April 10, 2008 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) met today with State Homeland Security Advisors, State Emergency Management Directors and participants from the TOP OFFICIALS 4 (TOPOFF 4) exercise held in October 2007 to discuss preliminary exercise observations. During the meeting, held in Oklahoma City at the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT), officials briefed out and released preliminary exercise observations and lessons learned from TOPOFF 4.

At the conclusion of TOPOFF 4, participants in the full scale exercise presented their initial impressions and identified major findings during a series of "hot-wash" briefings. The results of the briefings combined with an initial analysis of exercise play and inputs from participating departments and agencies were compiled into the official TOPOFF 4 Quick Look Report (QLR). The QLR summarizes the initial findings from the TOPOFF 4 exercise for the general public while providing stakeholders with the necessary material to begin a more detailed and comprehensive after action review process. The QLR focuses on five DHS capabilities, including: Intelligence/Information; On-Site Incident Management; Emergency Operations Center Management; Emergency Public Information and Warning; and Economic and Community Recovery.

TOPOFF 4 was conducted Oct. 15 to Oct. 19, 2007, and involved more than 23,000 federal, state, local, and private sector participants as well as representatives from Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. The specific goals of TOPOFF 4 focused on prevention, intelligence/investigation, incident management, public information and evaluation.