Gabriele Cascone, Head of Counter Terrorism Section at NATO, facilitates a lightening round on Hostile Drones in Urban Environments
CTPN events and exercises
We convene and facilitate international conferences, bespoke seminars and scenario-based exercises that enable the exchange of learning and practices, develop connections, and inform approaches to counter terrorism preparedness, resilience and consequence management. These provide opportunities to converge the expertise of senior leaders from city authorities across Europe, North America and Australasia with specialist organisations and international partners against the complex and evolving counter terrorism agenda.
Post exercise reports are available and can be requested by public sector partners by email to [email protected]
CTPN delivered a strategic table-top exercise for the London Resilience Partnership based on the London Marathon. It aligned with priorities at all levels including the UK CONTEST Strategy and provided a rare opportunity to converge the experience and expertise of event planners with city authorities and specialist organisations.
This enabled consideration of arrangements from planning and protective security; to preparedness, coordination, and response operations; as well as humanitarian assistance and recovery in the context of delivering safe and secure major events. The post-exercise report can be requested via [email protected].
CTPN and the United States Secret Service continue to collaborate in the delivery of awareness training on terrorist threats, trends, and tactics; the analysis of mass attacks in public spaces; and the protection of vulnerable targets.
This includes online seminars throughout the year as well as face-to-face events such as those delivered for the cities of Stockholm and Dublin.
From 18 - 20 April 2023 the Counter Terrorism Preparedness Network delivered its annual high-level programme in Washington DC.
This was attended by partners from across Europe, North America and Australasia as well as international organisations. It included a conference themed misinformation, disinformation, and extremism, with keynote addresses from Dr Raffi Gregorian (Deputy Under-Secretary-General and Director at the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism) and Mr Kenneth Wainstein (Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis at the US Department of Homeland Security).
Two thought provoking panel discussions, focussed on the role and impact of mainstream and social media, were expertly moderated by Julie Etchingham (Anchor at ITV News at Ten) and Judy Pal (Independent Communications Specialist and Former Assistant Commissioner).
The panels considered the dangers of misinformation and disinformation and how they can contribute to extremism, as well as how preventative communication strategies can help counter negative social impacts and uncertainties for multi-agency responders.
Julie Etchingham said “I was delighted to be involved in the CTPN’s conference on Misinformation, Disinformation and Extremism in Washington DC - a fantastic opportunity to explore some of the biggest challenges facing democracy and to hear from experts most closely involved in countering the threats. To see a network of global cities in action and to have a chance to think about and discuss the complexities of the subject was invaluable. The panel I hosted of media professionals served as a good reminder that trusted news providers have never been more essential to how our democracies work.”
We were also grateful for informative presentations and case studies from the UK Cabinet Office, the American Enterprise Institute and the DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. View the full programme and list of speakers here.
Participants were further able to engage in a CBRN(e) table-top exercise delivered by CTPN in partnership with the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism.
Framed around a whole-system approach to build city resilience against terrorism and emerging threats, the CTPN High-Level Conference offered a rare opportunity to convene leaders from cities across Europe, North America and Australasia with national authorities and international institutions. The event included sessions on misinformation and the extreme right-wing; technology and terrorism; as well as on cities as the backbone of urban resilience by the European Commission.
Keynote speeches were provided by the Mayor of Stockholm, Anna König Jerlmyr; Lord Toby Harris; and London's Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience, Dr Fiona Twycross. The keynote speech from David van Weel, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, can be watched online.
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CTPN hosted its inaugural conference on Friday 15 November 2019 at London City Hall. This was opened by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan and included speeches from Dr Fiona Twycross (Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience, London), Lord Toby Harris (UK Parliament Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy), and Albert Batlle (Deputy Mayor for Prevention and Security, Barcelona). Sir David Veness CBE (former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security) also facilitated a high-level panel to discuss the need for a whole-system approach towards counter terrorism, noting that:
CTPN is an impressive initiative, which, I am absolutely certain, fills a pressing need for a multi-national, multi-agency and multi-disciplinary network at the vital city level to enhance counter-terrorism and thereby to strengthen overall public protection and resilience.
In a tweet, Sadiq Khan said:
Keeping Londoners safe is my number one priority. Today’s meeting of the Counter Terrorism Preparedness Network brings together leaders from around the globe in London, to discuss our shared work to combat terrorism in all its forms, and keep our cities more secure for everyone.
A spokesperson for the US Secret Service said:
“CTPN demonstrated collaboration and the value of partnership working by inviting a presentation from the United States Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC).
The NTAC training focussed on identifying and assessing threatening behaviours in educational settings and highlighted the importance of early intervention and support services in preventing mass violence.
CTPN enabled the sharing of research and recommendations with stakeholders across Europe, North America and Australasia. We hope that, in turn, organisations will apply these locally to help prevent or at least reduce acts of violence and extremism”.
