US Code 47

47 C.F.R. Pt. 64, App. A
CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS
TITLE 47--TELECOMMUNICATION
CHAPTER I--FEDERAL
COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
SUBCHAPTER B--COMMON CARRIER
SERVICES
PART 64--MISCELLANEOUS RULES
RELATING TO COMMON CARRIERS
Current through November 6, 2001; 66 FR
56042
Appendix A to Part 64--Telecommunications
Service Priority (TSP) System for National
Security Emergency Preparedness (NSEP)
1. Purpose and Authority
a. This appendix establishes policies and
procedures and assigns responsibilities for the
National Security Emergency Preparedness
(NSEP) Telecommunications Service Priority
(TSP) System. The NSEP TSP System
authorizes priority treatment to certain domestic
telecommunications services (including portions
of U.S. international telecommunication services
provided by U.S. service vendors) for which
provisioning or restoration priority (RP) levels
are requested, assigned, and approved in
accordance with this appendix.
b. This appendix is issued pursuant to sections
1, 4(i), 201 through 205 and 303(r) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47
U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 201 through 205 and
303(r). These sections grant to the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) the
authority over the assignment and approval of
priorities for provisioning and restoration of
common carrier-provided telecommunications
services.
Under section 706 of the
Communications Act, this authority may be
superseded, and expanded to include
non-common
carrier
telecommunication
services, by the war emergency powers of the
President of the United States. This appendix
provides the Commission's Order to

telecommunication service vendors and users to
comply with policies and procedures
establishing the NSEP TSP System, until such
policies and procedures are superseded by the
President's war emergency powers. This
appendix is intended to be read in conjunction
with regulations and procedures that the
Executive Office of the President issues (1) to
implement responsibilities assigned in section
6(b) of this appendix, or (2) for use in the event
this appendix is superseded by the President's
war emergency powers.
c. Together, this appendix and the regulations
and procedures issued by the Executive Office
of the President establish one uniform system of
priorities for provisioning and restoration of
NSEP telecommunication services both before
and after invocation of the President's war
emergency powers. In order that government
and industry resources may be used effectively
under all conditions, a single set of rules,
regulations, and procedures is necessary, and
they must be applied on a day-to-day basis to
all NSEP services so that the priorities they
establish can be implemented at once when the
need arises.
* In sections 2(a)(2) and 2(b)(2) of Executive
Order No. 12472, "Assignment of National
Security and Emergency Preparedness
Telecommunications Functions" April 3, 1984
(49 FR 13471 (1984)), the President assigned
to the Director, Office of Science and
Technology
Policy,
certain
NSEP
telecommunication
resource
management
responsibilities. The term "Executive Office of
the President" as used in this appendix refers to
the official or organization designated by the
President to act on his behalf.
2. Applicability and Revocation
a. This appendix applies
telecommunications services:

to

NSEP

(1) For which initial or revised priority level
assignments are requested pursuant to section 8
of this appendix.
(2) Which were assigned restoration priorities
under the provision of FCC Order 80-581; 81
FCC 2d 441 (1980); 47 CFR Part 64,
Appendix A, "Priority System for the
Restoration of Common Carrier Provided
Intercity Private Line Services"; and are being
resubmitted for priority level assignments
pursuant to section 10 of this appendix. (Such
services will retain assigned restoration priorities
until a resubmission for a TSP assignment is
completed or until the existing RP rules are
terminated.)
b. FCC Order 80-581 will continue to apply
to all other intercity, private line circuits
assigned restoration priorities thereunder until
the fully operating capability date of this
appendix, 30 months after the initial operating
capability date referred to in subsection d of this
section.
c. In addition, FCC Order, "Precedence
System for Public Correspondence Services
Provided by the Communications Common
Carriers" (34 FR 17292 (1969)); (47 CFR
Part 64, Appendix B), is revoked as of the
effective date of this appendix.
d. The initial operating capability (IOC) date
for NSEP TSP will be nine months after release
in the Federal Register of the FCC's order
following review of procedures submitted by
the Executive Office of the President. On this
IOC date requests for priority assignments
generally will be accepted only by the Executive
Office of the President.
3. Definitions
As used in this part:
a. Assignment means the designation of priority
level(s) for a defined NSEP telecommunications
service for a specified time period.

b. Audit means a quality assurance review in
response to identified problems.
c. Government refers to the Federal
government or any foreign, state, county,
municipal or other local government agency or
organization. Specific qualifications will be
supplied whenever reference to a particular
level of government is intended (e.g., "Federal
government", "state government"). "Foreign
government" means any sovereign empire,
kingdom, state, or independent political
community, including foreign diplomatic and
consular establishments and coalitions or
associations of governments (e.g., North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),
Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO),
Organization of American States (OAS), and
government agencies or organization (e.g., Pan
American Union, International Postal Union,
and International Monetary Fund)).
d. National Communications System (NCS)
refers to that organization established by the
President in Executive Order No. 12472,
"Assignment of National Security and
Emergency Preparedness Telecommunications
Functions," April 3, 1984, 49 FR 13471
(1984).
e. National Coordinating Center (NCC) refers
to the joint telecommunications industry-Federal
government operation established by the
National Communications System to assist in
the initiation, coordination, restoration, and
reconstitution of NSEP telecommunication
services or facilities.
f. National Security Emergency Preparedness
(NSEP) telecommunications services, or
"NSEP services," means telecommunication
services which are used to maintain a state of
readiness or to respond to and manage any
event or crisis (local, national, or international),
which causes or could cause injury or harm to
the population, damage to or loss of property,
or degrades or threatens the NSEP posture of

