Sec. 201.3  Policy.

    (a) The Federal Government is responsible for resources 
mobilization, including determination of the need for and the extent of 
mobilization necessary in all crises and emergencies, wartime and non-
wartime.
    (b) The President has limited non-wartime NS/EP telecommunications 
functions, and wartime NS/EP functions under the Communications Act of 
1934 (as amended), which have been delegated to Federal agencies under 
Executive Order 12472. Federal, State, and local governments share the 
responsibility for conservation of the Nation's telecommunications 
resources.
    (1) The achievement of survival and recovery during a crisis or 
emergency would establish an unavoidable interdependence between and 
among Federal, State, and local authorities; therefore, there should be 
no barriers between Federal and State levels of authorities and between 
State and local levels of authorities which would impede, obstruct, or 
otherwise hinder effective conservation and equitable allocation of 
telecommunications resources and services to the needs of the Nation.

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    (2) The Federal Government will rely upon State governments and 
their telecommunications management organizations for management or 
control of intrastate carrier services and continuity of 
interconnectivity with interstate carriers to assure that national 
objectives and priorities are properly served. Applicable regulations of 
the Federal Communications Commission govern the extent of the 
allocation of responsibility between Federal and State authorities for 
the management of NS/EP intrastate carrier services and the 
interconnectivity of intrastate services for NS/EP telecommunications 
functions.
    (c) A system of telecommunications service priorities will be 
established which facilitates the provisioning and early restoration of 
services considered vital to national interests during those events or 
crises which warrant NS/EP treatment.
    (d) The President is authorized during, or in anticipation of, an 
emergency or major disaster (as defined in the Disaster Relief Act of 
19/4) to establish temporary telecommunications systems and to make such 
telecommunications available to State and local government officials and 
such other persons as deemed appropriate (42 U.S.C. 5185).
    (e) The President also is authorized, during war, when necessary in 
the interest of national defense and security, to direct or establish 
priorities for essential communications with any commercial or 
governmental carrier and to prevent obstruction of telecommunications. 
The President may also suspend or amend rules and regulations, close 
stations and facilities, and authorize U.S. government use and control 
of telecommunications resources with regard to:
    (1) Radio communications (during war, or Presidentially declared 
threat of war, public peril, disaster or national emergency or a need to 
preserve the neutrality of the U.S.) and
    (2) Wire communications (during war or threat of war).
    (f) During an attack on the United States by an aggressor nation, 
and in an immediate postattack period, all decisions regarding the use 
of telecommunications resources will be directed to the objective of 
national survival and recovery. In order to achieve this objective, 
postattack resources will be assigned to activities concerned with the 
maintenance and saving of lives, immediate military defense and 
response, and economic activities essential to continued economic 
survival and recovery.
    (g) The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy will 
serve as the central authority to control, coordinate, and direct the 
activities of the Nation's telecommunications facilities, systems, and 
services during periods of wartime emergency as determined under section 
706 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 606), as amended.
    (h) Telecommunications resources of the Federal Government will be 
employed, as required, to best serve the continuity of government and 
national interests.
    (i) Federal agencies will, in the development of emergency 
operational plans, minimize, to the extent feasible, dependence upon 
telecommunications services for continuity of essential operations.