Independent Study Training (IST) web-based courses are self-paced and designed for a broad audience to provide general awareness-level, counter-IED information to public and private sector partners to enhance awareness and response to IED threats. These courses are available on TRIPwire under Counter-IED Training or through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute (EMI) and are offered free-of-charge. Download a printer-friendly fact sheet for Independent Study Training Courses.
Web-Based Independent Study Training (IST)
IED Awareness and Safety Procedures (AWR-341)
Description: The IED Awareness and Safety Procedures course is designed to provide foundational knowledge about IEDs and proper safety precautions and procedures for reacting and responding to unattended and suspicious items.
Course Length: This is a 60-minute self-paced training covering the following topics:
- IED intimidation
- IED threat awareness
- Public response to IED threats
- USSS agency procedures to IED threats
- DHS agency procedures to IED threats
Audience: This course is intended for audiences such as:
- Critical infrastructure owners and operators
- Public safety officers - Emergency managers
- Security officers
- Law enforcement officers
- Private sector security professionals
Accreditation: 0.1 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) towards International Accreditors of Continuing Education Units (IACET) and 1 CEU towards Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) if the student's state approves.
Recommended Prerequisites: None.
Website: Center for Domestic Preparedness Course Catalog
Download a printer-friendly fact sheet for the IED Awareness and Safety Procedures (AWR-341).
Register Here
- Homemade Pipe Bomb
- Safety Precautions
- Suspicious Items
Homemade Explosives (HME) and Precursor Awareness for Public Safety (AWR-349)
Description: The HME and Precursor Awareness course provides participants with a foundational understanding of HME and common precursor materials. Participants will define HME, explore the considerations involved in a decision by perpetrators to use HME as the explosive for an attack, and will learn to identify common precursor chemicals and materials used to make HME.
Course Length: This is a 60-minute self-paced training covering the following topics:
- HME: an imminent danger
- Why would someone use HME?
- What should you look for?
- What to do if you suspect the presence of HME?
- What should I do if...?
Audience: This course is intended for audiences such as:
- Critical infrastructure owners and operators
- Public safety officers
- Emergency managers
- Security officers
- Law enforcement officials
- Private sector security professionals
Accreditation: 0.1 CEU towards IACET and 1 CEU towards POST if the student's state approves.
Recommended Prerequisites: None.
Website: Center for Domestic Preparedness Course Catalog
Download a printer-friendly fact sheet for the Homemade Explosives and Precursor Awareness for Public Safety (AWR-349). Register Here
- Define HME
- Identify common precursor chemicals
- Materials used to make HME
Bomb Threat Preparedness and Response (AWR-903)
Description: The Bomb Threat Preparedness and Response course is an online independent study training. It uses interactive exercises and case histories of what actually happened during bombing incidents to familiarize participants with the steps necessary to prepare for and respond to a bomb threat.
Course Length: This is a 60-minute self-paced training covering the following topics:
- Planning for a threat
- Receiving a threat
- After receiving a threat
- School facility considerations
- Office facility considerations
- Medical facility considerations
- Sports facility and mass gatherings
Audience: This course is intended for audiences such as:
- Critical infrastructure owners and operators
- Public safety officers
- Emergency managers
- Security officers
- Law enforcement officials
- Private sector security professionals
Accreditation: 0.1 CEU towards IACET and 1 CEU towards POST if the student's state approves.
Recommended Prerequisites: None.
Website: Center for Domestic Preparedness Course Catalog
Download a printer-friendly fact sheet for the Bomb Threat Preparedness and Response (AWR-903). Register Here
- Interactive Exercises
- Case histories
- Respond to a bomb threat
Bomb-Making Materials Awareness: Your Role (AWR-911)
Description: The Bomb-Making Materials Awareness: Your Role courses uses an immersive, graphic novel style storytelling approach to educate and empower community members on how to identify and report suspicious activity and purchasing behaviors related to bomb-making materials.
Course Length: This is a 40-minute self-paced training covering the following topics:
- The role the general public, private sector, public safety personnel, and fusion centers have in recognizing and reporting suspicious incidents related to bomb-making
- Indicators of suspicious activities and purchasing behaviors
- How to report a suspicious incident
Audience: This course is intended for audiences such as:
- General public
- Public safety dispatchers
- Law enforcement officers
- Fire and emergency medical technicians
- Fusion center analysts
Accreditation: 0.1 CEU towards IACET and 1 CEU towards POST if the student's state approves.
Recommended Prerequisites: None.
Website: Center for Domestic Preparedness Course Catalog
Download a printer-friendly fact sheet for Bomb-Making Materials Awareness: Your Role (AWR-911).
Register Here
Bomb-Making Materials Awareness Employee Training (AWR-921)
Description: The Bomb-Making Materials Awareness Employee Training course teaches participants how to recognize suspicious purchasing behaviors in a retail setting that might indicate Bomb-Making activity and what to do when a suspicious incident occurs.
Course Length: This is a 35-minute self-paced training covering the following topics:
- The types of people who build bombs
- Commercially available products used to make homemade explosives and build IEDs
- Suspicious purchases and behaviors
- How to report a suspicious incident
Audience: This course is intended for audiences such as:
- Critical Infrastructure Owner and Operators
- Public Safety Officers
- Emergency Managers
- Security Officers
- Law Enforcement Officials
- Private Sector Security Professionals
Accreditation: 0.1 CEU towards IACET and 1 CEU towards POST if the student's state approves.
Recommended Prerequisites: None.
Website: Center for Domestic Preparedness Course Catalog
Download a printer-friendly fact sheet for the Bomb-Making Materials Awareness Employee Training (AWR-921).
Register Here
IS-912: Retail Security Awareness: Understanding the Hidden Hazards
Description: The purpose of this training is to make persons involved in commercial retail operations aware of the actions they can take to identify and report suspicious purchases or thefts of products that actors could use in terrorist or other criminal activities.
Course Length: This is a 45-minute self-paced training
Audience: This course is intended for audiences such as:
- Retail managers
- Loss prevention specialists
- Risk management specialists
- Product managers
- Sales associates
- Other retail personnel
Accreditation: None.
Recommended Prerequisites: None.
Website: FEMA EMI IS-912: Retail Security Awareness: Understanding the Hidden Hazards
IS-914: Surveillance Awareness: What You Can Do
Description: The purpose of this training is to make critical infrastructure employees and service providers aware of actions they can take to detect and report suspicious activities associated with adversarial surveillance.
Course Length: This is a 45-minute self-paced training
Audience: This course is intended for audiences such as:
- Critical infrastructure owners and operators
- Critical infrastructure employees
- Critical infrastructure service providers
- Anyone with critical infrastructure duties and responsibilities
Accreditation: None.
Recommended Prerequisites: None.
Website: FEMA EMI IS-914: Surveillance Awareness: What You Can Do
Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Explosive Precursors Point of Sale Training
Description: Available from the Nationwide SAR Initiative (NSI), this interactive training is to instructs sale personnel involved at the point of sale on behaviors and indicators that are reasonably indicative of potential terrorist and/or criminal bomb-making activity; how and where to report suspicious activity; and how to protect privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties when documenting information. It also instructs personnel of the types of suspicious activity that might be observed during their daily duties.
Course Length: This is a 45-minute self-paced training
Audience: This course is intended for audiences such as:
- Retail managers
- Loss prevention specialists
- Risk management specialists
- Product managers
- Sales associates
- Other retail personnel
Accreditation: None.
Recommended Prerequisites: 1 hour
Website: NSI Training
Website Download a printer-friendly fact sheet for SAR Explosive Precursors Point of Sale Training.