the United States. These services fall into two
specific categories, Emergency NSEP and
Essential NSEP, and are assigned priority levels
pursuant to section 9 of this appendix.
g. NSEP treatment refers to the provisioning of
a telecommunication service before others
based on the provisioning priority level assigned
by the Executive Office of the President.
h. Priority action means assignment, revision,
revocation, or revalidation by the Executive
Office of the President of a priority level
associated with an NSEP telecommunications
service.
i. Priority level means the level that may be
assigned to an NSEP telecommunications
service specifying the order in which
provisioning or restoration of the service is to
occur relative to other NSEP and/or
non-NSEP telecommunication services.
Priority levels authorized by this appendix are
designated (highest to lowest) "E," "1," "2," "3,"
"4," and "5," for provisioning and "1," "2," "3,"
"4," and "5," for restoration.
j. Priority level assignment means the priority
level(s) designated for the provisioning and/or
restoration
of
a
particular
NSEP
telecommunications service under section 9 of
this appendix.
k. Private NSEP telecommunications services
include
non-common
carrier
telecommunications services including private
line, virtual private line, and private switched
network services.
l. Provisioning means the act of supplying
telecommunications service to a user, including
all associated transmission, wiring and
equipment. As used herein, "provisioning" and
"initiation" are synonymous and include altering
the state of an existing priority service or
capability.
m. Public switched NSEP telecommunications

services
include
those
NSEP
telecommunications services utilizing public
switched networks. Such services may include
both interexchange and intraexchange network
facilities (e.g., switching systems, interoffice
trunks and subscriber loops).
n. Reconciliation means the comparison of
NSEP service information and the resolution of
identified discrepancies.
o. Restoration means the repair or returning to
service of one or more telecommunication
services that have experienced a service outage
or are unusable for any reason, including a
damaged or impaired telecommunications
facility. Such repair or returning to service may
be done by patching, rerouting, substitution of
component parts or pathways, and other
means, as determined necessary by a service
vendor.
p. Revalidation means the rejustification by a
service user of a priority level assignment. This
may result in extension by the Executive Office
of the President of the expiration date
associated with the priority level assignment.
q. Revision means the change of priority level
assignment for an NSEP telecommunications
service. This includes any extension of an
existing priority level assignment to an expanded
NSEP service.
r. Revocation means the elimination of a
priority level assignment when it is no longer
valid. All priority level assignments for an
NSEP service are revoked upon service
termination.
s. Service identification refers to the
information uniquely identifying an NSEP
telecommunications service to the service
vendor and/or service user.
t. Service user refers to any individual or
organization (including a service vendor)
supported by a telecommunications service for

which a priority level has been requested or
assigned pursuant to section 8 or 9 of this
appendix.
u. Service vendor refers to any person,
association,
partnership,
corporation,
organization, or other entity (including common
carriers and government organizations) that
offers to supply any telecommunications
equipment, facilities, or services (including
customer premises equipment and wiring) or
combination thereof. The term includes resale
carriers, prime contractors, subcontractors, and
interconnecting carriers.
v. Spare circuits or services refers to those not
being used or contracted for by any customer.
w. Telecommunication services means the
transmission, emission, or reception of signals,
signs, writing, images, sounds, or intelligence of
any nature, by wire, cable, satellite, fiber optics,
laser, radio, visual or other electronic, electric,
electromagnetic, or acoustically coupled means,
or any combination thereof. The term can
include necessary telecommunication facilities.
x. Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP)
system user refers to any individual,
organization, or activity that interacts with the
NSEP TSP System.
4. Scope
a. Domestic NSEP services. The NSEP TSP
System and procedures established by this
appendix authorize priority treatment to the
following domestic telecommunication services
(including portions of U.S. international
telecommunication services provided by U.S.
vendors) for which provisioning or restoration
priority levels are requested, assigned, and
approved in accordance with this appendix:

(b) Intrastate telecommunication services
inseparable from interstate or foreign
telecommunications services, and intrastate
telecommunication services to which priority
levels are assigned pursuant to section 9 of this
appendix.
Note: Initially, the NSEP TSP System's
applicability to public switched services is
limited to (a) provisioning of such services (e.g.,
business, centrex, cellular, foreign exchange,
Wide Area Telephone Service (WATS) and
other services that the selected vendor is able to
provision) and (b) restoration of services that
the selected vendor is able to restore.
(2) Services which are provided by
government and/or non-common carriers and
are interconnected to common carrier services
assigned a priority level pursuant to section 9 of
this appendix.
b. Control services and orderwires. The
NSEP TSP System and procedures established
by this appendix are not applicable to authorize
priority treatment to control services or
orderwires owned by a service vendor and
needed for provisioning, restoration, or
maintenance of other services owned by that
service vendor. Such control services and
orderwires shall have priority provisioning and
restoration over all other telecommunication
services (including NSEP services) and shall be
exempt from preemption. However, the NSEP
TSP System and procedures established by this
appendix are applicable to control services or
orderwires leased by a service vendor.
c. Other services. The NSEP TSP System
may apply, at the discretion of and upon special
arrangements by the NSEP TSP System users
involved, to authorize priority treatment to the
following telecommunication services:

