CAP Public Information Officer: High Profile Missions

1
CAP Public Information OfficerHigh Profile
Missions

• Julie DeBardelaben
• Deputy Director, Public Affairs
• Civil Air Patrol
• National Headquarters
• jdebardelaben_at_capnhq.gov
• [phone], ext. 250
• Capt. Phil Norris
• Assistant Director of Public Affairs
• Southeast Region, CAP
• norris.phil_at_gmail.com
• [phone]

2
High-Profile vs. Regular Missions vs. Public
Affairs

• A High-Profile Mission requires different rules
  than a regular mission or the normal public
  affairs duties of a PAO.
• The stakes are higher during high-profile
  missions, and only properly trained PIOs are
  involved in these missions.

3
Regular Missions

• Regular missions involve the search for a lost
  aircraft, the search for a missing person or the
  investigation of an ELT signal reported from an
  aircraft.
• Regular missions normally involve a local
  incident staff, an aircrew, a ground team and the
  appropriate wing command staff.

4
Public Affairs

• Public affairs is the function familiar to
  most PAOs.
• It is a relationship-building process in which
  local units reach out to the community to educate
  the public on CAPs three primary missions.

5
High-Profile Mission Protocol

• CAP NHQ/PA has developed a high-profile missions
  policy in response to Hurricane Katrina, flooding
  in the Midwest and several other missions that
  required more diligence from the standpoint of
  public affairs. Having this in place aided in the
  approach to public affairs during Deepwater
  Horizon.

6
CAPs High-Profile Missions Policy

• A high-profile Air Force-assigned mission (AFAM)
  is defined as a mission that will potentially
  trigger significant media interest at the
  regional or national level. A mission may be
  treated as high-profile as deemed appropriate by
  the CAP National Operations Center, NHQ/PA, wing
  commanders or the mission approval authority
  (1st, 11th or 13th Air Force, CAP-USAF, etc.). 

7
High-Profile Missions Policy

• ICs or PIOs who are unsure whether a mission
  would be considered high-profile, or who simply
  need assistance, should contact the NOC or NHQ/PA
  for guidance.
• News releases for high-profile AFAMs must be
  approved by NHQ/PA and the NOC. This clearance is
  not required for routine missions or training
  missions.

8
High-Profile Missions Policy

• Media relations for high-profile events
  including developing a public awareness plan,
  developing talking points, identifying whether
  and when to hold press conferences, scheduling
  one-on-one interviews with selected spokesmen and
  developing and disseminating news releases and
  media kits will be accomplished in partnership
  with NHQ/PA.

9
High-Profile Missions Policy

• NHQ/PA provides approvals to proceed with these
  public affairs initiatives to the IC and IO.
• NHQ/PA will establish and maintain, as deemed
  appropriate, a page on www.gocivilairpatrol.com
  where photos and news releases of high-profile
  missions will be posted on an ongoing basis.

10
Deepwater Horizon

• On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon
  semi-submersible mobile off-shore drilling unit,
  located approximately 41 miles from the Louisiana
  coast, exploded.
• Eleven workers were killed and 17 others were
  injured.
• The explosion caused a large fire on the oil rig.
• This resulted in the dumping of approximately
  62,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

11
Deepwater Horizon

• Organizations involved initially in the oil rig
  crisis
• U.S. Coast Guard.
• BP Oil Co.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
  Department of Energy, Geological Survey, Bureau
  of Ocean Energy Management and coastal state
  emergency organizations.

12
Deepwater Horizon

• Initial potentially damaging effects of the oil
  spill
• Damage to coastlines of Louisiana, Mississippi,
  Alabama, Florida and Texas.
• Impact on Gulf Coast economies and fishing
  industry (tourism, real estate values, etc.).
• Long-term damage to marine life in Gulf.
• Impact on the future of the oil industry in Gulf.

13
Deepwater Horizon

• Civil Air Patrol was tasked with oil spill
  response support in early May 2010
• Initial CAP Incident Command established at
  Mobile Civic Center as one of the Incident
  Command Posts along the Gulf.
• Col. James Rushing, Southeast Region commander,
  was appointed senior officer in charge for CAP.

14
Deepwater Horizon

• Maj. John Neil, Alabama Wing Director of
  Operations, and Capt. Jan Hulsey, from the
  National Operations Center, set up the initial
  Incident Command Post for CAP.
• NHQ/PA got involved from the start and began
  gathering resources and discussing PA guidelines
  with Col. Rushing, CAP NHQ staff, 1st Air Force
  and the incident commander.

15
Deepwater Horizon

• The decision was made by Col. Rushing and Lt.
  Col. Joel Katz of the Southeast Region, after
  consulting with NHQ/PA, that one CAP member
  should be tasked as the overall Pubic Information
  Officer (PIO) for the mission.
• Capt. Phil Norris, Southeast Region assistant
  director of public affairs, was chosen as the
  Deepwater Horizon Mission PIO.

