TOPOFF 2- DHS Principal Federal Officer
The exercise was the first opportunity for the newly created DHS to exercise and experiment with its organization, functions, and assets. The DHS Principal Federal Official (PFO) concept was first implemented during the exercise, which provided the opportunity to examine the role of the PFO during an emergency response. During the exercise, the PFOs in both venues facilitated integrated communications and coordinated action planning. Findings from the exercise include the following:
The PFO was well-received and successfully integrated into the unified command structure in both venues. In Seattle, the PFO quickly instituted a unified command to manage the overall federal response and coordinate integrated communications and action planning. The PFO in Seattle also helped to prioritize and adjudicate between the often-competing needs of the crisis and consequence management sides of the response phase. In Illinois, the PFO worked within the framework of a unified command to ensure that integrated communications were achieved and that action plans were coordinated.
Both PFOs required additional technical support beyond their deployed administrative and security details. The exercise highlighted the need for the PFO to have a dedicated staff with the flexibility and expertise to support all emergencies, natural and terrorist-related. If the Domestic Emergency Support Team is expected to support the PFO and the federal response, DHS should consider providing additional resources to staff at least one additional team in the event that more than one federal emergency occurs at the same time, as was exercised during TOPOFF 2.
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