Since September 11th, there has been a critical demand for a common authentication credential first responders can use, not only during an all-hazards event, but also on a day-to-day basis for physical and logical access. NCRC has made great strides to advance this credentialing program. Through the cultivation of interagency and multi-jurisdictional partnerships with multiple federal and non-federal agencies, barriers surrounding information sharing for first responders are being addressed and solved.

On July 19, 2007, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Office of National Capital Region Coordination (NCRC) and the Department of Defense (DoD) Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) joined public and private sector participants to host Summer Breeze, a multi-jurisdictional identity interoperability and attribute integration demonstration to display the advancements of the First Responder Partnership Initiative (FRPI) program. The demonstration validated the functionality of the First Responder Authentication Credential (FRAC) and the integration of electronic attributes (qualifications, authorizations, certifications, and privileges) that have been developed and advanced through the credentialing program.

Summer Breeze was a follow on to Winter Storm, a multi-jurisdictional demonstration co-hosted by DHS FEMA NCRC and DoD PFPA in February 2007. Winter Storm validated Federal, State, and regional production issuance infrastructures while Summer Breeze validated Federal, State, and local production tool sets for emergency and routine usage capabilities.

More than 44 organizations, in over 7 locations across the United States, including the National Capital Region (NCR), simultaneously participated in Summer Breeze. The validated outcomes during Summer Breeze included:

1. Federal/Non-Federal multi-jurisdictional First Responder Authentication Credential (FRAC) electronic identity (eID) production trust model
2. Trust model integration with National Response Framework (NRF) Emergency Support Function (ESF) attribute information (a first ever)
3. Achieved initial operational capability (IOC) of Federal, State, and local identity and attribute production infrastructures
4. Achieved IOC to exchange attribute information between Federal, State, and local attribute infrastructures (a first ever)
5. The ability to electronically display and geospatially exchange real-time human resource situational awareness between all sites<
6. Achieved IOC for Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD 12) routine/emergency access privileges at PFPA-controlled DoD-leased facilities within the NCR
7. Achieved IOC for the Port of Jacksonville (JAXPORT) physical access control system to validate locally generated and DoD Common Access Cards (CAC) (a first ever)

During Summer Breeze, participants and observers viewed details on a commercially available mapping program that gave local, regional, and nationwide emergency operation centers real-time geospatial situational awareness of First Responders during a simulated all-hazards event. Additionally, this mapping program displayed the identities and attributes (skill sets) of all participating First Responders nation-wide, a first in the country.