CTPN Strategic Coordination report highlighted how “strategic leadership is particularly important in crisis management to successfully navigate inherently unpredictable, complex and high-impact situations”. CTPN hosted a workshop conducted with the Cité-ID Living Lab Urban Resilience Governance based in our partnering city of Montreal, Canada to consider the decision-making processes. Taking place at Stockholm Police Headquarters, the workshop focussed on decision-making and coordination in a counter terrorism context, enabling CTPN members to engage in face-to-face discussions.
CTPN hosted an interactive scenario-based exercise in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service, known as ‘Hydra’. This highly regarded, specialist exercise, provided a platform to explore multi-agency response arrangements in the context of a marauding terrorist attack within a city centre environment. It introduced key considerations and principles in the response phase, also drawing upon real-life experiences and incorporating lessons from incidents and exercises as appropriate.
This CTPN members only workshop raised awareness of the complex gendered dimensions of ideology, radicalisation, agency, that impact Counter-Terrorism. It was delivered in partnership with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) with a series of expert presentations and exchanges. The workshop highlighted the importance of harnessing gender-based analysis tools and community consultations to address intersecting inequalities that feed terrorism and to develop policies that are inclusive (avoiding bias, stigmatisation, and stereotyping) and are tailored towards needs. Discussions explored the need for this approach to filter across city administrations (beyond specialists in Gender and Preventing Violent Extremism) to enable implementation of a gender lens in a systemic manner with appropriate levels of monitoring, evaluation and accountability. The workshop further emphasised the need for research-based programming and investment of gender expertise in Screening, Prosecution, Rehabilitation and Reintegration services.
Dr Karin von Hippel, Director-General of RUSI, opened the event noting that "the use of a gender lens is essential for effective strategies that aim to prevent and counter violent extremism and terrorism in our cities".
Delivered in partnership with the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism, this exercise provided an opportunity for a select group of strategic and tactical leaders from across CTPN cities to take a deep-dive into this priority area, with a specific focus on a chemical attack. The London Fire Commissioner, Andy Roe, emphasised the role and importance of such exercises:
London Fire Brigade are proud hosts of the Counter Terrorism Preparedness Network. As London Fire Commissioner and the UK National Fire Chiefs Council lead for Counter Terrorism and CBRN, I was pleased to see the level of expertise and breadth of representation convened for this exercise. Multi-agency preparedness that stretches across borders at local, national and international levels is vital to ensure we consider and act upon the evolving threats we face. This is a critical part of developing our collective resilience, building robust arrangements, and delivering a coordinated response. The value of exchanges between colleagues across Europe and North America, as facilitated by CTPN, cannot be overstated.
This exercise was delivered by the CTPN and the United Nations Office for Counter Terrorism (UNOCT). The exercise provided a rare opportunity to converge the expertise of senior leaders from city authorities and specialist organisations with international counterparts who were able to take a deep-dive into some of the complexities posed by a bioterrorism attack. The exercise was opened by the Mayor of Stockholm and closed by the Executive Director of UNOCT, who were joined by international stakeholders from the United Nations, World Health Organisation, NATO, INTERPOL and the European Commission alongside some national experts and multi-agency partners across CTPN spanning Europe, North America, and Australasia. The closing address, provided by Dr Jehangir Khan, Executive Director of UNOCT, can be watched online.
In a post, the Mayor of Stockholm said "CTPN is an important forum where strategic leaders work together to keep our cities and communities safe from terrorism. It was an honour to do the opening speech at today’s event".
Read the Strategic Bioterrorism Preparedness Exercise programme
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This international CTPN conference focussed on Bioterrorism Preparedness and coincided with the launch of the CTPN report on “Bioterrorism: Applying the lens of COVID-19” led by London and Washington DC. The programme offered a deeper-dive into some of the key messages within this report through a series of expert speakers. These included the Chief of Homeland Security & Intelligence for Washington DC and the Head of Unit for Preventing and Responding to WMD/CBRN Terrorism at the United Nations Office of Counter Terrorism, among others. Lord Toby Harris endorsed the event, noting:
CTPN is to be congratulated on bringing together leaders and practitioners from cities around the world to discuss bioterrorism preparedness. The history of biological warfare is nearly as old as the history of warfare itself and the experience of COVID and how extensively our established way of life was disrupted means that a biological attack must be attractive to those who seek to do us harm. All the more important for cities to think how they can best prepare themselves for such events.
This CTPN members only seminar convened an expert panel from the UK Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure, Metropolitan Police Service and the University of Warwick to deliver thematic presentations and engage in facilitated dialogue with CTPN members. This enabled the sharing of knowledge, experience and practices in relation to protective security. The Head of Physical Security for the UK Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) said:
CTPN provided a very useful platform for us to explain both the physical engineering and behavioural science behind CPNI’s long established protective security programmes. This enabled us to demonstrate the palette of countermeasures for public authorities around the world to adopt, and to highlight real life examples of the necessary partnership working needed to initiate and deliver these. Such information sharing and discussion enables organisations and cities more broadly to identify what works for them and to subsequently bake in security to their governance processes and master-planning for the built environment. This will ultimately help deter and/or mitigate a whole range of hostile acts.
