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CyberTabletop

Glossary

HSEEP

The Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program: a US methodology for designing, conducting, evaluating and improving exercises.

The Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) is a methodology maintained by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for exercise programme management, design and development, conduct, evaluation and improvement planning. Its current doctrine was revised in 2020.

Although HSEEP comes from emergency management, its concepts are widely used for cyber exercises, including by CISA's Tabletop Exercise Packages. Key HSEEP concepts include:

  • a progressive approach, from discussion-based exercises such as seminars and tabletop exercises to operations-based drills, functional and full-scale exercises;
  • objectives linked to capabilities, with observable critical tasks;
  • the Master Scenario Events List (MSEL);
  • Exercise Evaluation Guides (EEGs) and the P/S/M/U rating scale (Performed without Challenges, with Some Challenges, with Major Challenges, Unable to be Performed);
  • the After-Action Report/Improvement Plan.

You do not need to adopt HSEEP wholesale to benefit from it. Its evaluation structure is especially useful; see scoring tabletop exercises.