16
Deepwater Horizon

• Capt. Norriss CAP PA credentials
• Master Rating in Public Affairs.
• 5 years experience as CAP PAO/PIO.
• Attended 2007 and 2008 PAO Academies.
• Several National PA Awards.
• Coordinated national media relations for the
  Dennis Steinbock mission in 2007.
• Former Mississippi Wing PAO.

17
Deepwater Horizon

• Norris initial tasking was to serve as a
  central point of contact for all information
  released relating to the CAP mission in the oil
  spill response.
• This required him to be in the approval chain
  for all press releases that dealt with the oil
  spill response.

18
Deepwater Horizon

• Major concerns from the standpoint of PA
• Protecting sensitive information related to the
  mission.
• Keeping CAP members involved in the mission from
  using unauthorized channels to publish
  information about the mission (social media,
  e-mail, local stories, etc.).
• Not violating the trust the Unified Command
  placed in CAP to protect sensitive information.

19
Deepwater Horizon

• Major concerns from the standpoint of PA (cont.)
• Working with the Incident Command Structure and
  Joint Information Center (JIC) on a large- scale
  mission where CAP was not the lead agency.
• Staying in our lanes when sending out CAP press
  releases.
• Telling the CAP story in a timely fashion and
  obtaining necessary approvals.

20
Deepwater Horizon

• Major PA goals for this mission
• Maintain information integrity and operations
  security.
• Tell the CAP story to a national audience (aiding
  recruiting efforts).
• Recognize members who contributed to the success
  of the mission (aiding retention efforts).
• Establish CAP as a key emergency services player
  in future large-scale missions.
• Demonstrate CAPs value to stakeholders.

21
Deepwater Horizon

• Initial steps to execute PA mission
• PIO and NHQ/PA discussed how coordination would
  be carried out and chain of command.
• Educated key mission players, including all wing
  and region PAOs and national PA team leader, on
  protocol for mission.
• PIO and NHQ/PA communicated with key players in
  the JIC, 1st Air Force and NOC to learn what we
  could and couldnt publish.

22
Deepwater Horizon

• Initial Steps to execute PA mission (cont.)
• NHQ/PA and PIO partnered with wing PAOs to
  encourage publicizing CAPs involvement in the
  mission on the local level.
• Established rules for national press releases,
  local press releases and interviews.
• Established high-profile mission page on national
  website with updates and articles.

23
Deepwater Horizon

• Subsequent steps in executing PA mission
• Focused on getting a national press release out
  as soon as possible to build national interest in
  the CAP story.
• Contacted selected national media outlets to
  promote interest in the CAP story.
• Contacted local media outlets to build interest
  in CAP (tasked wing PAOs with this).

24
Deepwater Horizon

• Subsequent steps in executing PA mission (cont.)
• As soon as national media interest was trickling
  in, established protocol to get approval for
  media flights and media interviews with key
  personnel.
• Continued to send out press releases to national
  media to maintain interest in CAPs story.
• Developed communication plans for each media
  event.

25
Deepwater Horizon

• Our Successes

26
Deepwater Horizon

• Our successes
• We provided a media flight to CBS Evening News,
  which featured CAP on national news (more than 5
  million viewers).
• We provided a media flight to WALB-TV from
  Albany, Ga., which aired a 3-minute feature on
  CAP.
• Newspath flew with us and aired a story shown on
  80 CBS channels.

27
Our Successes

• Our successes (cont.)
• National news releases picked up online,
  including Aero-News Network and General Aviation.
• Air Space/Smithsonian and AOPA Pilot magazines
  both writing feature stories including coverage
  of CAPs contributions.
• We told the CAP story to several local media
  outlets (at least 12 print stories/video
  reports).

28
Deepwater Horizon

• Our successes (cont.)
• Received media information requests from Popular
  Mechanics, Fox News and Inside Edition.
• Established CAP PA as a professional organization
  capable of handling high-profile missions.
• Educated large contingent of CAP PAOs on proper
  conduct for a high-profile mission.

29
Deepwater Horizon

• Our successes (cont.)
• Demonstrated to 1st Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard,
  Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department
  of Homeland Security and other key emergency
  services organizations the value of CAPs
  volunteer membership.
• DHS developed PowerPoint presentation, which
  featured CAP, to show local communities.

30
Deepwater Horizon

• Lessons learned
• Involve PA early on in high-profile missions.
• The Incident Command Structure works.
• NHQ/PA and mission PIO partnership is critical to
  PA success.
• Get all affected PAs involved in the process.
• Communication is critical to mission success.
• Be willing to be flexible rules change at times.

