EXECUTIVE ORDER 19 (2026)
ESTABLISHING THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA UNIFIED READINESS FRAMEWORK
By virtue of the authority vested in me as Governor under Article V of the Constitution of Virginia, and in recognition of the evolving and increasingly complex risk environment facing our Commonwealth and our Nation, I hereby establish the Virginia Unified Readiness Framework as the Commonwealth's enterprise-wide governance model for all-hazards preparedness, prevention, protection, mitigation, response, recovery, and resilience.
The Virginia Unified Readiness Framework will result in a comprehensive modernization of Virginia's emergency management, homeland security, and preparedness systems by integrating planning, capabilities, decision-making, and partnerships across state agencies, local governments, private-sector organizations, nonprofit partners, and critical infrastructure sectors to strengthen the Commonwealth's readiness for current and emerging threats.
Importance of the Issue
Virginia faces an increasingly dynamic and complex threat environment that demands a modern, integrated approach to preparedness. Natural disasters intensified by climate variability, public health emergencies, cyber incidents, threats to critical infrastructure, supply chain disruptions, acts of violence, emerging technologies, and other complex hazards require coordinated action across all levels of government and throughout the private, nonprofit, and community sectors.
The Commonwealth's strength is not measured solely by its ability to respond to emergencies, but by its ability to anticipate, prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, recover from, and adapt to evolving risks before they become a crisis. In today's environment, resilience is no longer the responsibility of any single agency or discipline; it is a shared responsibility that depends upon alignment, integrated planning, coordinated decision-making, interoperable capabilities, and trusted partnerships.
Virginia has long maintained emergency management and homeland security programs. However, the increasing pace and complexity of emerging threats require us to move beyond traditional, program-specific approaches towards a unified model that aligns capabilities, resources, and leadership across the Commonwealth.
To begin this transformation, I recently convened the Commonwealth's first Unified Readiness Briefing, followed by seven Regional Readiness Summits across Virginia. These engagements brought together hundreds of leaders representing numerous preparedness sectors, including law enforcement, fire, emergency management, public health, education, nonprofits, transportation, utilities, critical infrastructure, communications, and private sector partners to strengthen collaboration, improve mutual aid, identify gaps, and enhance information sharing.
These forums generated actionable dialogue and relationship building across a wide multidisciplinary stakeholder group. The participants' feedback produced a clear and overwhelming request: the need for a collaborative, coordinated, and integrated statewide approach to address high-priority issues affecting the Commonwealth.
Directives
Pursuant to the authority vested in me as the Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth and pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of Virginia, I hereby direct the following actions to establish Unified Readiness as Virginia's integrated governance model for all-hazards preparedness and resilience.
For purposes of this Executive Order, Unified Readiness is defined as the continuous integration of planning, coordination, information sharing, logistics, capabilities, resource management, training, exercises, technology, and decision-making across sectors, including but not limited to, federal, state, local, tribal, private-sector, nonprofit, academic, healthcare, and community partners to strengthen the Commonwealth's ability to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, recover from, and adapt to all hazards.
1. Establishment of the Unified Readiness Framework
The Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security shall establish the Commonwealth Unified Readiness Framework as the statewide governance model for preparedness, homeland security, emergency management, and resilience.
The Framework shall integrate and align existing Commonwealth plans, strategies, programs, assessments, initiatives, and statutory responsibilities into a comprehensive, capability-based system focused on measurable outcomes and continuous improvement.
The Framework shall incorporate, expand upon, and leverage relevant elements of existing plans and assessments, including but not limited to:
Commonwealth of Virginia Emergency Operations Plan including annexes and associated plans;
Local Capability Assessment Reports;
Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment;
Stakeholder Preparedness Review;
Commonwealth of Virginia Hazard Mitigation Plan;
Logistics Management Plan;
After action reports, improvement plans, annual reports;
Continuity of Operations/Continuity of Government plans;
Legislative reports and studies; and
Other relevant preparedness, homeland security, and resilience initiatives.
Nothing in this order shall duplicate existing statutory responsibilities but shall instead strengthen alignment, coordination, integration, and statewide capability across agencies and sectors.
2. Unified Readiness Coordination
The Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security shall coordinate implementation of the Unified Readiness Framework. Coordination will seek to:
Coordinate cross-sector planning;
Improve information sharing;
Promote interoperability;
Identify capability gaps;
Monitor statewide readiness;
Recommend policy improvements; and
Oversee implementation of corrective actions identified through assessment, exercises, and real-world incidents.
3. Commonwealth Readiness Priorities
The Unified Readiness Framework shall evaluate and strengthen capabilities across, at a minimum, the following areas:
Operational Readiness
Emergency communications and interoperability
Operational coordination
Resource management and mutual aid
Disaster logistics
Emergency operations and planning
Workforce Readiness
Public safety workforce development
Professional standards and credentialing
Leadership development
Training and exercise integration
Infrastructure and Technology Readiness
Critical infrastructure protection
Cybersecurity
Continuity of government
Technology modernization
Data integration and information sharing
Community Readiness
Whole community partnerships
Healthcare and medical readiness
Public information and risk communication
Recovery and resilience
Volunteer and nonprofit integration
Risk and Security
Prevention
Protection
Threat identification
Intelligence integration
Homeland security coordination
4. Continuous Readiness Improvement
The Unified Readiness Framework shall establish a continuous statewide preparedness cycle consisting of:
Planning;
Training;
Exercises;
Evaluation;
Corrective Action; and
Capability Improvement.
The objective shall be continuous modernization rather than periodic compliance.
5. Agency Responsibilities
Each Executive Branch agency with responsibilities related to preparedness, emergency management, public safety, homeland security, infrastructure, public health, transportation, or continuity of government shall:
Designate a Unified Readiness Coordinator;
Participate in implementation of the Framework;
Integrate agency planning with statewide preparedness priorities;
Share requested data and capability information;
Participate in statewide assessments, exercises, and improvement planning; and
Cooperate fully with the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security.
All emergency-related plans maintained by the Executive Branch agencies shall be reviewed and updated, as appropriate, in coordination with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management no later than December 31, 2026.
Effective Date
This Executive Order shall be effective immediately upon signing and shall remain in full force and effect until amended or rescinded by further executive order.
Given under my hand and under the Seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia on this 18th day of August 2026.
/s/ Abigail D. Spanberger, Governor