A key element in effectively resolving a terrorist or active shooter event is to have situational awareness that reduces the perpetrators’ element of surprise. The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team (JCAT) provide national-level intelligence products for emergency managers and first responders to provide that situational awareness. A number of these were discussed in your reading assignment as well as in your study guide. If properly utilized, these documents provide an element of protection and prevention by intelligence and information sharing. Although a number of these unclassified and classified federal tools are disseminated to state and local jurisdictions, many jurisdictions are not aware of them, and they are often not utilized.
Develop a written tool for your emergency management department that identifies how and where to gather intelligence information resources that are available to your organization for how to report suspicious activity. Be sure to start your tool with a definition of what your organization is, where it is located, and anything that makes your situation unique. Express vulnerabilities in your local community that terrorists might target. Explain how you will address a possible terrorist event utilizing past events as lessons learned. If you are not currently in such an organization, pick an organization with which you are familiar. The tool should allow an emergency manager and first responders to quickly locate each of the intelligence documents readily available to him or her within the organization and how they benefit situational awareness.
Your assignment for the intelligence sources location tool should be a minimum of two pages in length, not counting the required reference page. To supplement your discussion, you should include at least two sources. References and citations must be provided using APA Style. All sources used must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.