31
Deepwater Horizon

• Lessons learned (cont.)
• Establish good relationships with JIC, Air Force,
  CAP volunteer leadership, CAP subordinate unit
  PAOs, PA team leader and local and national
  media.
• Be patient and make sure your message is
  scrutinized before publishing.
• Properly brief CAP members before interaction
  with media representatives.

32
Deepwater Horizon

• Summary
• The Deepwater Horizon mission was a large
  success for CAP PA. We established CAP as a
  national asset in the minds of the national
  media, stakeholders and the general public. For
  the mission PIO, the coordination and support
  from NHQ/PA was absolutely critical in achieving
  great successes during the Deepwater Horizon
  mission.

33
Partnering with NHQ/PA for High-Profile Missions

• Planning
• Develop and/or refine crisis plan or public
  relations plan.
• Identify a spokesperson.
• Anticipate media needs and questions.
• Make recommendations on all media coverage.
• Coordinate national leadership participation.
• Provide talking points and media kits.

34
Partnering with NHQ/PA for High-Profile Missions

• Media queries and responses
• Respond to media inquiries.
• Research, interview and write news releases.
• Disseminate news releases nationwide.
• Develop radio and TV announcements.
• Set up interviews.
• Set up press conferences.

35
Partnering with NHQ/PA for High-Profile Missions

• Issues management
• Develop proactive media messages.
• Prepare a daily issues management report that
  tracks key issues and recommends courses of
  action.

36
Partnering with NHQ/PA for High-Profile Missions

• Logistics
• Publish daily updates online.
• Provide media contact lists.
• Provide a daily report of media coverage.
• Provide a copy of  WMIRS reports to members
  involved in missions, issued daily by NHQs
  National Operations Center.
• Prepare an after-action report.

37
Parterning with NHQ/PA for High Profile Missions

• Creative Services
• Coordinate with NHQ Creative Services to
  establish and maintain a website.
• Coordinate with NHQ Creative Services to secure
  and publish photographs online.
• Coordinate with NHQ Creative Services to record,
  edit and distribute videos/DVDs.
•  
•  

38
Deepwater Horizon

• Summary (cont.)
• The support of Col. Rushing, Southeast Region
  commander, the various incident commanders, the
  National Operations Center, 1st Air Force, the
  mission base staff, aircrews and the wing PAOs
  was essential in getting a positive CAP story out
  to a national audience. This will pay tremendous
  dividends to CAP for years to come. Thanks to all
  who supported the PA mission.

39
Deepwater Horizon

• Thanks to
• Julie DeBardelaben, NHQ/PA
• Steve Cox, NHQ/PA
• NHQ/PA Staff Writer and Photographer
• Maj. Al Pabon, National PA Team Leader
• National Operations Center Personnel
• Col. James Rushing
• Incident Commanders
• Mission Base Staff
• CAP Aircrews
• Col. Becky Tilton, MSWG PAO
• Maj. Pat Mitcham, ALWG PAO
• Maj. Doug Jessmer, FLWG PAO
• Maj. Paige Joyner, GAWG PAO
• Lt. Kimberly Bennett, TNWG PAO

40
High-Profile Missions

• Future High-Profile Mission PA involvement
• Plans are under way to create different
  qualification levels for CAP public information
  officers. Specific qualification requirements
  will be in place for PIOs before they will be
  allowed to participate in high-profile missions.

41
PIO Requirements The Future

• Future High-Profile Mission PA involvement
  (cont.)
• Three levels of training based on the Department
  of Homeland Securitys National Incident
  Management System (NIMS) requirements.
• NIMS has five levels, but the top two are for
  federal-level PIOs serving on missions of
  national consequence roles CAP would not fill.
• CAP will have PIOs Level 5 to 3.

42
PIO Requirements Level 5

• Current requirements
• Operational Risk Management Basic and
  Intermediate Training.
• Complete Technician Rating in PAO Specialty
  Track.
• FEMAs G-289 or an equivalent CAP PIO Course.
• Demonstrate Writing Technique Writing a good
  news release.
• Current PIOs will be rolled in at this level
  automatically and will be expected to complete
  the above before renewing their qualifications.

43
PIO Requirements Level 4

• Complete Senior Rating in PAO Specialty Track.
• Demonstrate additional proficiency in writing,
  photography and presentation preparation.
• Demonstrate knowledge of AP style.
• Demonstrate ability to prepare for and conduct a
  press conference.
• Complete FEMA G-290 and G-291 or equivalent CAP
  PIO courses.
• Complete two missions as a Level 4 supervised
  trainee.
• Current PIOs meeting these requirements can be
  qualified immediately by their wing commander or
  a designee.

44
PIO Requirements Level 3

• FEMAs E-388 or equivalent CAP PIO Course.
• Two missions as a Level 3 Supervised Trainee.
• Complete ICS 400.
• Complete Master Rating in PAO Specialty Track.
• Current PIOs meeting these requirements can be
  qualified immediately by their region commander
  or a designee.

45
Questions?