Presidential Policy Directive 8 revolves around national preparedness. Its primary goal is to strengthen “…the security and resilience of the United States through systematic preparation for threats that pose the greatest risk to the nation's security, including acts of terrorism, cyberattacks, pandemics, and catastrophic natural disasters…” (Presidential Policy Directive / PPD-8: National Preparedness, 2011). It directs the government to plan for an integrated, systematic security framework that will help prevent, protect, mitigate, respond to, and recover from terrorist acts and other similar events (i.e., hurricanes and tornadoes). Furthermore, the directive requires the framework to be scalable, flexible and adaptable. NIMS is the short name for the National Incident Management System. Its basis is to be a “…emergency incident preparedness, planning and response model that is an all-hazards incident management system…(Maniscalco and Christen, 2011, p. 20). In other words, it is a guideline for emergency preparedness in all situations. The National Incident Management System does not have specific responsibilities beyond being a standard unified command system. Nonetheless, NIMS defines the roles and responsibilities of federal, state, and local first responders in an emergency. NIMS: The roles and responsibilities of federal, state, and local first responders as defined by NIMS, however, are a very broad topic. Several roles and responsibilities highlight the legal attributes of NIMS. For example, NIMS governs the certification and accreditation of incident responders. When responding to an incident, the incident management system requires the most qualified personnel. Most competent...... middle of paper ...... capable of being used by federal, state, local, private and non-governmental organizations for any type of emergency. The National Incident Management System is the result of this presidential directive; it creates a comprehensive framework for use by emergency responders. NRF goes even further with NIMS; NRF implements a cycle in which there is constant training and improvement. Additionally, NIMS uses the ICS ordering system; the ICS ordering system helps avoid confusion with the order chain. MACS is the support functionality when an incident is under unified command. Having a multi-agency coordination system allows all agencies to have a say during an incident; this way, when they help advise the incident commander, the incident commander can make an informed tactical decision. As can be seen, NIMS/NRF/MACS and PPD-8 go hand in hand in incident management..