TOPOFF 4 – Frequently Asked Questions
January 2007

What is the TOPOFF Exercise Series?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Preparedness Directorate’s, National Preparedness Task Force is sponsoring the Top Officials (TOPOFF) exercise series, which is a two-year cycle of seminars, planning events, and exercises designed to strengthen the nation’s capacity to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

What is TOPOFF and what are its goals? How does this vary in relation to earlier TOPOFF exercises?

The Federal Executive Branch will conduct the T4 Full Scale Exercise (F SE) during October 15-24, 2007. The series is designed to engage top officials from Federal, State, territorial, local, and tribal government departments and agencies; the private sector; and international partners.

The goals of TOPOFF 4 are to:

�      Assess the nation’s capability to prevent, respond to, and recover from realistic and threat-based acts of terrorism during a national, biennial exercise series.

�      Examine relationships amongst Federal, State, territorial, local, and tribal jurisdictions and the private sector in response to a realistic and challenging series of integrated geographically dispersed terrorist threats and acts.

�      Use performance based objectives to evaluate the relationships amongst Federal, State, territorial, local, and tribal jurisdictions and the private sector.

TOPOFF 4 will also serve as the vehicle to help introduce a Homeland Security “Campaign Plan”. The “Campaign Plan” will alter the past approach of TOPOFF by adapting it to serve as the framework of an organized campaign targeted at producing specific products and processes across a broad range of programmatic areas (e.g., a revised NRP; a concept plan) and performance-testing them in a full system test (FST).

What are the unique challenges and opportunities of developing the exercises?

T4 provides an opportunity to fully integrate in conformance with Homeland Security Presidential Directive – 8, the National Preparedness Goal and in pursuit of a National Exercise Program. DHS will introduce the five-year National Exercise Program during the TOPOFF 4 exercise cycle. This program combines exercise activities and affords Departments and Agencies the opportunity to reduce the number of separate exercises they must plan and participate in, and more importantly, provides an opportunity to demonstrate that the Government can operate effectively during an elevated continuity posture.

What new features are anticipated for this year’s exercise? In particular what roles will Arizona, Oregon and Guam play, and what is meant by an international component?

The T4 exercise will take a capabilities-based planning approach to address past TOPOFF lessons learned. By adopting this approach, FSL entities will address capabilities suitable for a wide range of hazards during the exercise. The capabilities that will be examined during the exercise include:

·        Protective Actions: Evacuation/Shelter-in-Place

·        Mass Care

·        Mass Prophylaxis

·        Communications

While the exercises will focus on an RDD scenario, many of the capabilities that will be validated are common amongst a variety of scenarios, including hurricanes, improvised nuclear device, improvised explosive device, etc.

Exercise design and development is currently underway, and each TOPOFF partner’s role will become more clearly defined in the upcoming months. The U.S. Department of State is responsible for coordinating TOPOFF’s international partners.

Who can I contact at DHS public affairs for additional information?

Please contact Ms. Vallee Bunting if you have additional questions. Ms. Bunting can be reached at vallee.bunting@dhs.gov or 202-447-3447.

Additional Background Information

What were some of the highlights of previous exercises in 2004 and 2005? And how did the exercises help shape priorities and foster innovations in the federal and state security sectors?

TOPOFF 2000 took place in May of 2000 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Denver, Colorado and exercised a chemical and biological attack respectively. In May of 2003, the State of Illinois and State of Washington participated in TOPOFF again exercising a biological attack as well as a radiological attack. The U.S. Department of State coordinated Canada’s, limited but integrated participation. And finally, TOPOFF 3 took place in April 2005 with the numbers of partners and participants growing to more than 15,000. The State of Connecticut exercised a chemical attack and the State of New Jersey exercised a biological attack. The U.S. Department of State again coordinated international partners including involvement from Canada, the United Kingdom, as well as a number of U.S. embassies. Every TOPOFF exercise builds on real-world and exercise experiences and lessons learned to further enhance our national preparedness.

Lessons learned from each TOPOFF exercise provide valuable insights that guide future planning for securing the nation against terrorist attacks. As part of the exercise aft-action reporting process, participants identify necessary improvements and assign them to responsible parties. DHS provides support in tracking progress toward implementation of improvement actions, to ensure that the exercises result in concrete preparedness and response benefits.

What role does the private sector play in T4?

The National Preparedness Task Force works in close coordination with the DHS Private Sector Office and the DHS Office of Infrastructure Protection to involve the private sector in the TOPOFF exercise cycle of events. TOPOFF 3 involved more than 5,000 members of the private sector participating at varying levels. At this point, the level of participation of the private sector has not yet been determined. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will conduct the largest and most comprehensive counter-terrorism exercise to date from October 15-19, 2007 in Guam, Arizona and Oregon. Top Officials 4 (TOPOFF 4) is the fourth of a series of congressionally-mandated exercises and will feature thousands of federal, state, territorial, and local officials, as well as the governments of Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

As in a real-world response, agencies and organizations will deploy staff into the field and will face realistic incident –specific challenges, including the allocation of limited response resources and exercise actions needed to effectively manage conditions as they emerge. Planning and preparation for the exercise will also help strengthen working relationships between departments and agencies that are critical to successful prevention and response in real emergencies.

