will be able to focus more on response, instead of organizing the response, and teamwork and assignments among all authorities will be clearly enhanced. The NIC brings together and coordinates all of these efforts, and will be physically located at Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency.