Planning Considerations: Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attacks (CCTAs) - Homeland Security Threat Background and Characteristics, Synchronized and Independent Teams at Multiple Locations

This important report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attacks (CCTAs): CCTAs are acts of terrorism that involve synchronized and independent team(s) at multiple locations, sequentially or in close succession, initiated with little or no warning, and employing one or more weapon systems: firearms, explosives, fire as a weapon, and other nontraditional attack methodologies that are intended to result in large numbers of casualties. This guide supports planning for Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attacks (CCTAs) and provides a summary of their unique characteristics. The document builds on Comprehensive Preparedness Guide (CPG) 101: Developing and Maintaining Emergency Operations Plans, and CPG 201: Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) Guide by providing planning considerations specific to CCTAs, which are relevant both to developing a plan and to completing a THIRA.

This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attacks: Threat Background and Characteristics * Purpose * Background * CCTA Characteristics * CCTA Challenges * CCTAs: Planning Considerations * The Six-Step Planning Process * Step 1: Form a Collaborative Planning Team * Step 2: Understand the Situation * Step 3: Determine Goals and Objectives * Step 4: Plan Development * Step 5: Plan Preparation, Review, and Approval * Step 6: Plan Implementation and Maintenance * Planning Checklist * Purpose, Scope, Situation Overview, and Planning Assumptions * Concept of Operations * Direction, Control, and Coordination * Communications * Administration, Finance, and Logistics * Preparedness, Mitigation, and Recovery * Implementation, Maintenance, and Training * Authorities and References * CCTAs: Risk Assessment Considerations * Step 1: Identify the Threats and Hazards of Concern * Step 2: Give the Threats and Hazards Context and Estimate Impacts * Potential Consequences * Examples of CCTA Context Description * Estimated Impacts * Step 3: Establish Capability Targets * CCTAs: Resources * Training Resources * Technical Assistance Resources * Resource Types * Other Resources

These incidents demonstrate how attackers can assemble trained teams, acquire explosives, weapons, and communications equipment, exploit open-source information to gather intelligence on targets, and successfully carry out acts of extreme violence. Over time, assailants study and learn from each other, improving their tactics to counter first responders and law enforcement in an effort to increase casualties, inflict maximum damage at attack sites, and prolong incidents to achieve sustained media coverage. Targeted acts of violence that have no direct connection to terrorism may employ tactics that mimic CCTAs and would require the same level of coordination to be managed effectively.