The Automated Exercise and Assessment System (AEAS) is a simulation that enhances training and coordination of emergency response to incidents involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The system simulates WMD incidents, and allows emergency responders to utilize their own Incident Command System and available resources to exercise decision-making and other cognitive skills. The WMD scenarios cover a variety of incidents, including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high explosive (CBRNE) attacks.

In order to optimize the training experience, the exercising jurisdiction must be able to respond to the simulated incident with the resources and capabilities that they would normally have, and using their own command structure. There is no standard equipment set or nomenclature for emergency responder agencies, and resources available to response agencies vary greatly. Agency structure is also highly variable, with HazMat resources reporting to the Fire Department in some jurisdictions, and to Law Enforcement or even Emergency Medical Services in others. It is impractical to ask jurisdictions to specify their equipment from an exhaustive and perpetually outdated list, so a capabilities-based approach to building resources was created. This approach allows unlimited resource composition and a flexible command structure, allowing user specification of specialized units such as Urban Search and Rescue or National Guard WMD Civilian Support Teams. This paper will discuss the AEAS Agency Survey component used for specifying a jurisdiction's resources and the capabilities-based implementation for simulating those resources in a WMD response.