(1) Common carrier services which are:
(a) Interstate or foreign telecommunications
services,

(1) Government or non-common carrier
services which are not connected to common
carrier provided services assigned a priority

level pursuant to section 9 of this appendix.
(2) Portions of U.S. international services
which are provided by foreign correspondents.
(U.S. telecommunication service vendors are
encouraged to ensure that relevant operating
arrangements are consistent to the maximum
extent practicable with the NSEP TSP System.
If such arrangements do not exist, U.S.
telecommunication service vendors should
handle service provisioning and/or restoration in
accordance with any system acceptable to their
foreign correspondents which comes closest to
meeting the procedures established in this
appendix.)

Office of the President, based upon changing
NSEP needs.
No other system of
telecommunication service priorities which
conflicts with the NSEP TSP System is
authorized.
6. Responsibilities
a. The FCC will:
(1) Provide regulatory oversight
implementation of the NSEP TSP System.

of

(2) Enforce NSEP TSP System rules and
regulations, which are contained in this
appendix.

5. Policy
The NSEP TSP System is the regulatory,
administrative, and operational system
authorizing and providing for priority treatment,
i.e., provisioning and restoration, of NSEP
telecommunication services.
As such, it
establishes
the
framework
for
telecommunication service vendors to provision,
restore, or otherwise act on a priority basis to
ensure effective NSEP telecommunication
services. The NSEP TSP System allows the
assignment of priority levels to any NSEP
service across three time periods, or stress
conditions:
Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilizations,
Attack/War, and Post-Attack/Recovery.
Although priority levels normally will be
assigned by the Executive Office of the
President and retained by service vendors only
for the current time period, they may be
preassigned for the other two time periods at
the request of service users who are able to
identify and justify in advance, their wartime or
post-attack
NSEP
telecommunication
requirements. Absent such preassigned priority
levels
for
the
Attack/War
and
Post-Attack/Recovery periods, priority level
assignments
for
the
Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilization
period
will
remain in effect. At all times, priority level
assignments will be subject to revision by the
FCC or (on an interim basis) the Executive

(3) Act as final authority for approval, revision,
or disapproval of priority actions by the
Executive Office of the President and
adjudicate disputes regarding either priority
actions or denials of requests for priority actions
by the Executive Office of the President, until
superseded by the President's war emergency
powers under section 706 of the
Communications Act.
(4) Function (on a discretionary basis) as a
sponsoring Federal organization. (See section
6(c) below.)
b. The Executive Office of the President will:
(1) During exercise of the President's war
emergency powers under section 706 of the
Communications Act, act as the final approval
authority for priority actions or denials of
requests for priority actions, adjudicating any
disputes.
(2) Until the exercise of the President's war
emergency powers, administer the NSEP TSP
System which includes:
(a) Receiving, processing, and evaluating
requests for priority actions from service users,
or sponsoring Federal government organizations
on behalf of service users (e.g., Department of

State or Defense on behalf of foreign
governments, Federal Emergency Management
Agency on behalf of state and local
governments, and any Federal organization on
behalf of private industry entities). Action on
such requests will be completed within 30 days
of receipt.
(b) Assigning, revising, revalidating, or
revoking priority levels as necessary or upon
request of service users concerned, and denying
requests for priority actions as necessary, using
the categories and criteria specified in section
12 of this appendix. Action on such requests
will be completed within 30 days of receipt.

recommend actions to correct them or prevent
recurrence. In addition to representatives of the
Executive
Office
of
the
President,
representatives from private industry (including
telecommunication service vendors), state and
local governments, the FCC, and other
organizations may be appointed to that
Committee.
(k) Reporting at least quarterly to the FCC and
TSP System Oversight Committee, together
with any recommendations for action, the
operational status of and trends in the NSEP
TSP System, including:

level

(i) Numbers of requests processed for the
various priority actions, and the priority levels
assigned.

(d) Periodically forwarding to the FCC lists of
priority actions by the Executive Office of the
President for review and approval.

(ii) Relative percentages of services assigned to
each priority level under each NSEP category
and subcategory.

(e) Periodically initiating reconciliation.

(iii) Any apparent serious misassignment or
abuse of priority level assignments.

