Client:
The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office for Domestic Preparedness (ODP). ODP provides state and local emergency responders the resources they need to prevent, prepare for, and respond to incidents of terrorism.
Challenge:
Public safety personnel play a pivotal role in preventing and responding to potentially catastrophic effects of acts of terrorism.
Today's Training & Exercising (T&E) is primarily face-to-face and expensive since it requires instructors, evaluators, and response personnel to be co-located and devote real resources to drills, etc. Although it is an effective means of knowledge acquisition, face-to-face training cannot reach the current audience consisting of an estimated 3.2 million first responders, 4-5 million medical workers, and countless others from the private sector.
ODP sought alternative methods to increase the frequency of training, increase the number of T&E participants, and lower cost.
Objective:
Analyze current counter-terrorism T&E, identify and catalogue T&E requirements for all levels of response, and determine how technology can help expand the reach, increase the frequency, and lower T&E costs.
ThoughtLink Solution:
ThoughtLink reviewed archived exercises and the current ODP Training and Exercise Program, electronically coded T&E requirements identifying gaps in the process. ThoughtLink then reviewed one hundred models, simulations, and games (MS&G) and analyzed their ability to support T&E requirements and meet some of the current program gaps. Each review considered the product's functionality, hardware and software requirements, cost, and logistical concerns.
Next ThoughtLink linked requirements and products using requirements tracking software to track more than 1100 requirements and 100 product characteristics.
The result of this task was a road map describing how MS&G can help support the increase in demand for preparedness training for terrorist events.
Value Added:
ThoughtLink built an MS&G Decision Support System, which is an interactive web-based program that will assist exercise planners in deciding which tool is most appropriate to use based on the T&E requirements. It also provides a collaborative environment for users to exchange ideas and best practices for using technology applications.
ThoughtLink also launched a technology education initiative including an online tutorial on emerging technologies. Read more.
