Office of Grants and Training 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
Washington, DC 20531 
Preparedness Directorate Information Bulletin 
No. 245 March 7, 2007 


TO: 
All State Administrative Agency Heads 

All State Administrative Agency Points of Contact 

All State Homeland Security Directors 

All Urban Area Core City/Core County Points of Contact 

FROM: 
Corey Gruber 

Acting Assistant Secretary 

Office of Grants and Training 

SUBJECT: 
Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program Policy and Guidance 
Volumes 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is pleased to announce that the 2007 editions of 
the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) Policy and Guidance 
Volumes I-IV have been finalized and published. HSEEP is a capabilities and performance-
based exercise program that provides a standardized policy, methodology, and terminology for 
the design, development, conduct, and evaluation of all exercises. The HSEEP volumes were 
initially developed in 2002; however, to increase the applicability and utilization of HSEEP 
among diverse entities, several revisions were made to the volumes over the past two years. 
Revisions include: 

• 
Incorporation of recent policies (e.g., National Incident Management System [NIMS], 
National Response Plan [NRP], National Preparedness Goal, Universal Task List 
[UTL], Target Capabilities List [TCL]); 
• 
Elimination of references to DHS-specific doctrinal or grant-related requirements, such 
as the need for terrorism-related scenarios; and 
• 
The order of Volumes II and III has been reversed to follow the natural progression of 
exercise design, development, conduct, evaluation, and improvement planning. 
As modifications were made to the volumes, the drafts were posted on the HSEEP public 
website for review and comment. The draft volumes were also circulated throughout the 
Federal Government. Feedback was received from our partners at all levels of government. 
The comments were reconciled and incorporated in order for the volumes to be more 
applicable to all exercises, regardless of scope, scale, scenario or sponsoring agency. 

Additionally, the Deputy Secretaries across the Federal Government were briefed on the 
HSEEP volumes on January 26, 2007, and they approved and endorsed the HSEEP 
methodology. All exercises across the Federal Government (except for those wholly internal to 
the organizations conducting them) will be required to adhere to the NIMS-compliant 
methodologies, terminology, and standards articulated in the HSEEP volumes. Exercises 


conducted within DHS are required to be HSEEP-compliant as well as all state and local 
exercises utilizing Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) funds. 

The revised volumes articulate the HSEEP methodology in the following manner: 

• 
HSEEP Volume I: HSEEP Overview and Exercise Program Management provides 
guidance for building and maintaining an effective exercise program and summarizes 
the planning and evaluation process described in further detail in Volumes II through 
IV. 
• 
HSEEP Volume II: Exercise Planning and Conduct helps planners outline a 
standardized foundation, design, development, and conduct process adaptable to any 
type of exercise. 
• 
HSEEP Volume III: Exercise Evaluation and Improvement Planning offers proven 
methodology, to include Exercise Evaluation Guides (EEGs), for evaluating and 
documenting exercises and implementing an improvement plan through a corrective 
action program. 
• 
HSEEP Volume IV: Sample Exercise Documents and Formats provides sample and 
template exercise materials referenced in HSEEP Volumes I-III. 
The volumes can be found on the HSEEP website at http://hseep.dhs.gov. Volumes I-III are 
publicly accessible; however, some of the sensitive materials within Volume IV require a 
username and password. For access to Volume IV, please send an email to support@hseep.net. 

An HSEEP 101 document has also been posted to the website which summarizes the volumes 
and outlines the core requirements of HSEEP. 

Resources to Implement HSEEP 

The HSEEP website, http://hseep.dhs.gov, provides additional HSEEP related resources. The 
HSEEP Toolkit, which includes the National Exercise Schedule (NEXS) System, Design and 
Development System (DDS), and Corrective Action Program (CAP) System, allows users to 
schedule, plan, evaluate and track corrective actions from exercises. In addition, there are 
several exercise training courses available, including independent study, mobile (HSEEP 
Mobile Training Course), and a resident course (Master Exercise Practitioner Program) that 
teach students the principles of exercise planning, conduct, evaluation, and improvement 
planning. 

Please send any comments or questions regarding the HSEEP volumes or resources to 
hseep@dhs.gov. 

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