Dual-world tabletop exercises – addressing unmet infrastructure needs
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To further address these vulnerabilities, this article proposes enhancing TTXs nationwide. These exercises, designed to highlight needs and gather resources to resolve vulnerabilities quickly, can be improved with a new dual-track (or “dual-world”) approach, not known to have been done before. Traditionally, a TTX involves emergency management and response organizations coming together to simulate and practice response capabilities. Typically held at an emergency management or fusion center, representatives of key community leadership and infrastructure gather to discuss their approach to a given disaster scenario.
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In an admittedly novel dual-track TTX, two groups work simultaneously on the same scenario and injects. Group A operates with the resources they have in the traditional approach described above, while Group B has additional resources. For example, on September 10, 2024, one such dual-track exercise plans to offer Group B access to five electromagnetic- and cyber-protected local energy systems (micro- or nano grids) capable of providing half their energy needs from local resources. These resources enable continued operation in island mode when centralized systems fail, as recommended by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency in 2016.
With this approach, both groups convene to discuss the scenario, disaster, and injects, then separate to strategize independently. Each person or entity in Group A is mirrored in Group B, with both groups comprising emergency response organizations, hospitals, utilities, military bases, local governments, schools, or other community entities.
Following the injects, both groups conduct hot washes to report on potential loss mitigation strategies and document losses in finance, infrastructure, and lives. If the disaster is widespread and prolonged, differences in outcomes are likely to be apparent. The resulting after-action report highlights the benefits of improved resilience before the disaster, which can help communities secure the financial and in-kind support necessary to protect lives, infrastructure, and economic stability.
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