FEMA-Suspended TOPOFF Exercise Replaced by National Level Exercise, Tier 1

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) suspended procurement for TOPOFF 5 on August 5, 2008, because of allegations of improprieties in the contracting policy, as described elsewhere. (1) National full-scale exercises continue, however, under a new name—Tier 1 National Level Exercise,” as announced on May 1, 2009 (2) The first “Tier 1, National Level Exercise” is scheduled for July 27-31, 2009, and will focus on prevention and protection, instead of the traditional recovery and response. What is the history of U.S. national level exercises?

• TOPOFF 1--2000: The first TOPOFF exercise, usually called “TOPOFF 2000,” was a single, no-notice, exercise co-chaired by the Department of Justice and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in May 2000. Masci and Bass recall, “As part of efforts to upgrade U.S. preparedness, in the late 1990s Congress directed the Justice Department to conduct a domestic preparedness exercise “with the participation of all key personnel who would participate in the consequent management [an actual chemical, biological, or cyber] terrorist event. The first such exercise, a $3 million drill, was held in May 2000. It involved simulated attacks with a chemical weapon—mustard gas released in a bombing at a 5K run Portsmouth, New Hampshire—and a biological weapon, aerosolized plague bacteria covertly released in a performing arts theater in Denver, Colorado.” (3)

TOPOFF 2000 (May 2000) scenario included a covert aerosolization of plague bacteria in a performing arts theater in Denver, Colorado. TOPOFF 2000 was the first TOPOFF exercise. Source: http://www.hellodenver.com/media/articles/large/877_image3_large.jpg; accessed July 20, 2009.

• “Dark Winter”--2001: This operation was a tabletop exercise in 2001 for senior level policy makers (e.g., former Senator Sam Nunn), designed by Drs. Tara O’Toole and Thomas Inglesby, then of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense, as described elsewhere. (4-6) The scenario involved the virtual release of smallpox in three malls in the United States.
• TOPOFF 2—2003: This TOPOFF full-scale exercise was the second “Congressionally-mandated, national terrorism exercise [May 12 to May 16, 2003]. It was designed to identify vulnerabilities in the nation’s domestic incident management capability by exercising the plans, policies, procedures, systems, and facilities of federal, state, and local response organizations against a series of integrated terrorist threats and acts in separate regions of the country.” (6) The exercise scenario depicted a fictitious, foreign terrorist organization that detonated a simulated radiological dispersal device in Seattle, Washington, and released the pneumonic plague bacteria in several Chicago metropolitan areas. “Unlike TOPOFF 2000, TOPOFF 2 was designed as an ‘open’ exercise in which participants were introduced to the exercise scenario prior to the exercise through a cycle of activity of increasing complexity that included” seminars and roundtable discussions. (7-8)

TOPOFF 2 (May 12-16, 2003) scenario involved a fake dirty bomb detonation in Seattle, Washington. Here Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels meets with advisers during the TOPOFF 2 exercise. Source: http://archive.seattlepressonline.com/user/art/2003/pix-fakebomb2.jpg; accessed July 20, 2009.

• TOPOFF 3—2005: This TOPOFF exercise was third in the TOPOFF series of full-scale exercises. It took place April 4-8, 2005. The scenario was a simulated terrorist attack in New London, Connecticut (chemical incident) and Union and Middlesex Counties in New Jersey (biological incident). Related exercises took place in the United Kingdom (ATLANTIC BLUE) and Canada (TRIPLE PLAY). (9-10)

TOPOFF 3 (April 4-8, 2005) scenario involved  biological terrorism. In this photo, “Police, Fire and Haz-Mat responders from Union County, NJ prepare to enter the hot zone of a suspected bio-agent release. Courtesy of Union County, NJ Emergency Management Office. Source: http://www.emergency.com/2005/TopOff3_2005.htm; accessed July 20, 2009.

• TOPOFF 4—2007: “Conducted in October 2007, TOPOFF 4 took place in Portland, Oregon, Phoenix, Arizona, and for the first time, the U.S. territory of Guam as well as in Washington, D.C. for federal partners. The exercise built on past lessons learned while adding new goals, including: an increased level of coordination with U.S. Department of Defense exercises to combat global terrorism, closer cooperation with the private sector, an expanded emphasis on prevention, a deeper focus on mass decontamination and long-term recovery and remediation issues, and strengthened coordination and communications with international allies. More than 15,000 participants representing federal, state, territorial, and local entities, as well as the governments of Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, participated in the exercise. All venues responded to a radiological dispersal device attack.” (11-13)

TOPOFF 4 (October 2007). Portland, Oregon. Source:  http://www.matf.org/gallery/topoff3/DSC00967; accessed July 20, 2009.		TOPOFF 4 (October 2007). Portland, Oregon. Source: http://www.katu.com/news/10580632.html; accessed July 20, 2009.

