Following the 2017 hurricane season, FEMA conducted a review of its preparations for, immediate response to, and initial recovery operations. The resulting after action report (AAR) captures insights intended to help FEMA, the emergency management community, and the nation chart improve their collective ability to confront future incidents. Among its key findings, the report notes that the current approach to incident response, as codified in the National Response Framework (NRF), creates operational divides that fail to account for the physical and social landscapes of affected areas and imposes challenges to stabilizing critical lifelines services, which include drinking water and wastewater. This finding leads to a recommendation that the NRF be revised to emphasize the stabilization of critical lifelines sectors and the creation of a cross-sector coordination emergency support function (ESF). Other highlights from the report include difficulties in gaining situational awareness of the status of critical infrastructure, such as water and wastewater utilities in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, and the logistical challenge of assigning and deploying generators to critical infrastructure facilities following large-scale power outages (the report identifies water utilities and hospitals as having been prioritized for generator support).