Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program

As foundation for the NSEC, the HSEEP Program provides a set of fundamental principles for exercise programs, as well as a common approach

The NSEC Foundation Program

Exercises are a key component of national preparedness — they provide the whole community with the opportunity to shape planning, assess and validate capabilities, and address areas for improvement. HSEEP provides a set of guiding principles for exercise and evaluation programs, as well as a common approach to exercise program management, design and development, conduct, evaluation, and improvement planning.

Through the use of HSEEP, the whole community can develop, execute, and evaluate exercises that address the preparedness priorities. These priorities are informed by risk and capability assessments, findings, corrective actions from previous events, and external requirements. These priorities guide the overall direction of an exercise program and the design and development of individual exercises.

These priorities guide planners as they identify exercise objectives and align them to capabilities for evaluation during the exercise. Exercise evaluation assesses the ability to meet exercise objectives and capabilities by documenting strengths, areas for improvement, capability performance, and corrective actions in an After-Action Report/Improvement Plan (AAR/IP). Through improvement planning, organizations take the corrective actions needed to improve plans, build and sustain capabilities, and maintain readiness.

Important Notice

Please view the follwing notice regarding HSEEP training and deliveries.

Important Notice

The Role of Exercises

Exercises play a vital role in national preparedness by enabling whole community stakeholders to test and validate plans and capabilities and identify both capability gaps and areas for improvement. A well-designed exercise provides a low risk environment to test capabilities, familiarize personnel with roles and responsibilities, and foster meaningful interaction and communication across organizations. Exercises bring together and strengthen the whole community in its efforts to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from all hazards. Overall, exercises are cost effective and useful tools that help the nation practice and refine our collective capacity to achieve the core capabilities in the National Preparedness Goal.

Applicability and Scope

HSEEP exercise and evaluation doctrine is flexible, scalable, adaptable, and practical aid to stakeholders across the whole community. HSEEP doctrine is applicable for exercises across all mission areas: prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery. Using HSEEP supports the National Preparedness System.

HSEEP doctrine is based on national best practices and is supported by training, technology systems, tools, and technical assistance. The National Exercise Program (NEP) is consistent with the HSEEP methodology. Exercise practitioners are encouraged to apply and adapt HSEEP doctrine to meet their specific needs.

Target Audience

The target audience for this training is those involved in planning, budgeting, management, design, development, conduct and evaluation of exercises or those involved in the following roles at all levels of the planning process including:

  • Exercise planning team leaders/members who require a comprehensive understanding of the Exercise Planning Cycle.
  • Controllers and Facilitators who are responsible for the successful control and conduct of an exercise.
  • Evaluators who need to understand the evaluation processes, the supporting Core Capabilities and Exercise Evaluation Guides (EEGs) and be familiar with exercise conduct.
  • Exercise managers who require an understanding of the Program Management and Improvement Planning process.
  • Senior Officials responsible for the continued operation of their assigned agencies/organizations.

Prerequisites

Applicants are required to have completed IS-120: An Introduction to Exercises. It is also recommended that participants take IS-0130: Exercise Evaluation and Improvement Planning.

  • IS-120.C: An Introduction to Exercises

    This course introduces the basics of emergency management exercises. It also builds a foundation for subsequent exercises courses, part of the National Standard Exercise Curriculum (NSEC), which provides the specifics of the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)

  • IS-130.A: How to be an Exercise Evaluator

    This course introduces the basics and key concepts required to be an effective exercise evaluator. It also discusses tools and documentation necessary to be an effective evaluator.

ELK0146 HSEEP Course

The 0146 Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) Training Course offer several delivery methods. These include classrooms at EMI campus (E type), in local jurisdictional classrooms (L type), and EMI anywhere via virtual classrooms (K type).

For each type, student and instructor information are identical, only delivery methods are different. Each are 16 hours in duration and offer 1.6 CEU credits.

How to Apply

  1. Coordinate

    Students coordinate HSEEP application through their State Training Officer (STO) at least six weeks prior to course.