(c) Maintaining
assignments.

data

on

priority

(f) Testing and evaluating the NSEP TSP
System for effectiveness.
(g) Conducting audits as necessary. Any
Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP)
System user may request the Executive Office
of the President to conduct an audit.
(h) Issuing, subject to review by the FCC,
regulations and procedures supplemental to and
consistent with this appendix regarding
operation and use of the NSEP TSP System.
(i) Serving as a centralized point-of-contact for
collecting and disseminating to all interested
parties (consistent with requirements for
treatment of classified and proprietary material)
information concerning use and abuse of the
NSEP TSP System.
(j) Establishing and assisting a TSP System
Oversight Committee to identify and review any
problems developing in the system and

(iv) Any existing or developing problem.
(l) Submitting semi-annually to the FCC and
TSP System Oversight Committee a summary
report identifying the time and event associated
with each invocation of NSEP treatment under
section 9(c) of this appendix, whether the
NSEP service requirement was adequately
handled, and whether any additional charges
were incurred. These reports will be due by
April 30th for the preceding July through
December and by October 31 for the
preceding January through June time periods.
(m) All reports submitted to the FCC should
be directed to Chief, Domestic Services
Branch, Common Carrier Bureau, Washington,
DC 20554.
(3) Function (on a discretionary basis) as a
sponsoring Federal organization. (See section
6(c) below.)

c. Sponsoring Federal organizations will:
(1) Review and decide whether to sponsor
foreign, state, and local government and private
industry (including telecommunication service
vendors) requests for priority actions. Federal
organizations will forward sponsored requests
with recommendations for disposition to the
Executive
Office
of
the
President.
Recommendations will be based on the
categories and criteria in section 12 of this
appendix.
(2) Forward notification of priority actions or
denials of requests for priority actions from the
Executive Office of the President to the
requesting foreign, state, and local government
and private industry entities.
(3) Cooperate with the Executive Office of the
President during reconciliation, revalidation, and
audits.
(4) Comply with any regulations and
procedures supplemental to and consistent with
this appendix which are issued by the Executive
Office of the President.

continued operation; and, for such services in
the Emergency NSEP category, by the time that
vendors are prepared to provide the services.
Additionally, designate the organization
responsible for the service on an end-to-end
basis.
(4) Be prepared to accept services assigned
priority levels by the service due dates or, for
services in the Emergency NSEP category,
when they are available.
(5) Pay vendors any authorized costs
associated with services that are assigned
priority levels.
(6) Report to vendors any failed or unusable
services that are assigned priority levels.
(7) Designate a 24-hour point-of-contact for
matters concerning each request for priority
action and apprise the Executive Office of the
President thereof.
(8) Upon termination of services that are
assigned priority levels, or circumstances
warranting revisions in priority level assignment
(e.g., expansion of service), request and justify
revocation or revision.

d. Service users will:
(1) Identify services requiring priority level
assignments and request and justify priority level
assignments in accordance with this appendix
and any supplemental regulations and
procedures issued by the Executive Office of
the President that are consistent with this
appendix.
(2) Request and justify revalidation of all
priority level assignments at least every three
years.
(3) For services assigned priority levels, ensure
(through contractual means or otherwise)
availability of customer premises equipment and
wiring necessary for end-to-end service
operation by the service due date, and

(9) When NSEP treatment is invoked under
section 9(c) of this appendix, within 90 days
following provisioning of the service involved,
forward to the National Coordinating Center
(see section 3(e) of this appendix) complete
information identifying the time and event
associated with the invocation and regarding
whether the NSEP service requirement was
adequately handled and whether any additional
charges were incurred.
(10) Cooperate with the Executive Office of
the President during reconciliation, revalidation,
and audits.
(11) Comply with any regulations and
procedures supplemental to and consistent with
this appendix that are issued by the Executive

Office of the President.
e. Non-federal service users, in addition to
responsibilities prescribed above in section
6(d), will obtain a sponsoring Federal
organization for all requests for priority actions.
If unable to find a sponsoring Federal
organization, a non-federal service user may
submit its request, which must include
documentation of attempts made to obtain a
sponsor and reasons given by the sponsor for
its refusal, directly to the Executive Office of the
President.
f. Service vendors will:
(1) When NSEP treatment is invoked by
service
users,
provision
NSEP
telecommunication services before non-NSEP
services, based on priority level assignments
made by the Executive Office of the President.
Provisioning will require service vendors to:
(a) Allocate resources to ensure best efforts to
provide NSEP services by the time required.
When limited resources constrain response
capability, vendors will address conflicts for
resources by:
(i) Providing NSEP services in order of
provisioning priority level assignment (i.e., "E",
"1", "2", "3", "4", or "5");
(ii) Providing Emergency NSEP services (i.e.,
those assigned provisioning priority level "E") in
order of receipt of the service requests;
(iii) Providing Essential NSEP services (i.e.,
those assigned priority levels "1", "2", "3", "4",
or "5") that have the same provisioning priority
level in order of service due dates; and
(iv) Referring any conflicts which cannot be
resolved (to the mutual satisfaction of servicer
vendors and users) to the Executive Office of
the President for resolution.
(b) Comply with NSEP service requests by:

