Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Bio-Terrorism Drill Scheduled for New York City
by Jim Kouri, CPP
The first large-scale test of New York City's bio-terror plans in concert with federal resources will be exercised on June 1-2 when more than 1,200 federal, state and local players assemble for a realistic training exercise.
The New York scenario will involve a simulated terrorist dissemination of a biological warfare agent at an outdoor event in Queens or Brooklyn. As soon as New York officials discover that they are under attack, they will urgently request emergency medical supplies from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga., from the Strategic National Stockpile Program. The program is designed to supplement or re-supply state and local health agencies in the event of a terrorist or other emergency. The exercise is code-named POD-EX, for "points of distribution," and will involve many sites for distribution of anti-toxins.
The exercise is being funded by the US Department of Homeland Security with counter-terrorism funds, and sponsored by the New York City Office of Emergency Management. The Titan Corporation of San Diego has been contracted to design and conduct the exercise.
Titan, the preeminent national leader of such exercises designed to react effectively to Chemical, Biological or Radiological attacks, executes about 150-200 full scale or tabletop exercises each year throughout the United States.
Los Angeles Hosts ATF Training Exercise
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will host the "Defiant Specter" field training exercise at controlled locations in the Los Angeles area May 25.
The purpose of the training is to provide ATF and its federal, state, and local law enforcement partners an opportunity to exercise their critical incident management policies and procedures.
The exercise will include the ATF Los Angeles and San Francisco Field Divisions Critical Incident Management Response Team members. The exercise will challenge the team and its partners to resolve critical role-playing scenarios that will simulate situations of high threat arrest and high threat explosives recovery, including post-blast explosives incident response and investigation. All scenarios will take place in controlled areas where access to the general public will be restricted.
Sources: US Department of Homeland Security, New York City Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, National Association of Chiefs of Police
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http://mensnewsdaily.com/blog/kouri/2005/05/bio-terrorism-drill-scheduled-for-new.html
