What type of exercise uses actual staff commands and resource movement to evaluate continuity capabilities?

The correct answer is a functional exercise, which is designed to assess and improve a specific aspect of emergency response capabilities by simulating a scenario without the use of a full-scale deployment. During a functional exercise, participants engage in realistic operations and can issue actual staff commands and movement of resources, mimicking real-life situations. This type of exercise focuses on coordination, communication, and the operational aspects of the emergency response.

In contrast, a tabletop exercise typically involves discussion-based scenarios where participants review plans and procedures, but it does not involve actual movements of personnel or resources. A full-scale exercise incorporates the entirety of a response, often testing operational capabilities at a much larger scale, involving real equipment and people in the field, which may go beyond just evaluating continuity capabilities. A drill usually focuses on a specific skill or procedure, such as practicing fire evacuations, and is often less comprehensive in its scope than a functional exercise. Thus, functional exercises effectively bridge the gap between theoretical planning and practical application in continuity capabilities.