Threat Suppression, Incorporated

06/18/2026

Today, the Threat Suppression team is pausing to remember the nine Charleston firefighters who died in the line of duty battling the Super Sofa Store fire in 2007.

Nineteen years may have passed, but remembering your sacrifice will live on forever.

Fortis Cadere, Cedere Non Potest

06/18/2026

Incorporating Asymmetric Attacks into Active Assailant Training

Most active assailant training follows a familiar pattern: simulated gunfire, one or two suspects, and multiple casualties. While those scenarios can quickly overwhelm responders, they often represent only the most basic form of an active assailant event.

At Threat Suppression, we deliberately incorporate non-standard and asymmetric tactics into our training. Real-world attacks rarely unfold exactly as expected, and responders must be prepared to solve multiple problems simultaneously while maintaining situational awareness.

This past week at Joint Base Charleston, we concluded our Active Assailant Train-the-Trainer course with two functional exercises designed to challenge responders beyond a traditional active shooter scenario.

The first exercise incorporated a tactic drawn directly from real-world events. The suspect was initially portrayed as a fleeing civilian. Similar tactics have been observed in incidents such as the Douglas High School and Evergreen High School shootings.

In this scenario, the first responding officer quickly recognized something was wrong. As she moved past the fleeing individual, she glanced back and observed a firearm concealed in his waistband. She immediately engaged, detained the suspect, and prevented the scenario from escalating further.

In the second exercise, the perpetrator used a vehicle as a weapon, had simulated explosives inside the vehicle, and caused a vehicle fire before entering the building to continue the attack. Responders encountered victims in the parking lot and a simulated burning vehicle before ever making entry. The scenario immediately forced participants to prioritize competing threats and make complex operational decisions under stress.

Exercises like these reinforce a simple but critical lesson: Every event will be different.

Responders who expect a scripted incident often struggle when conditions change. Responders who are trained to recognize anomalies, adapt to complexity, and solve unexpected problems are far better prepared for the realities of critical incidents.

06/17/2026

Remembering the Reason We Train

This past week, multiple members of our team spent several days conducting training at Joint Base Charleston. On the third day, the base Public Affairs Office arrived to document the training.

Just before entering the auditorium, one of the Public Affairs staff members quietly shared with the conference organizers that she was a survivor of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas. The room immediately became different.

She then spoke to the class about her experience during the attack, providing a perspective no after-action report, video, or case study can ever fully capture.

Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly common for survivors of mass casualty events to attend our courses. Their presence serves as a powerful reminder that these incidents are not theoretical. They are not training scenarios. They are life-changing events that leave lasting impacts on victims, families, responders, and entire communities.

It was our honor to present her with a Threat Suppression challenge coin and one of our new patches. Moments like these remind us why we train so hard, why we study past events, and why we continue working to improve preparedness and response.

Several years ago, Virginia Tech survivor Kristina Anderson shared a message with our team that has stayed with us ever since: "Come quickly, we are terrified."

Behind every lesson learned, every exercise, and every training program are real people who lived through the worst day of their lives. That is the reason we train.

06/16/2026

Bus Assaults and Active Assailant Training

Starting in 2021, we incorporated bus hijackings and bus assaults into our Active Assailant Train-the-Trainer program.

One of the events that reinforced the need for this training occurred on May 6, 2021, when a military trainee at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, hijacked a school bus carrying 18 elementary students. The trainee fled the installation while armed with an M4 rifle and boarded the bus, creating a rapidly evolving and highly dangerous situation.

Deputies from the Richland County Sheriff's Department successfully resolved the incident without loss of life. In the weeks that followed, the RCSD rotated every deputy through specialized bus assault training. That training continues today.

While the Fort Jackson incident received national attention, it was not the first attack involving a school bus in the United States. There is a documented history of bus-related assaults, hijackings, and hostage situations that present unique tactical and operational challenges for first responders.

Our program teaches officers how to:
• Approach and contain a bus under threat
• Make entry into the vehicle under adverse conditions
• Rapidly locate and stop a violent suspect
• Coordinate rescue and evacuation operations
• Manage a mass casualty incident within the confined space of a bus

The photos below show instructor Pagano demonstrating a hands-on control technique used to rapidly address a security threat in the limited confines of a school bus.

Photo credit: www.3housephoto.com

06/15/2026

This past week we spent four days providing active assailant training at Joint Base Charleston with JB Charleston Fire & Emergency Services and other local responders. As the primary provider of active assailant training for the Department of Defense, we have trained more than 50 major installations around the world.

Want to know what our Rescue Task Force Train-the-Trainer course looks like? Here is a sneak peek video from JB Fire. What this video does not show is the 107 degree heat index and torrential downpour in the afternoon. It only made the students work even harder! Next stop, Little Rock Air Force Base in three weeks.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

06/12/2026

As we conclude our series of lessons learned from the North American Active Assailant Conference in Troy, Michigan, one reality stood out across numerous debriefs:

Many of the same mistakes continue to occur, regardless of the location, size, or complexity of the incident. Several recurring themes emerged:

• Self-dispatching remains a significant problem. In multiple incidents, law enforcement officers responded without being requested or needed, some from more than an hour or more away. The result was an overabundance of personnel that complicated incident command and created additional management challenges.

• Vehicle placement continues to be an overlooked issue. Despite widespread active assailant training, numerous incident photographs showed law enforcement vehicles parked haphazardly, blocking access routes for armored vehicles, fire apparatus, EMS units, and other critical resources.

• Large-scale building clearing remains a training gap. Many agencies are comfortable operating in schools or office buildings but have limited experience searching large retail stores, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, or sprawling educational campuses.

• Command-level training must include managing elected officials during critical incidents. Several case studies highlighted situations where well-intentioned elected officials inserted themselves into operations and created significant operational challenges.

