Give first responders a working access kit and practiced lockdown in an active-assailant plan

CISA’s 2025 active-assailant emergency action plan guide asks organizations to prepare a first-responder access kit with labeled keys or cards and current floor plans, and to set lockdown protocols with working locks on every entrance and alerts everyone can receive.

Source facts

CISA’s Instructional Guide to the Active Assailant Emergency Action Plan Template, dated February 2025, is meant to help critical infrastructure organizations and venues develop a comprehensive and implementable plan. CISA defines an active assailant as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area, and presents its recommendations as options for consideration that are not intended to mandate policy.

For facility emergency access, the guide suggests inviting law enforcement and other first responders to annual facility visits and assembling an emergency access kit. Suggested contents include clearly labeled, laminated floor plans, contact information, labeled keys or access cards for internal and external doors, elevator keys and two-way radios with extra batteries, with the latest floor plans kept in the kit.

For lockdown, CISA lists functional locking mechanisms for all exits and entrances, protocols for locking exterior, interior and gate doors, and directives that non-English-speaking personnel and people with disabilities can receive. The plan should account for everyone in the organization, including people with access and functional needs.

Applicability

Use this for any occupied facility building or updating an emergency action plan. CISA’s template is voluntary; fire and building codes still govern how doors may lock, and local law enforcement should shape the access-kit and lockdown details.

DSE recommendation

DSE recommends treating the responder access kit and lockdown functions as maintained security assets with an owner and a test schedule. Issue dedicated, labeled responder credentials rather than borrowing an employee badge, keep them in the access groups that cover every door on the kit’s floor plans, and review the kit whenever locks, readers or room numbers change. Document how lockdown is started from each console and app, which doors it affects, and how people inside can still leave.

Verification

Each quarter, open the kit, compare its floor plans with the current layout, and test every card and key on its doors. During an annual lockdown drill, record the time from activation to secured doors, check that alerts reach every space in every format the plan promises, and confirm that every locked door still opens for egress.

Official reference

CISA — Instructional Guide to the Active Assailant Emergency Action Plan Template (February 2025). Reviewed October 18, 2026.