Helping Emergency Responders Prepare for Terror

A team of SAIC scientists and homeland security experts designed and developed the Automated Exercise and Assessment System (AEAS), which the National Guard is making available to more than 3,000 jurisdictions in the U.S. as part of a community readiness initiative.

Building on simulation technology SAIC developed to train members of the armed forces, the system lets participants respond as a team in real-time to simulated emergency scenarios, such as explosions or the release of radioactive contaminants or biological agents. The system tracks players' responses and provides real-time assessments of their expected actions, allowing each jurisdiction to determine strengths and areas of concern in advance of a real emergency.

"When local jurisdictions nationwide use this training tool, it will allow us to minimize the loss of life of emergency responders and minimize the loss of additional lives following incidents involving weapons of mass destruction," said Dan Donohue, special assistant to the chief of the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C.

The exercises are based on a comprehensive set of tasks, conditions, and standards identified by stakeholder response agencies throughout the U.S. Scenarios apply to most small, medium, and large jurisdictions in the U.S. They are detailed enough for making weapons effects calculations using algorithms implemented in SAIC's Consequences Assessment Tool Set and Joint Assessment of Catastrophic Events (CATS/JACE) suite of models.

The CD-ROM-based exercise system creates a realistic training environment without the cost, safety, and logistics concerns associated with live, on-location training that can involve hundreds of role players, dozens of emergency vehicles, and other equipment.

Instead, the exercises can be conducted in a single room. Each participant plays one of approximately 40 different roles (such as law enforcement, public health, fire protection, transportation) on a personal computer that provides scenario information and situational message traffic, including communications chaff designed to create realistic chaos and confusion within the communications chatter.

Officials in Weber County, Utah, and Story County, Iowa, recently used the SAIC system for interactive training exercises.

SAIC is working with the National Guard and the Department of Defense, exploring how the AEAS could be adapted to address the needs of the hospital emergency incident command system (HEICS), thereby broadening the impact and effective use of AEAS for enhanced medical WMD preparedness in the hospitals and medical treatment facilities.

SAIC looks forward to offering all the counties and jurisdictions nationwide the effective tools available today to train for terrorist attacks involving weapons of mass destruction.

Related Information

• Terrorism Response Training solutions