This exercise followed the conference on Protecting Major Events & Crowded Places. It provided an opportunity for strategic leaders to take a deep-dive into this priority area through interactive scenario-based discussions that harnessed the expertise and experiences of its international participants. The exercise covered protective security, multi-agency governance, concepts of operations, planning and response to crowded spaces/publicly accessible locations as part of host city event operations. This was delivered by international command trainers from INTERPOL.
Read the Strategic Planning for Major Tournaments Exercise programme
CTPN organised and delivered this international conference in partnership with EUROPOL, INTERPOL, and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime. This event focussed on counter terrorism preparedness for major events and crowded places through presentations from leading subject matter experts. We were joined by partners from across sectors, including representatives from 19 cities spanning 16 nations plus the European Commission, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, United Nations and academia. Reflecting on the conference, Falah Al-Dosari, Senior Manager for INTERPOL, said:
INTERPOL is a proud contributor to CTPN in our collective efforts to counter terrorism and build preparedness, particularly in relation to safety and security at major events. International conferences such as this one demonstrate the importance of international cooperation at all levels to enhance planning and operations prior to and during events, as well as across the host cities themselves. Major events and crowded places continue to present a security challenge and we must continue to develop our arrangements and capabilities accordingly. INTERPOL looks forward to our ongoing collaboration with CTPN as part of this critical agenda.
Read the Protecting Major Events & Crowded Places programme
A panel discussion framed around the work and priorities of CTPN took place at the National Security Summit in Sweden. The panel highlighted that terrorism is a global, networked and persistent threat that demands a global, networked and persistent response noting the importance of collective action at a city level.
In partnership with the UK Home Office, the CTPN delivered a strategic table-top exercise with partners from across CTPN and beyond. The exercise focussed on counter terrorism consequence management and consisted of input from guest speakers, including the former Police Commissioner for Boston who reflected on the 2013 Boston Marathon attacks. A facilitated table-top exercise based on strategic coordination in relation to an attack at a major event and a transport hub considered the ripple effects and community impacts, and also sought to identify how arrangements developed to aide multi-agency planning, response and recovery.
This Humanitarian Assistance and Psychosocial Support workshop focused on the human impacts of terrorism. It convened expert input from across this CTPN Expert Group from organisations including Disaster Action, Norwegian Ministry of Transport, the Belgian Federal Public Service of Health, the Australasian Women in Emergencies Network, and the UK Home Office Victims of Terrorism Unit.
CTPN supported the UK Home Office and London Resilience Group table-top workshop as part of ‘Exercise Spring Resolve’. This was hosted by CTPN partners – Australian Federal Police – at the Australian Embassy in London.
Exercise Spring Resolve was a National Counter Terrorism exercise that tested the full spectrum of response and recovery arrangements, at local, regional and national level, to a terrorist attack.
CTPN and the UN Office of Counter Terrorism partnered in the delivery of an international cybersecurity exercise. This virtual and interactive session focussed on the coordination, collaboration, information sharing and capabilities of cities in response to a cyber-attack.
It included a brief from the United States Secret Service on cyber-threats, cyber-attacks and potential consequences as well as a case study presentation on New York City’s Cyber Critical Services and Infrastructure Initiative from NYC’s Chief Information Officer.
CTPN and the UN Office of Counter Terrorism partnered in the delivery of an exercise focussed on a radiological attack. It reflected on CBRN threats, specifically those posed by the use of radiological weapons or devices in the context of a terrorist attack.
This was with a view to informing the development of multi-agency preparedness, response, and recovery arrangements at the city-level. Watch the UN video on ‘Chemical Threat – Clandestine Laboratories’.
This session, tailored for the City of Stockholm, reflected on lessons from terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom with a focus on those relating to the protection of public spaces and preparedness arrangements for Local Authorities.
The session was delivered by Kathy Oldham OBE (Chief Resilience Officer at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority) and Dawn Morris (Former Chief Superintendent for Protective Security at the Metropolitan Police Service and lessons lead for the Mayors Office for Policing and Crime) as the CTPN experts in this space.
This two day programme bought together practitioners, experts and academics from across multiple disciplines within counter terrorism, security and resilience to better understand and contextualise the current threat environment and implications for protective security. The first day of the workshop offered thematic expert panel discussions that provided participants with a breadth of information on related topics.
Participants explored the current threat environment (including online radicalisation), as well as exchange practices and lessons learned in protecting vulnerable targets and crowded spaces.
The second day provided a scenario-based exercise that enabled participants to apply the knowledge and considerations from day one and take a deep-dive into key aspects of threat and security with subject matter experts.
CTPN supported the delivery of a Domestic Right-Wing Terrorism conference in Boston, also delivering a multi-agency table-top exercise for city leaders.
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