The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Campus Resilience (CR) Program, in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), convened the fifth annual National Seminar and Tabletop Exercise for Institutions of Higher Education (NTTX) on September 24-25, 2018, at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Starting in 2014, the NTTX is a series of campus-based events that test and promote campus resilience and emergency preparedness. This year’s two-day event focused on threats of campus disorder during a large event. Participants gained insight into planning, preparedness, and resilience best practices for the academic community, including workshop sessions, a tabletop exercise, and an after-action review session.
“Each year’s exercise scenario represents an emerging threat within the academic community that demonstrates a broad national interest,” Executive Director for Academic Engagement Trent Frazier said. “The NTTX brings together campus leaders from across an institution’s disciplines to start planning and preparing before a campus crisis happens, further bolstering campus resilience.”
More than 475 participants representing 123 colleges and universities across the country attended the event. FEMA Deputy Administrator for Resilience Dr. Daniel Kaniewski delivered keynote remarks alongside University of Texas at San Antonio Chief of Police Gerald Lewis. Participants also included representatives from federal departments and agencies that support campus resilience.
The NTTX is part of the DHS Office of Academic Engagement’s CR Program Tabletop Exercise Series (TTX), which is a collection of tailored events, each with unique objectives and outcomes, designed for the higher education community. Each event in the series challenges participants with multi-faceted threat based scenarios that test and strengthen their institution’s preparedness, response, and recovery capabilities.
To learn more about the NTTX, visit: https://www.dhs.gov/nttx.