Active Assailant Command and Control: Beyond the 60-Minutes™

 

What happens after the attack ends often determines how the community remembers the response.

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Course Overview

Most active assailant training focuses on the first 60 minutes of the incident. These programs appropriately emphasize threat neutralization, rescue operations, casualty care, and life-saving interventions. However, once the threat has been stopped and patients have been transported, public safety agencies are faced with an entirely different set of challenges that may continue for days, weeks, months, or even years. Increasingly, public scrutiny, litigation, media attention, and community expectations focus not on the tactical response itself, but on how agencies manage the aftermath of the incident. The decisions made during this phase often have significant operational, legal, financial, and psychological consequences.​This course examines the critical command and control considerations that emerge after the immediate crisis has ended. Participants will learn how agencies across the United States have succeeded and failed in managing the complex aftermath of active assailant incidents and other hostile events.

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Lessons Learned from Major Incidents

The course begins with a comprehensive review of more than 50 official after-action reports from active assailant incidents and hostile events. Despite decades of lessons learned, agencies continue to make many of the same mistakes during some of the nation's most significant incidents. Participants will examine recurring themes identified across after-action reports and evaluate whether similar vulnerabilities exist within their own organizations. The goal is not merely to review past mistakes, but to identify practical strategies that can be implemented before the next critical incident occurs.

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Managing the Aftermath

The course examines numerous components of post-incident command and control, including Notification Centers, Reunification Centers, Incident Assistance Centers, witness management, decedent considerations, mass fatality management, media relations, long-term recovery, and lessons learned from major incidents.​Special attention is given to the complex decisions surrounding the future use of the incident location. Participants will examine examples from major active assailant incidents where facilities were reopened, extensively renovated, partially preserved, or demolished. The operational, legal, financial, and emotional considerations associated with each option are discussed.

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Witness Management and Reunification

Witness management is one of the most challenging and often overlooked aspects of active assailant response. This course examines legal considerations surrounding witness detention and interviews, including relevant case law and best practices for documentation, accountability, and follow-up interviews. Participants will also review best-practice recommendations for establishing and managing Notification Centers and Reunification Centers. Lessons learned from major incidents are used to illustrate how decisions made during reunification operations can significantly affect victims, families, investigators, and community trust.

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Crime Scene and Evidence Considerations

Active assailant incidents frequently create crime scenes of extraordinary complexity. Participants will examine considerations involving scene security, perimeter management, evidence preservation, and secondary crime scene documentation.The course reviews recommendations from the FBI's Evidence Response Team and discusses lessons learned from incidents involving schools, hospitals, airports, shopping centers, and other large public venues. Particular attention is given to the challenges associated with documenting and managing the large volume of personal property often left behind by victims and evacuees.

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Psychological Recovery and Community Impact

The psychological effects of active assailant incidents extend far beyond the day of the attack. Survivors, families, responders, government officials, and entire communities may experience lasting impacts for years.This course examines how command decisions, public messaging, reunification processes, and recovery efforts can either support or hinder community healing. Participants will review examples where actions taken after the incident significantly increased community frustration and psychological distress, as well as examples of effective recovery and support efforts.

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Truthers, Hoaxers, and Crisis Attachers

Many high-profile active assailant incidents generate conspiracy theories, misinformation campaigns, and individuals seeking to exploit the tragedy for personal attention, influence, or financial gain. Victims, survivors, and family members are often subjected to harassment long after the event has ended. Participants will learn how government officials and public safety leaders can effectively manage these challenges, reduce the spread of misinformation, and avoid actions that unintentionally strengthen conspiracy narratives.

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The Financial Impact of Active Assailant Incidents

Active assailant incidents create significant economic consequences for victims, organizations, communities, and government agencies. Medical costs, litigation, lost business activity, facility restoration, mental health services, investigations, and long-term recovery efforts often result in financial impacts measured in hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. This course examines the economic effects of major incidents and discusses how planning, documentation, recovery strategies, and post-incident decision-making can influence long-term costs.

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Intended Audience

This course is designed for active law enforcement personnel, military law enforcement personnel, school administrators, hospital administrators, critical infrastructure managers, emergency managers, and government officials.Because of the sensitive nature of the material discussed, this course is not available to the general public.To download a PDF copy of this course description, please click the PDF below. If you would like more information on booking this course, please email info@ThreatSuppression.com, or call 1-800-231-9106.

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Last updated June 22, 2026.