§7656 Designation of Crisis Management Team Within Department

Summary

The Secretary of Agriculture must create a Crisis Management Team inside the Department of Agriculture. The team must include senior staff with strong subject knowledge from each relevant agency and be led by someone with management and communication skills. The team must write a department-wide crisis plan and clear steps to follow, update the plan regularly, make sure staff know and follow it and report possible problems, gather and share information, and make sure spokespeople give accurate, timely, and science-based information the public can understand. The team must also work with federal, state, local, industry, and public groups when handling a crisis. The team must work with the Department’s Advisory Board to set research priorities for animal health, natural disasters, food safety, and other farm issues. The Secretary must try to make agreements with other federal agencies so information is consistent and coordinated in a crisis—for example, working with the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration on foodborne threats to human health.