• Some communities are far more isolated than responders realize. In some incidents, the nearest major city was hours away. Agencies must plan for the possibility that outside resources will not arrive quickly.

• Mental health response requires planning as well. In one incident, the two responding mental health organizations became involved in a dispute at the scene and ultimately had to be removed from the operation.

• Reunification planning cannot be an afterthought. Multiple agencies acknowledged they had not trained or exercised large-scale reunification before conducting it during a major incident.

The final lesson may be the most important: Most critical incident performance issues are not caused by a lack of courage. They are caused by a lack of preparation for very predictable problems.

The agencies that perform best during crisis are often the ones that anticipated these challenges long before the event occurred.

06/11/2026

As we continue sharing lessons learned from the North American Active Assailant Conference in Troy, Michigan. With more than 1,600 attendees, it is the largest conference of its kind in the world.

Today's lesson: Combination attacks are becoming the norm, not the exception.

At the Latter-day Saints Church attack in Grand Blanc, Michigan, the perpetrator used a vehicle as a weapon, possessed multiple explosives including unexploded IEDs, and primarily utilized a carbine-style firearm during the attack.

At the Temple Israel attack in West Bloomfield, MI, the perpetrator used a vehicle loaded with approximately $2,700 worth of explosives and additional gasoline containers before opening fire with a firearm.

During the 2025 school attack in Sweden at Campus Risbergska, the perpetrator deployed multiple smoke devices while armed with a carbine, a .30-06 rifle, and a pistol.

These incidents reinforce an important operational reality: many attacks can no longer be viewed solely through the lens of an active shooter response.

Today's perpetrators increasingly combine fi****ms, vehicles, explosives, incendiary devices, smoke, chemical agents, deception tactics, and diversionary attacks to create confusion, delay response efforts, and increase casualties.

The lesson for public safety agencies is clear:

Planning for a single threat vector is no longer enough. Modern response plans must anticipate layered attacks, multiple hazards, and rapidly evolving conditions. Complex attacks are no longer the outlier. They are increasingly becoming the expectation.

06/10/2026

This week, we continue with lessons learned from the North American Active Assailant Conference in Troy, Michigan held last week. With more than 1,600 attendees, it is the largest conference of its kind in the world.

Today's lesson: Drone as a First Responder (DFR) programs are rapidly changing the way public safety agencies respond to incidents.

Members of the Dearborn (MI) Police Department highlighted their impressive DFR program, which integrates UAV operations with the Axon FUSUS platform. The system combines CAD data, Live911, real-time traffic information, mapping, building diagrams, and thousands of cameras throughout the city into a single operational picture.

Strategically located drone "hives" allow UAVs to launch automatically and arrive over most calls for service within minutes. The aircraft can operate autonomously or be manually controlled by a pilot. Autonomous flights can reach speeds of approximately 45 MPH, while manually piloted flights are limited to lower speeds.

The drones can also track vehicles or individuals, providing responding officers with real-time intelligence before they arrive on scene.

Like all technology, there are limitations. Weather remains one of the most significant challenges. Rain, wind, and other environmental factors can impact flight operations and dramatically reduce battery life.

The broader lesson is that DFR programs are no longer experimental concepts. They are becoming operational force multipliers that provide situational awareness, improve decision-making, and reduce response times.

The ability to place eyes over an incident within minutes is changing what an effective public safety response looks like.

06/09/2026

Throughout this week, we are highlighting key lessons learned from critical incidents and emerging threats discussed at the North American Active Assailant Conference last week in Troy, Michigan.

Today's lesson: The fastest-growing threat facing public safety may be unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Multiple law enforcement agencies reported that the potential weaponization of UAVs is now among their top operational concerns, even surpassing active shooter or active assailant. The threat is particularly significant at mass gatherings, including college and university football games, concerts, festivals, and other venues where tens of thousands of people are concentrated in a confined area.

The challenge is not simply detecting UAVs. Many locations now have the technology to identify and track them. The challenge is what comes next.

UAVs are inexpensive, easy to operate, capable of carrying significant payloads, and difficult to stop once they are airborne. In many cases, responders are left trying to locate the operator while the aircraft remains overhead.

Recent conflicts around the world have demonstrated how rapidly UAV capabilities continue to evolve. Tactics once limited to military battlefields are becoming increasingly accessible to non-state actors, criminals, and lone offenders. Of particular concerns are the thousands of foreign fighters who have become incredibly adept at using UAVs for attacks.

The lesson for public safety agencies, venue operators, and event planners is straightforward. If your emergency plans do not address UAV threats, your plans are already behind the threat environment.

06/02/2026

If you're attending the North American Active Assailant Conference in Troy, Michigan this week, be sure to stop by and see us. The NAAAC is widely recognized as the largest active assailant conference in the world, bringing together approximately 1,500 attendees from across the United States and around the globe.

Tomorrow (June 3), Threat Suppression's Ronald Beggs and Steven Brochu will present in the Investigator Pre-Conference Track from 0800-1000. Their presentation, "Law Enforcement Investigation Considerations at Critical Events," examines 10 major incidents and the lessons learned from each. Topics include a university active shooter event, a college murder-suicide, a fatal helicopter crash on a major interstate, a school bomb incident, multiple officer-involved shootings, and other critical events.

Later in the day, Threat Suppression's Dr. Mike Clumpner will present in the 9-1-1 Communicator Pre-Conference Track from 1500-1700. His presentation, "Operational Control in Crisis: 9-1-1 Response to Active Assailant Events," analyzes published after-action reports from numerous active assailant incidents to identify operational lessons learned for emergency communications centers.

We look forward to connecting with attendees, sharing lessons learned, and discussing strategies to improve preparedness, response, and survivability.

If you're attending the conference, stop by and say hello.