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London Fire Brigade has begun conducting training on how emergency services respond to terrorist incidents on behalf of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the world’s largest defence alliance.
Twenty-one delegates from countries across North Africa and the Middle East took part in training with officers from the UK’s National Inter-Agency Liaison Officer (NILO) Network, which is managed by the Brigade.
The training aims to ensure that first responders, both civilian and military, can effectively work together when responding to acts of terror, as well as introduce basic coordination plans that can be used by emergency services. These plans can then be developed to suit the unique needs of each participating nation.
Officers from law enforcement, emergency services and military backgrounds attended the course. The delegates heard from the Brigade’s officers about how emergency services and public bodies in the UK coordinate their response to emergency situations. This included sharing the UK’s Joint Emergency Service Interoperability Principles (JESIP).
The course also covered how the Brigade and partners have responded to major incidents in recent years, such as the London Bridge attack in 2017 and the 2018 Salisbury Poisonings. The training culminated in a tabletop exercise for delegates where they were able to put everything they had learned into practice, with a tactical exercise designed to test their response to a potential major incident.
About the NILOs
The NILO Network started in 2001, when officers from London Fire Brigade began looking at how to respond to an act of terror. For over two decades the Brigade has continued to develop its expertise in this area, initially working to improve capabilities across the UK.
NILOs exist in all emergency services, they are vetted security cleared responders who deliver a multi-agency, intelligence-led response to high threat, counter terrorism, national security and major incidents.
National NILO lead AC Pat Goulbourne spoke to Emergency Services Times about the network when he hosted one of its regular meetings at The Emergency Services Show. He said that NILOs require swift decision making skills, describing them as ‘the selfless part’ of the emergency services. Their job, he explained, is not only to ensure their own agency responds, but establish who is the right person with the right intelligence to liaise with among other partner organisations.
NATO partnership
The partnership with NATO grew out of the Brigade’s involvement in the Counter Terrorism Preparedness Network (CTPN), which brings together the mayors and counter terrorism leads of major European cities. The Brigade said that through these meetings, it became clear that its NILO expertise could be used to train NATO partners. As a result, the programme has been created, with additional support from the US State Department, with the aim of helping first responders increase public safety globally.
“Whenever an act of terror occurs, the effects can be felt around the world. In response to this risk, the Brigade is using its expertise to ensure first responders in different nations are equipped to respond in the worst-case scenarios.
“Partnering with NATO and the US State Department, brings our collective expertise together to reduce risk, improve interoperability, and to protect communities wherever they happen to be. It also gives us the chance to learn from partners on how we can improve our service to London and Londoners.”
Assistant Commissioner Patrick Goulbourne, NILO National Co-ordinator.
Gabriele Cascone, Head of Counter Terrorism for NATO, said: “Inter-agency cooperation is a fundamental and key element in the fight against terrorism and in NATO’s work in this domain. With this introduction to the NILO approach, we expect participants will learn how to best respond to terrorist incidents and improve the co-ordination of information, intelligence, and capabilities to facilitate an effective, multi-agency response.”
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