Table Top Exercise on Critical Maritime Infrastructure Protection (TTX CMIP)

The TTX, organised by the European Defence Agency (EDA), aims to answer the question “what to do when something happens? The exercise will involve different levels of response and will take place in 4 consecutive phases. The final product should enable all Member States to respond in a coordinated manner to incidents targeting critical maritime infrastructure and their direct and indirect consequences.

General planning: the exercise will start in January 2024 and will continue until the end of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU. There will be several feedback and intermediate conclusions before a final table top exercise, which will present the results, evaluations and recommendations on governance and policy.

Phase 1: The exercise begins with a first phase focusing on maritime situational awareness (MSA) in each of the three participating countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Lower Saxony (DE).

In this first phase, each MSA agency will provide its perspectives on existing legal frameworks, directives, and command structures. These conclusions will be a first observation at national level, at all levels of leadership involved, in cross-border and international cooperation. In addition, each MSA agency will share its perspective on collaboration with private actors, “to do”, “not to do” and best practices to improve maritime situational awareness.

Phase 2: During this phase, MSA agencies will meet trilaterally to discuss their assessment, needs and recommendations, regarding the status of the MSA, including critical maritime infrastructure, detection, target evaluation criteria, 24/7 contact points. The goal is to organize a meeting in each MSA agency, each with a specific focus on the following topics.

1) National and cross-border governance assessments

2) National and cross-border recommendations on governance

3) Policy evaluation to improve national and cross-border governance

Phase 3: This phase includes targeted meetings with private stakeholders regarding the MSA situation, including critical marine infrastructure. The evaluation and recommendations will complement the efforts of MSA agencies. National emergency responders for PAHO at sea are also involved in this phase and face preliminary assessment and recommendations. If, as expected, national first responders were already involved in Phase 1 and Phase 2, Phase 3 will refine and consolidate assessments and recommendations and improve existing bilateral agreements and make recommendations for other legal frameworks and guidelines.

Phase 4 will transfer the efforts of the operational staff involved (MSA and Response) to the core team which will consolidate the results, evaluate and recommend intermediate conclusions and prepare the table-top closing exercise, scheduled by the third week of May 2024

Preparing a report: The final task of the exercise sponsored by the Belgian Presidency will be a consolidated report.

More info here