Office of Emergency Management and Interagency Preparedness
In 1996, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani created the Mayor's Office of Emergency
Management, which had three basic functions. First, OEM's Watch Command was to
monitor the city's key communications channels-including radio frequencies of
FDNY dispatch and the NYPD-and other data. A second purpose of the OEM was to
improve New York City's response to major incidents, including terrorist
attacks, by planning and conducting exercises and drills that would involve
multiple city agencies, particularly the NYPD and FDNY. Third, the OEM would
play a crucial role in managing the city's overall response to an
The World Trade Center Radio Repeater System
Rendering by Marco Crupi
incident. After OEM's Emergency Operations Center was activated, designated
liaisons from relevant agencies, as well as the mayor and his or her senior
staff, would respond there. In addition, an OEM field responder would be sent to
the scene to ensure that the response was coordinated.27
The OEM's headquarters was located at 7 WTC. Some questioned locating it both
so close to a previous terrorist target and on the 23rd floor of a building
(difficult to access should elevators become inoperable). There was no backup
site.28
In July 2001, Mayor Giuliani updated a directive titled "Direction and
Control of Emergencies in the City of New York." Its purpose was to
eliminate "potential conflict among responding agencies which may have
areas of overlapping expertise and responsibility." The directive sought to
accomplish this objective by designating, for different types of emergencies, an
appropriate agency as "Incident Commander." This Incident Commander
would be "responsible for the management of the City's response to the
emergency," while the OEM was "designated the 'On Scene Interagency
Coordinator.'"29
Nevertheless, the FDNY and NYPD each considered itself operationally
autonomous. As of September 11, they were not prepared to comprehensively
coordinate their efforts in responding to a major incident. The OEM had not
overcome this problem.
