Industry participates in anti-terrorism drill.

A long with some 65 national and regional real estate firms, NAA participated in a massive government exercise in early April designed to strengthen the nation's capacity to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from large-scale terrorist attacks involving weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) congressionally mandated "Top Officials Three Exercise" (TOPOFF 3), involved about 10,000 federal and state officials as well as representatives of Great Britain and Canada. The $16 million biennial drill--involving the simulated release of biological agents in New Jersey and a chemical attack and vehicle bombing in Connecticut--was the first time the private sector has had such deep exposure to such a sensitive government initiative.

During the exercise, real estate industry "players" located throughout the country had Internet-based access to a simulated ("virtual") non-government news network. Additionally, the Real Estate Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) relayed government briefings (as often as three times a day) with the "official" version of events. Using these materials, the real estate participants conducted internal "table top exercises" involving property managers, risk managers, legal and insurance experts and other top corporate personnel.

The most valuable benefit for real estate participants was the opportunity to leverage a multi-million dollar government initiative to exercise their own companies' emergency response plans.

NAA Joins Real Estate ISAC

NAA has become a member of the Real Estate Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC), a public-private partnership between the U.S. real estate industry and federal Homeland Security officials.

The partnership facilitates information sharing on terrorist threats, warnings, incidents, vulnerabilities and response planning. Being a member of the ISAC allows NAA access to critical information relating to terrorist threats and warnings.