"The goal of the IMAAC is to enhance our national capability through robust scientific cooperation among federal agencies that incorporates the best practices from federal and other programs as it seeks to improve federal modeling and assessment capabilities....The IMAAC will provide atmospheric hazards predictions in support of the lead federal agency for incidents of national significance. The IMAAC products will be recognized as the single source of federal hazards prediction and will be provided to federal, state, and local emergency responders and other government officials as necessary. The IMAAC will leverage existing federal capabilities and will be responsible for providing accurate, reliable estimates of predicted hazard areas, with associated concentrations, which will serve as the foundation for decisions by the authorized emergency managers". (MOU, IMAAC, DHS, September 23, 2004, p. 3)