Ben, your absolutely right, not federal, not even state, but I can't think of a better system for the nation. Last I knew it was one of 3 models the Fed's were looking at, we've proved it works, at Katrina we had the largest deployment of equipment and manpower, outside of the military, in history, of the 1200 departments in the state, 1170 are members. We have a long ways to go, being a member does not mean they all participate, but let's just think for a moment if everyone of us across the nation were on the same page......no wait!!......OK the moments gone, but it was fun while it lasted...
Many want to de-cry the Incident Command System or NIMS, but anyone who has ever operated under MABAS protocols have no problem with an expanded version of that.
It is a great system when you do not have the resources to mitigate an incident. Doesn't matter what it is. If you know what you got (incident), then you know what you are going to get (equipment/manpower).
Take the guesswork out of your major incident. MABAS is where it's at.
It's happening.