"Conducting coordinated operations in peacetime or attack-caused emergencies is basically executing or carrying out local emergency plans. The payoff from emergency operations is the lives that are saved and the property that is preserved. This payoff results from the forces that have emergency missions doing 'the right thing at the right time,' making maximum effective use of existing resources and capabilities. Taking prompt and effective action in emergencies is facilitated by planning. Experience in peacetime disasters has shown repeatedly that when emergency plans are known to the heads of local operating departments and their forces, and operations are conducted in accordance with these plans, reaction times are reduced and coordination improved. On the other hand, 'paper plans' prepared by the civil preparedness Director/Coordinator alone, with little participation by local operating departments, are of little value - because they are not used....the process of planning that leads to the development of a written plan is extremely valuable". (DCPA/DOD, Standards for Local Civil Preparedness (CPG 1-5), 1978, p. 15)