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Homeland Security 5 Year Anniversary 2003 - 2008, One Team, One Mission Securing the Homeland

Department of Homeland Security Announces Exercise Participants

Release Date: 04/05/04 00:00:00

For Immediate Release
Press Office
Contact: 202-282-8010
April 5, 2004

U. S. Department of Homeland Security today announced that the next Congressionally-mandated Top Officials (TOPOFF) exercise will take place in April 2005.  Scenarios in the exercise will take place in Connecticut and New Jersey.  Additional TOPOFF activities will be conducted within the United Kingdom as part of a partnership to strengthen security in both nations.

"The TOPOFF exercises are an important part of our national preparedness strategy.  To make our response system stronger, we have to identify our strengths and weaknesses through challenging scenarios.  Those scenarios are an integral part of the TOPOFF exercise and they force us to gauge our readiness, test our internal communications and develop and reinforce relationships across all levels of government and the private sector," Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said.

TOPOFF 3 is the third of the congressionally directed, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) national exercise series. The first was conducted in May, 2000, and TOPOFF 2 was conducted in May, 2003 with exercises taking place in Seattle and Chicago.

The overarching United States objectives of TOPOFF 3 are to:

  • Improve the nation's capacity to prevent, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks in accordance with DHS protocols using the Interim National Response Plan and National Incident Management System.
  • Identify baseline capabilities and derive consensus performance standards to measure proficiency against a range of probable threats.
  • Synchronize the TOPOFF exercise series with national goals and objectives.
  • Improve international coordination and cooperation during Weapons of Mass Destruction terrorist incident response.
  • Assess and strengthen government, non-government, and private sector partnerships to prevent, respond to, and recover from Weapons of Mass Destructions incidents.

TOPOFF 3 will use a series of exercise activities of increasing complexity, and simulates a terrorist WMD campaign with simulated attacks occurring in the States of Connecticut and New Jersey.  The specific scenarios for the exercise are still being developed.

"Our experiences in TOPOFF 1 and 2 helped us adjust our procedures.  Educating, exercising, and equipping crisis and consequence managers and responders remains a national priority, a need both the Congress and the President addressed by providing much-needed funding," Ridge said.

"We will do a careful analysis of every aspect of this exercise so we can learn as much as possible from the activities that take place at the local, state, national and international levels," Ridge said, "so that we can better prepare to deter and respond to attacks."

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This page was last reviewed/modified on 04/05/04 00:00:00.