EXPERT RESPONSE
It seems that you are referring to the concept of a liaison officer within the context of incident response. In this situation, the liaison officer is responsible for coordinating multi-agency responses to some type of incident. The need for this kind of role is pretty straightforward. In the event of a serious incident, a lot of different resources and agencies can be brought to bear, and that will require coordination.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the liaison officer specifically:
- Acts as a contact point for all agency personnel
- Keeps lists of the agencies and personnel representing the agencies
- Facilitates meetings and cooperation among agencies
- Identifies problems in inter-agency communications
- Keeps the "Grand Pooh-Bahs" in Washington up to speed
- Fills out lots of forms
- Does a post-mortem when an incident is wrapped up
Not brain surgery, but clearly necessary to ensure that all activities are coordinated and effective during an emergency situation.
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