Participants in this exercise acted like members of the National Security Council (NSC) responding to a smallpox crisis. Participants were given information about unfolding events in four important ways: briefings, memos, newspaper summaries, and video clips. The exercise, composed of three segments, began with briefings delivered to the NSC meeting by exercise controllers playing the roles of deputies or special assistants. Subsequent briefings in each segment provided NSC “players” with possible policy options for consideration. Throughout the exercise, individual participants were given memos on issues or events within the purview of their position or agency. Participants responded to events in whatever way they felt appropriate. The exercise began with a briefing on the geopolitical context in which the scenario occurs. At the start of segments two and three, summaries of relevant news coverage of the epidemic were shown. At five different times in the exercise, video news clips were shown that conveyed the breaking news stories occurring at that time in the scenario. The text of the news clips is not shown in this exercise script. The script included only information that was delivered to the participants. The comments and decisions made by participants during the exercise were not part of this exercise script.