1.
General. Commanders must safeguard COMSEC material in the event of natural disasters and hostile
actions. The COMSEC custodian is the one who prepares the emergency plans. These plans must be realistic,
simple, and workable.
a. For natural or man-made disasters, planning focuses on using or safely storing the material until order
is restored. These disasters include fire, flood, tornado, and earthquake. The planning effort provides for:
(1) Fire reporting and initial fire fighting by personnel on duty at a fixed or mobile facility.
(2) Assigning on-the-scene responsibility for controlling access to the facility and COMSEC
material. This applies when outside personnel or uncleared emergency crews are admitted to the facility.
(3) Securing or removing COMSEC material and evacuating the area.
(4) Assessing and reporting probable exposure of COMSEC material to unauthorized persons during
an actual emergency.
(5) Post-emergency inventory of COMSEC material.
This includes reporting any losses or
unauthorized exposures.
b. Planning for hostile action centers on procedures to effectively evacuate, secure, or destroy COMSEC
material. Hostile actions include a mob action, a civil uprising, or an enemy or terrorist attack on a facility.
These plans address the variety of situations that might occur. Emergency plans must cover various situations.
These include the facility being overrun by an enemy, or an unstable political environment where destruction
must be done immediately. The planning provides for:
(1) The availability and adequacy of physical protective measures. These include perimeter controls
and physical security provisions for facilities.
(2) The security procedures and assets needed to evacuate COMSEC material under emergency
conditions.
(3) The destruction facilities and assets needed to effectively destroy COMSEC material.
c. Frequent training exercises should be conducted. These ensure personnel know what their tasks and
responsibilities are in securing or destroying COMSEC material. Only through rehearsed training exercises can
the commander the COMSEC custodian, and other individuals decide if the plans are realistic, simple, and
workable.
d. Records of the training exercises are kept with the emergency plans. The COMSEC custodian
prepares a record for each exercise. The record notes the training date, the plans tested, the result, and the names
of participants.
SS0137
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