(i) Allocating resources necessary to provide
Emergency NSEP services as soon as possible,
dispatching outside normal business hours when
necessary;
(ii) Ensuring best efforts to meet requested
service dates for Essential NSEP services,
negotiating a mutually (customer and vendor)
acceptable service due date when the requested
service due date cannot be met; and
(iii) Seeking National Coordinating Center
(NCC) assistance as authorized under the
NCC Charter (see section 1.3, NCC Charter,
dated October 9, 1985).
(2) Restore NSEP telecommunications
services which suffer outage, or are reported as
unusable or otherwise in need of restoration,
before non-NSEP services, based on
restoration priority level assignments. (Note:
For broadband or multiple service facilities,
restoration is permitted even though it might
result in restoration of services assigned no or
lower priority levels along with, or sometimes
ahead of, some higher priority level services.)
Restoration will require service vendors to
restore NSEP services in order of restoration
priority level assignment (i.e., "1", "2", "3", "4",
or "5") by:
(a) Allocating available resources to restore
NSEP services as quickly as practicable,
dispatching outside normal business hours to
restore services assigned priority levels "1", "2",
and "3" when necessary, and services assigned
priority level "4" and "5" when the next business
day is more than 24 hours away;
(b) Restoring NSEP services assigned the
same restoration priority level based upon
which can be first restored.
(However,
restoration actions in progress should not
normally be interrupted to restore another
NSEP service assigned the same restoration
priority level);

(c) Patching and/or rerouting NSEP services
assigned restoration priority levels from "1"
through "5," when use of patching and/or
rerouting will hasten restoration;
(d) Seeking National Coordinating Center
(NCC) assistance authorized under the NCC
Charter; and
(e) Referring any conflicts which cannot be
resolved (to the mutual satisfaction of service
vendors and users) to the Executive Office of
the President for resolution.
(3) Respond to provisioning requests of
customers and/or other service vendors, and to
restoration priority level assignments when an
NSEP service suffers an outage or is reported
as unusable, by:
(a) Ensuring that vendor personnel understand
their responsibilities to handle NSEP
provisioning requests and to restore NSEP
service; and
(b) Providing a 24-hour point-of-contact for
receiving provisioning requests for Emergency
NSEP services and reports of NSEP service
outages or unusability.
(c) Seek verification from an authorized entity if
legitimacy of a priority level assignment or
provisioning request for an NSEP service is in
doubt. However, processing of Emergency
NSEP service requests will not be delayed for
verification purposes.
(4) Cooperate with other service vendors
involved in provisioning or restoring a portion of
an NSEP service by honoring provisioning or
restoration priority level assignments, or
requests for assistance to provision or restore
NSEP services, as detailed in sections 6(f)(1),
(2), and (3) above.
(5) All service vendors, including resale
carriers, are required to ensure that service
vendors supplying underlying facilities are

provided information necessary to implement
priority treatment of facilities that support
NSEP services.
(6) Preempt, when necessary, existing services
to provide an NSEP service as authorized in
section 7 of this appendix.
(7) Assist in ensuring that priority level
assignments of NSEP services are accurately
identified "end-to-end" by:
(a) Seeking verification from an authorized
Federal government entity if the legitimacy of
the restoration priority level assignment is in
doubt;
(b) Providing to subcontractors and/or
interconnecting carriers the restoration priority
level assigned to a service;
(c) Supplying, to the Executive Office of the
President, when acting as a prime contractor to
a service user, confirmation information
regarding NSEP service completion for that
portion of the service they have contracted to
supply;
(d) Supplying, to the Executive Office of the
President, NSEP service information for the
purpose of reconciliation.
(e) Cooperating with the Executive Office of
the President during reconciliation.
(f) Periodically initiating reconciliation with their
subcontractors and arranging for subsequent
subcontractors
to
cooperate
in
the
reconciliation process.
(8) Receive compensation for costs authorized
through tariffs or contracts by:
(a) Provisions contained in properly filed state
or Federal tariffs; or
(b) Provisions of properly negotiated contracts
where the carrier is not required to file tariffs.

(9) Provision or restore only the portions of
services for which they have agreed to be
responsible (i.e., have contracted to supply),
unless the President's war emergency powers
under section 706 of the Communications Act
are in effect.
(10) Cooperate with the Executive Office of
the President during audits.
(11) Comply with any regulations or
procedures supplemental to and consistent with
this appendix that are issued by the Executive
Office of the President and reviewed by the
FCC.
(12) Insure that at all times a reasonable
number of public switched network services are
made available for public use.
(13) Not disclose information concerning
NSEP services they provide to those not having
a need-to-know or might use the information
for competitive advantage.

available for public use, based on the service
vendor's best judgment, such services may be
used to satisfy a requirement for provisioning or
restoring NSEP services.
(2) NSEP services: If no suitable spare or
non-NSEP services are available, then existing
NSEP services may be preempted to provision
or restore NSEP services with higher priority
level assignments. When this is necessary,
NSEP services will be selected for preemption
in the inverse order of priority level assignment.
(3) Service vendors who are preempting
services will ensure their best effort to notify the
service user of the preempted service and state
the reason for and estimated duration of the
preemption.
b. Service vendors may, based on their best
judgment, determine the sequence in which
existing services may be preempted to provision
NSEP services assigned a provisioning priority
of "1" through "5". Preemption is not subject to
the consent of the user whose service will be
preempted.

