In October 2022, participants from the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut Regional Transit Security Working Group came to New Mexico Tech to take a customized version of the Incident Response to Terrorist Bombings (IRTB) course. Forty-five participants from nine agencies attended the multi-day training course. These agencies included Amtrak, Connecticut State Police, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NJ Transit Police, New York City Police Department, New York State Police, Port Authority of NY & NJ Police, and NJ Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness and Transportation Security Administration.
In customizing the course, EMRTC’s curriculum team ensured all IRTB learning objectives were covered. The classroom modules were enhanced with a current threat briefing provided by an NYPD Senior Intelligence Analyst. The final performance exercise was a customized tabletop developed by EMRTC. This exercise involved tri-state regional intelligence and information sharing and a multi-jurisdictional response to an IED incident at a prominent New York transit facility.
Course instructors Frank Tabert, Kevin Power, and Gerry Sheridan were hand-picked by EMRTC for their experience in the region and familiarity with the regional transit systems, their operating agencies and relevant case histories. Supporting these instructors were numerous EMRTC personnel working behind the scenes to ensure logistics, ordnance, range-ops, audio-visual, instrumentation, and transportation details were successfully coordinated.
The field labs were customized with transit-specific additions, such as a pressure-cooker bomb placed in a municipal transit bus on the second day of training, as opposed to exploding it in the open air as the IRTB course typically includes. On the third day, instead of a car bomb demonstration, participants witnessed a bus bomb, a large vehicle-borne IED in which the municipal articulated tandem bus was itself the bomb.
The NY/NJ/CT Regional Transit Security Working Group participated in a customized IRTB course at New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM, October 2022
Day 2 field laboratory included the detonation of a pressure cooker IED inside a municipal transit bus
Day 3 field laboratory included the detonation of a large vehicle-borne IED. In this case, a bus bomb. (Before picture).
Day 3 field laboratory large vehicle-borne IED detonation
Feedback from course participants was overwhelmingly positive. In addition to appreciating the customized content and field labs, participants also noted taking advantage of opportunities to network with one another. Taking the course with members from other agencies helped them strengthen existing ties and create new ones. Course instructors noted the competence of the participants, Per Frank Tabert, “At the tabletop exercise, it was obvious that the respective agency representatives knew their turf, knew their counterparts, and communicated regularly — pre-incident – insuring efficient delivery and allocation of resources and a safe and effective response.”
At the regular meeting of the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut Regional Transit Security Working Group held in December 2022, Instructor Frank Tabert briefed the group, recapping the customized IRTB class. Tabert’s briefing was complemented by a slideshow and high-speed videos showcasing the explosive events of the week. A number of the IRTB participants were present and provided glowing feedback. Tabert took the opportunity to encourage the members to participate and authorize their subordinates to participate in EMRTC’s residential programs. In addition, Tabert promoted EMRTC’s mobile course offerings, encouraging members to consider hosting them at their jurisdictions.