• Tier 1, National Level Exercise--2009: On July 24, 2009, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it was launching on July 27-31, 2009, a five-day National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09)—the first national level exercise to focus on terrorism prevention and protection, as compared with previous TOPOFF exercises, which focused on response. (14) The NLE will be held in conjunction with federal, state, local, tribal, private sector and international partners. This will be DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s first national full-scale exercise. She said, “Coordinating with our partners across the United States and around the world is critical to protecting the nation from terrorist attacks. The National Level Exercise allows us to test our capabilities in real-time to refine and strengthen our strategies for preventing terrorist attacks.” (14)

  The Congressionally mandated exercise—directed by the White House and coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—promotes intelligence and information sharing between and among federal, state, tribal, local, private sector and international participants. The NLE 09 scenario focuses on preventing a terrorist from entering the United States to carry out additional attacks in the aftermath of a terrorist event outside of the country, prioritizing intelligence and law enforcement activities that detect, disrupt and deter preventable terrorist incidents.

  “FEMA’s focus is to make sure that our entire response team, from the general public up to the highest level of government, is taking steps now to increase preparedness – regardless of what the next emergency or disaster is,” said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. “This exercise is an important step in our ongoing preparedness efforts, and allows FEMA and its federal partners to better serve and protect our citizens.”

  The Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, Justice, and State, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and a broad spectrum of component agencies, offices and commands will all participate in the exercise. NLE 09 activities will take place at command posts, emergency operation centers, intelligence centers and field locations throughout the country, including federal headquarters facilities in the Washington, D.C. area as well as federal, regional, state, tribal, local and private sector facilities in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and California. International partner nations will include Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom. The Navajo Nation will also participate.

Notes:

1. Alice Lipowicz: “FEMA suspends TopOff.” Washington Technology, August 5, 2008.
2. FEMA: “National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE09).” May 1, 2009. Available at   https://www.rkb.us/contentdetail.cfm?content_id=219125; accessed July 20, 2009.                              
3. Joseph R. Masci and Elizabeth Ruth Bass: Bioterrorism. CRC, 2004, p. 338.
4. “Dark Winter.” University of Pittsburg Medical Center, 2001. Available at http://www.upmc-biosecurity.org/website/events/2001_darkwinter/index.html; accessed July 20, 2009.
5. Joseph R. Masci and Elizabeth Ruth Bass: Bioterrorism. CRC, 2004, p. 337.
6. Homeland Security: “Top Officials (TOPOFF) Exercise Series: TOPOFF 2; After Action Summary Report for Public Release, December 19, 2003. Available at www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/T2_Report_Final_Public.doc; accessed July 20, 2009.
7. Edward Walsh and John Mintz: “Huge Homeland Security drill planned; ‘Dirty bomb’ in Seattle, disease in Chicago part of scenario for May 12, exercise.” Washington Post, May 5, 2003.
8. Global Security: TOPOFF 3. Available at http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/ops/index_topoff3.htm; accessed July 20, 2009.
9. John Kelly: “Death and destruction, just for practice.” Washington Post, April 13, 2005.
10. Homeland Security: The “TOPOFF 3 Full-Scale Exercise.” Available at http://www.dhs.gov/files/training/editorial_0594.shtm; accessed July 20, 2009.
11. Homeland Security: “TOPOFF 4.”Available at http://www.dhs.gov/files/training/gc_1179350946764.shtm; accessed July 20, 2009.
12. SEMP Biot Report #510: “TOPOFF 4 participants share lessons learned at National TOPOFF conference.” April 16, 2008. Available at http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=510; accessed July 20, 2009.
13. SEMP Biot Report #470: “Why was Guam included in TOPOFF 4?” October 19, 2007. Available at http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?BiotID=470; accessed July 20, 2009.
14. Homeland Security: “DHS coordinates national level exercise to prevent terrorist attacks with federal, state, local tribal, private sector and international partners.” July 24, 2009. Available at http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1248450105741.shtm; accessed July 24, 2009.