7. Preemption of Existing Services
8. Requests for Priority Assignments.
When necessary to provision or restore NSEP
services, service vendors may preempt services
they provide as specified below. "User" as
used in this Section means any user of a
telecommunications service, including both
NSEP and non-NSEP services. Prior consent
by a preempted user is not required.
a. The sequence in which existing services may
be preempted to provision NSEP services
assigned a provisioning priority level "E" or
restore NSEP services assigned a restoration
priority level from "1" through "5":
(1) Non-NSEP services: If suitable spare
services are not available, then, based on the
considerations in this appendix and the service
vendor's best judgment, non-NSEP services
will be preempted. After ensuring a sufficient
number of public switched services are

All service users are required to submit
requests for priority actions through the
Executive Office of the President in the format
and following the procedures prescribed by that
Office.
9. Assignment, Approval, Use, and Invocation
of Priority Levels
a. Assignment and approval of priority levels.
Priority level assignments will be based upon
the categories and criteria specified in section
12 of this appendix. A priority level assignment
made by the Executive Office of the President
will serve as that Office's recommendation to
the FCC. Until the President's war emergency
powers are invoked, priority level assignments
must be approved by the FCC. However,
service vendors are ordered to implement any

priority level assignments that are pending FCC
approval.
After invocation of the President's war
emergency powers, these requirements may be
superseded by other procedures issued by the
Executive Office of the President.
b. Use of Priority Level Assignments.
(1) All provisioning and restoration priority
level assignments for services in the Emergency
NSEP category will be included in initial service
orders to vendors. Provisioning priority level
assignments for Essential NSEP services,
however, will not usually be included in initial
service orders to vendors. NSEP treatment for
Essential NSEP services will be invoked and
provisioning priority level assignments will be
conveyed to service vendors only if the vendors
cannot meet needed service dates through the
normal provisioning process.
(2) Any revision or revocation of either
provisioning or restoration priority level
assignments will also be transmitted to vendors.
(3) Service vendors shall accept priority levels
and/or revisions only after assignment by the
Executive Office of the President.
Note:
Service vendors acting as prime
contractors will accept assigned NSEP priority
levels only when they are accompanied by the
Executive Office of the President designated
service identification, i.e., TSP Authorization
Code.
However, service vendors are
authorized to accept priority levels and/or
revisions from users and contracting activities
before assignment by the Executive Office of
the President when service vendor, user, and
contracting activities are unable to communicate
with either the Executive Office of the President
or the FCC. Processing of Emergency NSEP
service requests will not be delayed for
verification purposes.

NSEP treatment for the priority provisioning of
an NSEP telecommunications service, an
authorized Federal official either within, or
acting on behalf of, the service user's
organization must make a written or oral
declaration to concerned service vendor(s) and
the Executive Office of the President that NSEP
treatment is being invoked. Authorized Federal
officials include the head or director of a
Federal
agency,
commander
of
a
unified/specified military command, chief of a
military service, or commander of a major
military command; the delegates of any of the
foregoing; or any other officials as specified in
supplemental regulations or procedures issued
by the Executive Office of the President. The
authority to invoke NSEP treatment may be
delegated only to a general or flag officer of a
military service, civilian employee of equivalent
grade (e.g., Senior Executive Service member),
Federal Coordinating Officer or Federal
Emergency
Communications
Coordinator/Manager, or any other such
officials specified in supplemental regulations or
procedures issued by the Executive Office of
the President. Delegates must be designated as
such in writing, and written or oral invocations
must be accomplished, in accordance with
supplemental regulations or procedures issued
by the Executive Office of the President.
10. Resubmission of Circuits Presently
Assigned Restoration Priorities
All circuits assigned restoration priorities must
be reviewed for eligibility for initial restoration
priority level assignment under the provisions of
this appendix. Circuits currently assigned
restoration priorities, and for which restoration
priority level assignments are requested under
section 8 of this appendix, will be resubmitted
to the Executive Office of the President. To
resubmit such circuits, service users will comply
with applicable provisions of section 6(d) of this
appendix.
11. Appeal

c. Invocation of NSEP treatment. To invoke

Service users or sponsoring Federal
organizations may appeal any priority level
assignment, denial, revision, revocation,
approval, or disapproval to the Executive
Office of the President within 30 days of
notification to the service user. The appellant
must use the form or format required by the
Executive Office of the President and must
serve the FCC with a copy of its appeal. The
Executive Office of the President will act on the
appeal within 90 days of receipt. Service users
and sponsoring Federal organizations may only
then appeal directly to the FCC. Such FCC
appeal must be filed within 30 days of
notification of the Executive Office of the
President's decision on appeal. Additionally, the
Executive Office of the President may appeal
any FCC revisions, approvals, or disapprovals
to the FCC. All appeals to the FCC must be
submitted using the form or format required.
The party filing its appeal with the FCC must
include factual details supporting its claim and
must serve a copy on the Executive Office of
the President and any other party directly
involved. Such party may file a response within
20 days, and replies may be filed within 10
days thereafter. The Commission will not issue
public notices of such submissions. The
Commission will provide notice of its decision
to the parties of record. Any appeals to the
Executive Office of the President that include a
claim of new information that has not been
presented before for consideration may be
submitted at any time.
12. NSEP TSP System Categories, Criteria,
and Priority Levels
a. General. NSEP TSP System categories and
criteria, and permissible priority level
assignments, are defined and explained below.
(1) The Essential NSEP category has four
subcategories: National Security Leadership;
National Security Posture and U.S. Population
Attack Warning; Public Health, Safety, and
Maintenance of Law and Order; and Public
Welfare and Maintenance of National