TOPOFF 4 will involve more than 15,000 participants in Guam, Arizona, and Oregon from all levels of government, international partners and the private sector in a full-scale, simulated response to radiological dispersal device attacks. For the first time, a U.S. Territory, Guam, will participate in the TOPOFF series, providing an opportunity to practice coordinated prevention and response activities between the continental U.S. and a U.S. territory. About 1,000 people will be participating in the Guam TOPOFF event. Between 200-250 of those participants are from off-island.

At the Federal level, exercise play will be marked by the coordinated participation of multiple agencies and departments. For example, in addition to response, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will be exercising prevention through its Terrorism Prevention Exercise Program (TPEP).

In the weeks leading up to the full-scale exercise, law enforcement and intelligence community players will work the information gathering, intelligence analysis, and information-sharing capabilities that help tothwart terrorist activities. In addition, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will mobilize around emerging public health issues related to a radiological emergency, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) will run concurrent exercises to address global terror threats.

To reach the over-arching goal and objectives to enhance interagency coordinator, planning and preparedness, TOPOFF 4 will focus on five key areas:

1.         Prevention: To test the handling and flow of operational and time-critical intelligence between agencies to prevent a terrorist attack.

2.        Intelligence/Investigation: To test the handling and flow of operational and time-critical intelligence between agencies prior to, and in response to, a linked terrorist incident.

3.        Incident management: To test the full range of existing procedures for domestic incident management of a terrorist weapon of mass destruction event and to improve the top officials’ capabilities to respond consistent with the National Response Plan and the National Incident Management System.

4.        Public Information: To practice the strategic coordination of a terrorist weapon of mass destruction event or incident of national significance.

5.        Evaluation: To identify lessons learned and promote best practices.

TOPOFF 4 is based on National Planning Scenario 11 (NPS-1 1). The scenario begins as terrorist, who have been planning attacks in Oregon, Arizona, and Guam, successfully bring radioactive material into the United States. The first of three coordinated attacks occurs in Guam, with the simulated detonation of a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD), or “dirty bomb,” causing casualties and wide-spread contamination in a populous area near a power plant. Similar attacks occur in the hours that follow in Portland and Phoenix.

An RDD is not the same as a nuclear attack. It is a conventional explosive that, upon detonation, there are severe rescue, health, and long-term decontamination concerns associated with an RDD. Real weapons will not be used in the scenario, but the response will be mounted as if they had been.

GUAM EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN
AND
GUAM HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN

The Island of Guam, because of its geographic location, is under constant threat of natural and manmade disasters that may cause mass casualty and injuries, loss of real property and damage to our environment.

The Government of Guam has created two plans to ensure effective response and recovery from disasters, as well as a solid strategy for mitigation to reduce risks from future events. The Guam Emergency Response Plan outlines the actions necessary to respond to events, while the Guam Hazard Mitigation Plan (HM Plan) demonstrates Guam’s commitment to reduce risks from natural hazards and serves as a guide for Guam’s decision-makers as they commit resources to reducing the effects of natural hazards.

Effective emergency response plans are critical to ensure that public safety, real property and our environment are protected when a natural or other disaster occurs. The Guam Emergency Response Plan is based on older versions of the Plan and has been updated with consultation from emergency management experts and lessons learned during responses to a variety of threats over the years.

The Island of Guam relies on both technical and other assistance from Federal partners during response to and recovery from events, making close coordination between all parties a necessity.

As a condition of receiving Federal disaster mitigation funds, the Guam Hazard Mitigation Plan must meet the requirements of Section 409 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988 (Stafford Act) and Section 322 of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000).

The HM Plan has been developed by the Hazard Mitigation Advisory Committee of the Civil Defense Advisory Council and is in place.

The Plan describes Guam’s planning process for identifying hazards, risks and vulnerabilities. It also identifies and prioritizes mitigation actions, encouraging the ongoing development and effective implementation of Guam’s specific mitigation strategies and provides technical support for these efforts.

This plan meets all requirements of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988 (Stafford Act) and Section 322 of the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000). This includes meeting the requirement the Plan be adopted by the Government of Guam and fulfilling all of the requirements of the Crosswalk (specific criteria used [by] the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to evaluate the Plan.

The Government of Guam will also comply with all applicable Federal statutes and regulations in effect with respect to the periods for which it receives grant funding, in compliance with 44 CFR 13.1 1( c). Furthermore, the Plan will be updated whenever necessary to reflect changes in Guam or Federal laws and statutes, as required in 44 CFR 13.11 (d).

It is imperative that current emergency plans for effective use of all our island’s resources to save lives and reduce human suffering and property loss be maintained and updated.

This Plan, the Guam Emergency Response Plan, will serve as the basis for the execution of all activities on behalf of the Government of Guam in response to all natural, man-made, and technological disaster/emergencies that effect our island community. 

Basic information site for Guam

http://www.guamhs.org/main/?pg=guam_emergency_response

Video clip showing an emergency preparedness exercise that Manuel Cruz was involved with.  He is the Acting Executive Director, Guam DDC. 

http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=VIDEO