President George W. Bush has declared under the Stafford Act that an emergency exists in the State of Texas and the State of Louisiana, and ordered federal aid to supplement State and local response and recovery efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Rita. That declaration effectively characterizes Hurricane Rita as an Incident of National Significance under the National Response Plan (NRP). In accordance with the guidance provided in the NRP, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has designated Rear Admiral Larry Hereth, U.S. Coast Guard, as Principal Federal Official (PFO) for incident management purposes during the response and recovery operations for Hurricane Rita in Texas.