Today, one of the most pressing issues confronting law enforcement agencies is the issue of terrorism prevention. The Federal Office of Domestic Preparedness (ODP) has assembled a set of guidelines to assist agencies in terrorism prevention and weapons of mass destruction identification. With a shortage of measurement tools to assess preparedness, this paper defines the methodology to assess preparedness based on ODP guidelines. In an assessment of a large law enforcement agency, preliminary findings are presented. With the application of this methodology, the preparedness of local agencies will be enhanced, identifying areas of strength and those areas requiring attention. The value of a preparedness assessment is significant for a local law enforcement agency taking steps toward homeland security. Tables, notes, and references