Federal law requires the National Operations Center (NOC) to provide situational awareness and establish a common operating picture for the entire federal government, and for state, local, and tribal governments as appropriate, and to ensure that critical disaster-related information reaches government decision makers. The Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) has launched the Publicly Available Social Media Monitoring and Situational Awareness Initiative to fulfill its legal mandate to provide situational awareness and establish a common operating picture. In doing so, OPS is working with select components within the Department of Homeland Security to achieve this statutory mandate.