Naperville, Aurora first responders train in counterterrorism workshop

Should a terrorism or mass-casualty event ever occur in Naperville or Aurora - and officials say there are constant "real threats" - first responders hope to be prepared and in communication with their federal partners.

Officials from both towns and the four counties that contain them will complete a two-day Joint Counterterrorism Awareness Workshop Wednesday. The workshop, the 37th of its kind since 2011, is sponsored by the National Counterterrorism Center, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.

The workshops are held in cities across the country and include federal, state and local officials to address the threat of complex terrorist attacks, which are defined as a coordinated assault on one or more locations in close succession; initiated after little or no warning; and employing one or more of firearms, explosives, or arson.

The workshop follows on the heels of a $1.3 million anti-terrorism grant that was awarded in 2017 to both Naperville and Aurora to help coordinate training, planning and exercises to enhance the response in the event of a complex coordinated terrorist attack.

Speaking before the training exercises began Tuesday, FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Sallet said such partnerships are vital to keeping communities safe.

"When it comes to keeping people safe, it is absolutely not an individual sport," Sallet told the nearly 200 police and fire officials in attendance at Naperville's Embassy Suites. "Our objective is to make sure bad things do not happen."

After the workshop, both cities will receive a summary report that highlights shortfalls and best practices of each and that offers potential mitigation strategies and resources to address identified gaps.

"It's going to be critical, for us as leaders, to look at those gaps and do what we can to fill them," Naperville Police Chief Robert Marshall said.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said she believes the workshop will produce better information sharing between local and federal agencies.

"We have great relationships with our federal partners, (including) FEMA, the FBI and several other entities, but I think we certainly can be better," she said. "Sometimes we have a tendency to operate in our own silos. I think we'll see, going forward, much improvement in that area as it comes to partnership, collaboration and information sharing."

Naperville Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis said the training will put both cities in a situation to better help residents of other areas where such attacks may occur.

"Naperville and Aurora cover the largest geographic and populated area, contiguously, in the state of Illinois. And being 25 miles from Chicago, if something happened in the city, the population is going to come one way: west," he sad. "We have to be prepared to handle those folks. We are going to be asked to be the leaders because we are, because of our size and our population."

The actual workshop was not open to the public or media due to the content of the issues being discussed.