During the week of May 12 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Domestic Preparedness and U.S. Department of State, in cooperation with federal, state, local and Canadian partners, undertook a five-day, full-scale exercise and simulation of how the nation would respond in the event of a weapons of mass destruction attack.

The $16 million Top Officials 2, or TOPOFF 2, consisted of simulated attacks in the Chicago and Seattle metropolitan areas. The American Red Cross and 19 federal departments and agencies with counter-terrorism and consequence management roles were involved during the exercise.

King County, Wash., and the city of Seattle responded to a hypothetical explosion containing radioactive material. In the Midwest, Cook, Lake, DuPage and Kane counties in Illinois and the city of Chicago responded to a covert release of a biological agent, a simulated building collapse and a plane crash. The national capital region, including the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, participated in the first day of the exercise by activating their regional operations capability.

The Canadian government, including the province of British Columbia and Vancouver, engaged in exercise play in keeping with the commitment to conduct joint exercises, as outlined in Point 30 of the Smart Border Declaration Action Plan. Canadian participation was coordinated by the Department of the Solicitor General and the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness.

The exercise enabled top officials and response personnel to practice different courses of action, gain and maintain situational awareness, and deploy appropriate resources in unclassified and classified round-the-clock exercise play.

The goals of TOPOFF 2 were to improve the nation's capacity to manage extreme events; create broader frameworks for the operation of expert crisis and consequence management systems; validate authorities, strategies, plans, policies, procedures and protocols; and build a sustainable, systematic national exercise program to support the national strategy for homeland security.