500 C Street, SW 
Washington, DC 20472 
500 C Street, SW 
Washington, DC 20472 
Press Office 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
Fact Sheet 

August 2008 

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE TEAMS 

To further enhance disaster response capabilities and provide for the three national-level response teams 
and regional-level emergency response “strike” teams required in the Post-Katrina Emergency 
Management Reform Act of 2006, FEMA is developing a next generation of rapidly deployable 
emergency response teams known as Incident Management Assistance Teams (IMAT). These teams are 
designed to rapidly deploy to an incident or incident-threatened venue to provide a forward federal 
presence and lead a prompt, effective, coordinated and integrated federal and inter-jurisdictional 
response in support of state, tribal, and local emergency management officials. The teams support the 
initial establishment of a unified command and provide situational awareness for federal and state 
decision-makers crucial to determining the level and type of immediate federal support that may be 
required. When not deployed, the teams are responsible for building and maintaining a close working 
relationship with regional, state, tribal, and local emergency management officials, federal partners, and 
the private sector to support planning, training, exercising, and other activities in preparation for disaster 
response. 

The IMATs have the capability to establish an effective on-scene federal presence within 12-hours of 
notification and can be self-sufficient for a minimum of 48 hours. The national-level teams consist of 26 
staff members and regional teams consist of 15 staff members. IMATs are led by experienced, senior-
level emergency managers and staffed with a core of permanent full-time employees, unlike FEMA’s 
Emergency Response Teams (ERT), which are staffed on a collateral duty basis. Both national and 
regional-level teams can be augmented with additional staff from other departments and agencies as 
needed and are supported by FEMA’s Mobile Emergency Response Support elements. The teams are 
fully compliant with NIMS and ICS and will train and exercise as a unit. For more significant disaster 
events, a national-level team will lead the federal response, supported by regional-level teams. 

The new IMATs will subsume the mission and capabilities of the existing ERTs and their mission and 
capabilities will incorporate similar leadership structures, emergency management doctrine, and 
operational communications concepts. Two national and three regional teams have already been 
established and establishment of the remaining teams will be completed during the next three years. 

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www.fema.gov