National Exercise Program

The National Exercise Program (NEP) provides a framework for prioritizing and coordinating federal, regional and state exercise activities, without replacing any individual department or agency exercises. The NEP enables federal, state and local departments and agencies to align their exercise programs. This alignment is achieved by issuing annual NEP exercise planning guidance derived from a strategic review of risks (threats, hazards, vulnerabilities and operational risks), and by outlining a five-year schedule of NEP tiered exercises.

The five year schedule is categorized into four tiers which reflect priorities for participation and outline the procedures for departments and agencies to follow should they want to nominate an exercise to a national level status. Each year one exercise is designated as the National Level Exercise / Tier I event requiring senior level participation among the Federal interagency community. Additional exercises are provided Tier II, III or IV status depending on a variety of qualifying factors.

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National Level Exercise 2011 (NLE 11)

National Level Exercise NLE 2011 was an operations-based exercise centered on the scenario of a catastrophic earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, encompassing four FEMA Regions (IV, V, VI and VII) and eight Central U.S. Earthquake States: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. NLE 2011 exercised initial incident response and recovery capabilities, tested and validated existing plans, policies and procedures to include the New Madrid Catastrophic Plan.  NLE 2011 was conducted in May 2011.

National Level Exercise 10 (NLE 10)

Federal Emergency Management Agency conducted National Level Exercise (NLE) 2010 on May 17-18. NLE 2010 engaged federal, state and local partners in a series of events and opportunities to demonstrate and assess federal emergency preparedness capabilities pertaining to a simulated terrorist attack scenario involving an improvised nuclear device.

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National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE 09)

• Occurred July 27 through July 31, 2009.
• First major exercise conducted by the United States government that focused exclusively on terrorism prevention and protection, as opposed to incident response and recovery.

NLE 09 was designated as a Tier I National Level Exercise. Tier I exercises (formerly known as the Top Officials exercise series or TOPOFF) are conducted annually in accordance with the National Exercise Program (NEP), which serves as the nation's overarching exercise program for planning, organizing, conducting and evaluating national level exercises. The NEP was established to provide the U.S. government, at all levels, exercise opportunities to prepare for catastrophic crises ranging from terrorism to natural disasters.

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TOPOFF 4: Increasing Coordination through Collaboration

• Conducted in October 2007, TOPOFF 4 took place in Portland, Ore.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and for the first time, the U.S. territory of Guam as well as in Washington, D.C. for federal partners. 
• The exercise builit 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 RDD attack.
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TOPOFF 3: Exercising National Preparedness

• Conducted in April 2005, TOPOFF 3 was the first test of the National Response Plan (NRP) and National Incident Management System (NIMS).
• TOPOFF 3 continued to evolve and included an increased focus on bolstering international and private sector participation, terrorism prevention activities, risk communication and public information functions, and long-term recovery and remediation issues.
• Over 10,000 participants, including responders and officials from Canada and the United Kingdom, responded to a simulated chemical attack in New London, Conn., and a biological attack in the state of New Jersey.
• The exercise marked the launch of a new simulated media tool – the interactive web site VNN.com.
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TOPOFF 2: Assessing Homeland Security Planning

• Conducted in May 2003, TOPOFF 2 was the first national exercise following the September 11, 2001 attacks and was led by the newly-formed Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
• TOPOFF 2 provided the first opportunity for DHS to exercise its organizational functions and assets, including tests of the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS).
• Participants in Seattle faced a simulated radiological dispersal device (RDD) attack, while those in the Chicago faced a biological attack.
• The exercise engaged 8,500 responders and top officials from the United States and Canada – the first international partner to participate.

TOPOFF 2000: Coordinated, Strategic National Response

• In May 2000, the Department of Justice, the Department of State, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) led the first exercise in the TOPOFF series.
• The primary goal of the exercise was to improve the capability of government officials and agencies, both within the United States and abroad to provide an effective, coordinated, and strategic response to a terrorist attack.
• More than 6,500 federal, state, and local personnel – including top officials – responded to a simulated biological attack in Denver, Colorado and a simulated chemical attack in Portsmouth, N.H.
• The exercise introduced a new element in preparedness exercises: a simulated media outlet known as the Virtual News Network (VNN). VNN kept players up-to-date on unfolding events and forced decision-makers to face the challenge of communicating with real-world media in a crisis.