Fact Sheet

National Advisory Council

Overview

The National Advisory Council (NAC) advises the 
Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency (FEMA) on all aspects of emergency 
management. The NAC incorporates tribal, state, local 
governments, private sector, and non-governmental 
partners’ input in the development and revision of 
FEMA policies and strategies. FEMA’s Office of the 
National Advisory Council serves as the focal point for 
all NAC coordination. 

The NAC was formed, as mandated in the Post-Katrina 
Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006 (PL 109-
295), to ensure effective and ongoing coordination of 
national preparedness, protection, response, recovery, 
and mitigation for natural disasters, acts of terrorism 
and other man-made disasters by: 

• Incorporating greater input from tribal, state, 
and local governments, private sector, and 
nongovernmental partners.

• Providing a formal avenue for feedback, 
suggestions, and constructive criticisms from 
the diverse government, private sector, and 
non-governmental partners involved in disaster 
activities.

Membership

The membership of the NAC may consist of up to 35 
members appointed by and serving at the discretion of 
the FEMA Administrator. NAC members serve for a term 
of three years, with one-third of the membership’s 
terms ending each year. The NAC’s membership is 
made up of influential, senior leaders from diverse 
cross-section of professional and geographic areas from 
tribal, state, and local governments, the private sector, 
and non-governmental organizations. This diversity 
provides the FEMA Administrator with the best possible 
input from the customer and partner community of 
emergency management and homeland security. 

Accomplishments

Since the NAC’s creation in 2007, the NAC’s 
accomplishments include: 

• Providing valuable feedback on FEMA’s strategic 
plan, including recommendations on how to 
implement and measure its success. 

• Supplying key input on the development and 
implementation of the National Response 
Framework, the National Incident Management 
System and the National Disaster Housing 
Strategy.

• Opening lines of communication to help 
engage the private sector in emergency 
management and in realizing the vision of the 
New FEMA.

• Recommending the creation of a Regional 
Disability Coordinator position within each of 
the 10 FEMA regions. 

• Reviewing and providing input on the 
regulatory and policy issues relating to the 
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
Assistance Act.


For additional information please visit the NAC website at 
http://www.fema.gov/about/nac/ or contact FEMA Office 
of External Affairs at 202-646-4600.


“FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, 
sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.”