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the Concept of Operations and the Situation and Assumptions sections, to deter-
mine if alterations may be required in EOC operations. Then, play “what if” to
change the parameters of a possible terrorist attack to determine how those changes
affect necessary planning. (For example, what if a Timothy McVeigh would have
used 2000 pounds of ammonium nitrate-fuel oil for his attack on the Murrah
Federal Building, rather than 1000 pounds? What additional damage would have
occurred? How many additional casualties could have occurred? What additional
resources would be required for the response? What other issues would be affected
(e.g., communication needs)? Finally, how does this information affect the coordi-
nation function and operations at the EOC?) Keep a careful record of these discus-
sions for later use in revising the EOP.
Revisit Each EOP Annex
Next, revisit each EOP annex to identify gaps based on the terrorist threats, poten-
tial targets, and risks. The planning team should determine what portions of each
annex should work in a terrorist situation and identify areas that need revision. For
example, does the current Emergency Public Information Annex describe the huge
number of uncertainties that will be felt by the public? Has a procedure been devel-
oped to ensure that citizens—and the media—receive critical information accu-
rately and in a timely way? Continue this process with each annex, in turn, until all
known planning gaps and needed revisions have been identified.
When completing revisions, keep in mind the key concepts and principles
required in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) for all domestic
responses, which focuses on command and control using the Incident Command
System, resource management, including the typing of equipment according to
capability, the training and credentialing of all response personnel, interoperable
and redundant communications capability, and use of multiagency coordination
systems to coordinate response activity from the incident scene to the federal level,
including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If your jurisdiction has not built
NIMS requirements into its planning process, the terrorism review and revision
process is a good time to do so.
Policies and Procedures
Policy and procedure review and revision is best done at the agency level, but after
revisions have been completed, the planning team should review them to ensure
that they are aware of other agencies' procedures and to identify areas that may not
work in concert with other agencies' procedures.
Finally, extrapolate to EOC operations. What do changes in the EOP and response
procedures mean for EOC operations? Have additional layers of communications