Economic Posture. Each subcategory has its
own criteria. Criteria are also shown for the
Emergency NSEP category, which has no
sub-categories.
(2) Priority levels of "1," "2," "3," "4," and "5"
may be assigned for provisioning and/or
restoration
of
Essential
NSEP
telecommunication services. However, for
Emergency NSEP telecommunications services,
a priority level "E" is assigned for provisioning.
A restoration priority level from "1" through "5"
may be assigned if an Emergency NSEP service
also qualifies for such a restoration priority level
under the Essential NSEP category.
(3) The NSEP TSP System allows the
assignment of priority levels to any NSEP
telecommunications service across three time
periods,
or
stress
conditions:
Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilization, Attack/War, and
Post-Attack/Recovery.
Priority levels will
normally be assigned only for the first time
period. These assigned priority levels will apply
through the onset of any attack, but it is
expected that they would later be revised by
surviving
authorized
telecommunication
resource managers within the Executive Office
of the President based upon specific facts and
circumstances arising during the Attack/War
and Post-Attack/Recovery time periods.
(4) Service users may, for their own internal
use, assign subpriorities to their services
assigned priority levels.
Receipt of and
response to any such subpriorities is optional
for service vendors.
(5) The following paragraphs provide a
detailed explanation of the categories,
subcategories, criteria, and priority level
assignments, beginning with the Emergency
NSEP category.
b. Emergency NSEP. Telecommunications
services in the Emergency NSEP category are
those new services so critical as to be required
to be provisioned at the earliest possible time,

without regard to the costs of obtaining them.

for provisioning.

(1) Criteria. To qualify under the Emergency
NSEP category, the service must meet criteria
directly supporting or resulting from at least one
of the following NSEP functions:

(b) After 30 days, assignments of provisioning
priority level "E" for Emergency NSEP services
are automatically revoked unless extended for
another 30-day period. A notice of any such
revocation will be sent to service vendors.

(a) Federal government activity responding to a
Presidentially declared disaster or emergency as
defined in the Disaster Relief Act (42 U.S.C.
5122).
(b) State or local government activity
responding to a Presidentially declared disaster
or emergency.
(c) Response to a state of crisis declared by
the National Command Authorities (e.g.,
exercise of Presidential war emergency powers
under section 706 of the Communications Act.)
(d) Efforts to protect endangered U.S.
personnel or property.
(e) Response to an enemy or terrorist action,
civil disturbance, natural disaster, or any other
unpredictable occurrence that has damaged
facilities whose uninterrupted operation is
critical to NSEP or the management of other
ongoing crises.
(f) Certification by the head or director of a
Federal
agency,
commander
of
a
unified/specified command, chief of a military
service, or commander of a major military
command, that the telecommunications service
is so critical to protection of life and property or
to NSEP that it must be provided immediately.
(g) A request from an official authorized
pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act (50 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. and 18 U.S.C.
2511, 2518, 2519).
(2) Priority Level Assignment.
(a) Services qualifying under the Emergency
NSEP category are assigned priority level "E"

(c) For restoration, Emergency NSEP services
may be assigned priority levels under the
provisions applicable to Essential NSEP
services (see section 12(c)). Emergency NSEP
services not otherwise qualifying for restoration
priority level assignment as Essential NSEP may
be assigned a restoration priority level "5" for a
30-day period.
Such 30-day restoration
priority level assignments will be revoked
automatically unless extended for another
30-day period.
A notice of any such
revocation will be sent to service vendors.
c. Essential NSEP.
Telecommunication
services in the Essential NSEP category are
those required to be provisioned by due dates
specified by service users, or restored
promptly, normally without regard to associated
overtime or expediting costs. They may be
assigned priority level of "1," "2," "3," "4," or "5"
for both provisioning and restoration, depending
upon the nature and urgency of the supported
function, the impact of lack of service or of
service interruption upon the supported
function, and, for priority access to public
switched services, the user's level of
responsibility. Priority level assignments will be
valid for no more than three years unless
revalidated. To be categorized as Essential
NSEP, a telecommunications service must
qualify under one of the four following
subcategories: National Security Leadership;
National Security Posture and U.S. Population
Attack Warning; Public Health, Safety and
Maintenance of Law and Order; or Public
Welfare and Maintenance of National
Economic Posture. (Note.--Under emergency
circumstances,
Essential
NSEP
telecommunication
services
may
be
recategorized as Emergency NSEP and

assigned a priority level "E" for provisioning.)
(1) National security leadership.
This
subcategory will be strictly limited to only those
telecommunication services essential to national
survival if nuclear attack threatens or occurs,
and critical orderwire and control services
necessary to ensure the rapid and efficient
provisioning or restoration of other NSEP
telecommunication services. Services in this
subcategory are those for which a service
interruption of even a few minutes would have
serious adverse impact upon the supported
NSEP function.
(a) Criteria. To qualify under this subcategory,
a service must be at least one of the following:
(i) Critical orderwire, or control service,
supporting other NSEP functions.