  2. Apply Online

    Students register though the NETC Online Admissions Application using their SID or PIV information

    • Upload your prerequisite IS-120 Introduction to Exercises certificate during registration
    • All EMI applications require an electronic approval from the head of your sponsoring organization. You will need the name, title, and email address of this person to submit the application.
    • Non-Federal applicants for EMI courses must use the appropriate State Training Officer (STO) as “Head of Organization”.
  3. Complete the Application

    You will be notified of the selection status via the email address provided during application

Frequently Asked Questions

NETC Admissions Office will notify all applicants via email of their status.

Yes. Qualified private sector applicants representing the Whole Community.

Yes. The waiting list is managed by NETC Admissions Office.

Applicants are required to have completed IS-120a or c – An Introduction to Exercises, the training certificate must be submitted with the application.

Please email the Integrated Emergency Management Branch with any further questions about the HSEEP Program

Contact IEMB

Preparedness Toolkit (PrepToolkit) & Exercises

  • PrepToolkit is designed to support implementation of the National Preparedness System (NPS) and is a web-based platform.
  • Exercise Tools are within the Validating Capabilities component.
  • Exercise Tools utilize HSEEP which aids exercise planners with exercise development and execution.
  • With PrepToolkit, you can manage central exercise data, map exercises to mission areas and core capabilities, identify objectives, track schedule, and export pre-populated HSEEP templates.
Learn More

E/K/L0146 Recommended Instructor Qualifications

We no longer manage Instructor credentials for teaching the E/L/K0146 HSEEP course or an Instructor database, we only recommend Instructor qualifications. All Instructor requests are deferred to the STO who has the knowledge of Instructors within their State.

All Instructors for the HSEEP course are expected to have a thorough understanding of HSEEP methodology as well as direct experience in the program management, design and development, conduct, evaluation, and improvement planning of exercises. It is incumbent upon each course POC that sponsors an HSEEP course to verify their Instructors meet these baseline recommendations to ensure consistent and high-quality instruction:

  • Recommend a minimum of three years of field experience in designing, developing, conducting, and evaluating HSEEP consistent exercises or as appointment as a Training Officer or Exercise Officer. 
  • Recommend successful completion of the following courses:
    • E/K/L0146, Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program Course.
    • IS-100, Introduction to Incident Command System.
    • IS-120, An Introduction to Exercises.
    • IS-130, How to be an Exercise Evaluator.
    • IS-200, Basic Incident Command System for Initial Response.
    • IS-700, An Introduction to National Incident Management System.
    • IS-800, National Response Framework, An Introduction.
  • Recommend having experience in the development of HSEEP consistent After-Action Reports/Improvement Plans.
  • Recommend having recent (within the last 5 years) experience in conducting HSEEP consistent exercise planning meetings (Concept and Objectives Meeting, Initial Planning Meeting, Midterm Planning Meeting, Master Scenario Events List Meeting, Final Planning Meeting, and After-Action Meeting).
  • Recommend having experience with the administrative demands of managing a course (attendance, logistics, course evaluation, etc.).
  • Recommend having knowledge and experience with computers for classroom instruction.  Experience using Microsoft Office Suite products, including Power Point and MS Word. 

Professional level NSEC curriculum include:

  • E0132, E0133 and K0136
  • Master Exercise Practitioner Program (MEPP)

NCES Professional

Advanced level NSEC curriculum include:

  • K0051 Exercise Program Management
  • E/L/K0139 Exercise Design and Development
  • E/L0050 Exercise Control and Simulation
  • E/L0131 Exercise Evaluation and Improvement Planning

NCES Advanced

Intermediate level NSEC curriculum include:

  • K/L0146 Homeland Security Exercise and
  • Evaluation Program (HSEEP)

NCES Intermediate

Awarness/Beginner level NSEC curriculum include:

  • IS-120 Introduction to Exercises
  • IS-130 How to be an Exercise Evaluator

NCES Awarness/Beginner

FEMA.gov

An official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security