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This monthly newsletter provides updates on what has recently occurred and what is coming up next for the St. Louis Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attack (CCTA) Program. You are receiving this either because you attended a meeting or exercise or have expressed interest in future involvement.

This publication was funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency.
PROGRAM SNAPSHOT

Breakdown of Top Participants

Stakeholder Group # of Participants
Fire and/or EMS 99
Law Enforcement
Public and/or Private
97
80
Communications/Dispatch 29
Emergency Management 26
Healthcare 19
Fusion Center
Bomb and Arson
18
14
Public Health 13

By the Numbers...

# of Meetings: 11
# of Workshops: 4 
# of Exercises: 2 
# of Locations: 8
# of Agencies: 197
# of Participants: 457*
# from Missouri: 338
# from Illinois: 72

*Includes other State and Federal partners

St. Louis Region Awarded DHS Grant

In 2016, the U.S. Congress provided the Department of Homeland Security and its Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) $35.9 million to distribute to select communities across the country to develop plans, training, and exercises that focus on enhancing preparedness against CCTAs. 29 recipients were selected in July 2017. The St. Louis Urban Area received $1.474 million in federal grant dollars, one of the larger awards to the selected recipients.

Hagerty Consulting is a nationally recognized emergency management and homeland security firm. Leveraging a team of project managers and subject matter experts, Hagerty provides on-site support to administer an intensive 2-year track of preparedness activities through planning, training, and exercises. Every program deliverable is intended to address pre-identified gaps and build upon the region's foundation of capabilities to respond to a CCTA through regional partnerships and collaboration between public safety agencies and whole community partners.

What is a Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attack (CCTA)?
CCTAs are acts of terrorism that involve synchronized and independent team(s) at multiple locations, sequentially or in close succession, initiated with little or no warning, and employing one or more weapon systems: firearms, explosives, fire as a weapon, and other nontraditional attack methodologies that are intended to result in large numbers of casualties.

PROGRAM TIMELINE AND ACTIVITIES

The campaign of activities over the next two years includes the following:
  • Fusion Center Tabletop Exercises 
  • Operational Guide Planning Workshops
  • Operational Guide Training Workshops
  • Operational Guide Response Drills
  • CCTA Regional Response Guide
  • River Response Workshops
  • Public Information Functional Exercise
  • Intelligence & Information Sharing Functional Exercise
  • CCTA Capstone Exercise
ST. LOUIS FUSION CENTER TABLETOP EXERCISES

TTX I: Whole Community Awareness

 

Location:  St. Louis County Emergency Operations Center
Date: October 23, 2018


The purpose of this exercise was to provide an opportunity for whole community partners (e.g., law enforcement, fire and EMS, healthcare, public health, private and public sector partners) the opportunity to learn about the St. Louis Fusion Center through an educational forum on Suspicious Activity Reporting and processes. The tabletop exercise was designed to be replicable with scenarios that tested each stakeholder groups' willingness and ability to report suspicious activity. 
  • Over 60 participants attended
  • Over 30 agencies represented
  • Multi-disciplinary, bi-state representation
"Great day of networking and learning about ways the Fusion Center works with all disciplines."

TTX II: Intelligence and Information Sharing

 

Location:  St. Charles County Emergency Operations Center
Date:  December 11, 2018


The second tabletop exercise was hosted at the brand new St. Charles County EOC and brought together the region's fusion centers for an in-person intelligence and information sharing exercise. The purpose was to validate each agency's plans, policies, and procedures and share best practices during a long-duration (multi-day) event across Illinois and Missouri. Each stakeholder group received specific scenarios and injects to test their ability to share and receive information with each other.
  • (4) Fusion Centers represented
  • Joined by JTTF and Federal Partners
  • Attended by IL and MO first responders
"Having everyone in the room together exposes the capabilities available and the same for gaps."

OPERATIONAL GUIDE WORKSHOP SERIES

Planning Workshops

Ten planning workshops are scheduled from December 2018 through March 2019 to develop six simple, user-friendly CCTA operational guides for frontline first responders. These guides are not intended to replace any existing standard operating procedures but instead will provide a regional resource for best practices and guidance for tactical, operational, and strategic issues in an immediate response for the following areas:

  • Law Enforcement and Regional Force Protection
  • Special Operations: SWAT and Bomb & Arson
  • Command and Control
  • Fire
  • EMS
  • Communications and Dispatch
There are (6) upcoming workshops for Fire, EMS, Law Enforcement, Command and Control, and Communications and Dispatch. All stakeholder groups are invited to attend to provide perspective to the interagency response in a CCTA.
 

Workshop Schedule

Dates

Functional Area

Location

Tuesday, January 22, 2019 Fire Jefferson County EOC
Wednesday, January 23, 2019 EMS II Jefferson County EOC
Tuesday, February 5, 2019 Command and Control I Madison County EOC
Wednesday, February 6, 2019 Law Enforcement III Madison County EOC
Tuesday, March 5, 2019 Communications and Dispatch St. Charles County EOC
Wednesday, March 6, 2019 Command and Control II St. Charles County EOC
 

Please register to attend a workshop as soon as possible:

REGISTER HERE

Training Workshops

Following the development of the operational guides, six training workshops will be held to train on each guide. These trainings will utilize a game map and tokens for tabletop-style play with floor plans of two identified venues within Illinois and Missouri. If you are interested in being a part of the planning team, please contact the Regional Program Coordinator to express your interest. The first planning meeting will be held on February 19, 2019.

Response Drill Venue Request

Following the operational guide planning and training, four response drills at two locations (one in Illinois and one in Missouri) will exercise the immediate frontline response to a CCTA in August 2019.

If you are a private sector partner in Illinois, we are looking for a large venue to hold the second set of response drills. If your company or organization is interested in being a part of a response drill to prepare for an active threat/CCTA, please contact the Regional Program Coordinator as soon as possible.

NEWS AND RECOGNITION

St. Louis Regional Freightway Raises Awareness on Terrorist Attack Response

On December 12, the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, St. Louis Area Regional Response System (STARRS) and the United States Coast Guard were invited to the December Industry Forum for a panel discussion on how the region’s multimodal freight network could be impacted in the event of an attack, and the important role it plays in making sure the region is prepared.


“Centered in St. Louis, Missouri, the East-West Gateway Council of Governments’ project encompasses two states (Illinois and Missouri), eight counties, almost 200 municipalities, and spans two FEMA regions.  This project is somewhat distinctive, and may have particular importance to national preparedness efforts because it stresses the importance of interstate collaboration and response." - FEMA FY2017 Report to Congress 

Contact Information
To request the full program schedule of events, please contact the Regional Program Coordinator, Althea de Guzman. If you would like to learn more about the St. Louis CCTA Program or how you can be involved, email
althea.deguzman@hagertyconsulting.com or call at (224) 622-3351.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone that you would like to involve in this program. Thank you for your participation and contribution to the St. Louis CCTA Program!
Copyright © 2019 St. Louis Area Regional Response System, All rights reserved.


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