Responder Priorities for Technology Advancement

The purpose of Project Responder is to identify, validate, and prioritize capability needs for emergency response to critical incidents. This paper summarizes the findings of Project Responder 5 (PR5), the fifth iteration in this series of studies. The timing of the PR5 effort is notable because the threat environment continues to change, requiring capabilities to address a wide spectrum of threats and hazards. Researchers examined 20 recent natural disasters and man-made incidents to identify the capability needs that are shared across emergency response disciplines. The results of the PR5 effort include capability needs identified by emergency responders who participated in the nation's recent large-scale incidents and validated by groups of responders across the United States. Each need reflects a capability that responders believe necessary to safely, efficiently, and effectively address large-scale incidents in the future. Periodic reexamination of capability needs is essential to ensure that emergency responders have the appropriate protection, equipment, systems, technologies, and apparatus required to carry out their missions safely, efficiently, and effectively.