during, and after crises situations.
Such
situations are those ranging from national
emergencies to international crises, including
nuclear attack. Services in this subcategory are
those for which a service interruption ranging
from a few minutes to one day would have
serious adverse impact upon the supported
NSEP function.
(a) Criteria. To qualify under this subcategory,
a service must support at least one of the
following NSEP functions:
(i) Threat assessment and attack warning.
(ii) Conduct of diplomacy.
(iii) Collection, processing, and dissemination
of intelligence.
(iv) Command and control of military forces.

(ii) Presidential communications service critical
to continuity of government and national
leadership during crisis situations.
(iii)
National
Command
Authority
communications service for military command
and control critical to national survival.
(iv) Intelligence communications service critical
to warning of potentially catastrophic attack.
(v) Communications service supporting the
conduct of diplomatic negotiations critical to
arresting or limiting hostilities.

(v) Military mobilization.
(vi) Continuity of Federal government before,
during, and after crises situations.
(vii) Continuity of state and local government
functions supporting the Federal government
during and after national emergencies.
(viii) Recovery of critical national functions
after crises situations.
(ix) National space operations.

(b) Priority level assignment. Services under
this subcategory will normally be assigned
priority level "1" for provisioning and restoration
during the Peace/Crisis/Mobilization time
period.

(b) Priority level assignment. Services under
this subcategory will normally be assigned
priority level "2," "3," "4," or "5" for provisioning
and
restoration
during
Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilization.

(2) National security posture and U.S.
population attack warning. This subcategory
covers
those
minimum
additional
telecommunication services essential to
maintaining an optimum defense, diplomatic, or
continuity-of- government postures before,

(3) Public health, safety, and maintenance of
law and order. This subcategory covers the
minimum number of telecommunication services
necessary for giving civil alert to the U.S.
population and maintaining law and order and
the health and safety of the U.S. population in

times of any national, regional, or serious local
emergency. These services are those for which
a service interruption ranging from a few
minutes to one day would have serious adverse
impact upon the supported NSEP functions.
(a) Criteria. To qualify under this subcategory,
a service must support at least one of the
following NSEP functions:
(i) Population warning (other than attack
warning).

welfare and national economic posture during
any national or regional emergency. These
services are those for which a service
interruption ranging from a few minutes to one
day would have serious adverse impact upon
the supported NSEP function.
(a) Criteria. To qualify under this subcategory,
a service must support at least one of the
following NSEP functions:
(i) Distribution of food and other essential
supplies.

(ii) Law enforcement.
(iii) Continuity of critical state and local
government functions (other than support of the
Federal government during and after national
emergencies).
(iv) Hospitals and distributions of medical
supplies.
(v) Critical logistic functions and public utility
services.

(ii) Maintenance of national monetary, credit,
and financial systems.
(iii) Maintenance of price, wage, rent, and
salary stabilization, and consumer rationing
programs.
(iv) Control of production and distribution of
strategic materials and energy supplies.
(v) Prevention and control of environmental
hazards or damage.

(vi) Civil air traffic control.
(vii) Military assistance to civil authorities.
(viii) Defense and protection of critical
industrial facilities.
(ix) Critical weather services.
(x) Transportation to accomplish the foregoing
NSEP functions.
(b) Priority level assignment. Service under
this subcategory will normally be assigned
priority levels "3," "4," or "5" for provisioning
and
restoration
during
Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilization.
(4) Public welfare and maintenance of national
economic posture. This subcategory covers the
minimum number of telecommunications
services necessary for maintaining the public

(vi) Transportation to accomplish the foregoing
NSEP functions.
(b) Priority level assignment. Services under
this subcategory will normally be assigned
priority levels "4" or "5" for provisioning and
restoration
during
Peacetime/Crisis/Mobilization.
d. Limitations. Priority levels will be assigned
only to the minimum number of
telecommunication services required to support
an NSEP function. Priority levels will not
normally be assigned to backup services on a
continuing basis, absent additional justification,
e.g., a service user specifies a requirement for
physically diverse routing or contracts for
additional continuity-of- service features. The
Executive Office of the President may also
establish limitations upon the relative numbers of
services which may be assigned any restoration

priority level. These limitations will not take
precedence over laws or executive orders.
Such limitations shall not be exceeded absent
waiver by the Executive Office of the President.
e. Non-NSEP services. Telecommunication
services in the non-NSEP category will be
those which do not meet the criteria for either
Emergency NSEP or Essential NSEP.
[45 FR 81760, Dec. 12, 1980; 51 FR 34983,
Oct. 1, 1986; 53 FR 29055, Aug. 2, 1988;
53 FR 47536, Nov. 23, 1988; 54 FR 152,
Jan. 4, 1989; 54 FR 1471, Jan. 13, 1989]