Emergency Action Committees and Plans
How U.S. and allied missions structure Emergency Action Committees, draft Emergency Action Plans, and execute drawdowns, evacuations, and crisis response abroad.
The Emergency Action Committee
The Emergency Action Committee (EAC) is the standing crisis-management body at every U.S. diplomatic and consular post abroad, mandated by 12 FAH-1 H-020 and the Foreign Affairs Manual chapters on emergency planning (12 FAM 030, 7 FAM 050). It convenes under the Chief of Mission's authority — derived from 22 U.S.C. § 3927 and reaffirmed in every President's Letter of Instruction to ambassadors — to assess threats, recommend posture changes, and execute the post's Emergency Action Plan (EAP). The EAC is not advisory: its decisions on drawdown phases, suspension of operations, and evacuation triggers are operational orders once endorsed by the COM.
Composition
Standing EAC membership is fixed by 12 FAH-1 H-024. The Deputy Chief of Mission chairs in the COM's absence. Core members include the Regional Security Officer (RSO), Management Counselor, Consular Section Chief, Defense Attaché or Senior Defense Official, Public Affairs Officer, Community Liaison Office Coordinator, Information Management Officer, Medical Officer or Health Unit chief, and the Post Security Officer for each constituent post. The CIA Chief of Station attends. Agency heads from USAID, FCS, FAS, and DHS attaché offices are included when present. The General Services Officer and Facility Manager are pulled in for logistics scenarios; the Financial Management Officer for cash-on-hand and emergency disbursing decisions under 4 FAH-3 H-390.
The EAC meets quarterly as a minimum baseline and immediately upon any of the triggers enumerated in 12 FAH-1 H-025: credible terrorist threat, civil unrest within proximity of the chancery, natural disaster, pandemic alert, host-government collapse, or armed conflict. The RSO maintains the call-out roster; the DCM's office keeps minutes, which are cabled to the Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security Command Center (DS/CC) and the relevant regional bureau as a NIACT IMMEDIATE or IMMEDIATE precedence cable depending on severity.
Authority chain in a crisis
The COM's evacuation authority operates within a defined ladder. Authorized Departure (AD) — voluntary departure of eligible family members and non-emergency staff — requires the Under Secretary for Management's approval under 3 FAM 3774, on the COM's recommendation through the regional Assistant Secretary. Ordered Departure (OD) is mandatory and likewise requires Under Secretary M approval. Suspension of operations — the formal closure of post, last invoked at Embassy Kabul on 30 August 2021, Embassy Khartoum on 22 April 2023, and Embassy Kyiv's relocation to Lviv on 14 February 2022 — requires the Secretary's authorization. The 30-day clock under 3 FAM 3774.4 governs AD/OD: status must be reviewed at 30 days and may extend to a statutory maximum of 180 days before personnel are reassigned.
EACs are also the formal interface with the Department of Defense for Noncombatant Evacuation Operations (NEO). Under the 1998 DoD-State Memorandum of Agreement on NEO and DoD Directive 3025.14, the COM requests NEO support through the geographic combatant commander; the EAC produces the F-77 report (the post's quarterly count of U.S. citizens potentially requiring evacuation) that drives military planning factors. The F-77 is submitted via the Consular Section to CA/OCS and shared with the relevant J3 at AFRICOM, CENTCOM, EUCOM, INDOPACOM, or SOUTHCOM. A defective F-77 — as occurred in pre-2021 Afghanistan planning, where the figure of roughly 15,000 U.S. citizens proved low against the actual evacuation load — distorts the entire NEO timeline.