Michelle Malkin » Fake terror exercise interrupted by, um,real fake terror alert

Fake terror exercise interrupted by, um,real fake terror alert

By See-Dubya • October 19, 2007 11:54 AM

Every time they do one of these Topoff terror-attack drills, there’s reams of bad press about how ill-prepared we are if, say, a dirty bomb goes off in Portland:

The drill is the first since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 exposed deep flaws in the government’s response to catastrophes and its handling of mass evacuations. For the first time, officials will spend most of the final two days of the exercise in table-top drills gauging the aftermath and developing long-term recovery plans.

But Allison, one of the nation’s best-known experts on dirty bomb threats, said that isn’t nearly enough. He noted that it took federal authorities about three months to fumigate the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., after an aide opened a letter containing anthrax in 2001. “And that was an isolated incident,” Allison said.

A substance like the powdery and highly toxic Cesium-137, for example, would seep into every lung, vehicle, crevice and air-intake in the blast zone, making parts of a city virtually uninhabitable for months or years, he said.

“The good news is that the most lethal material is the hardest to get.”

The bad news: The government doesn’t appear to take the possibility of a large-scale cleanup seriously in its budgets and planning, Allison said. “That they could do an adequate job is just not believable,” he said.

That report concludes by noting that the actual emergency response to the incident went off without any major problems.

Well, I would actually consider this bomb scare at some of the Topoff observers’ hotel to be a major problem:

…officers had been sweeping the area in advance of visits by Chertoff and high-ranking military personnel using a pair of “explosives sensitive” police dogs. “One dog got an alert at this car. The second dog was called in and also gave an alert.” A third dog later came to the parking garage, and had the same reaction as the first two.

Authorities initially focused on one vehicle, which turned out to be owned by a participant in the Topoff exercise. The car’s owner was quickly located and cooperated, and police later expanded the search to other vehicles on the first floor of the garage. It was windy, Schmautz said, so it’s possible the dogs picked up smells from any of several vehicles in the area.

There are a number of military and Homeland Security employees in the area for the counterterrorism exercise, so Schmautz says it’s possible one of their vehicles inadvertently picked up explosive residue or something else that might set off the dogs.

If you have bomb squads and EOD units converging on an area to locate and defuse WMDs, and they and their cars all smell like explosives, the bomb-sniffing dogs are going to have a time of it.

Anyway, I’m glad to see this sort of preparation taking place–especially training for biological outbreaks or attacks, as in TOPOFF 3 and Dark Winter. But I also have to wonder whether we’re learning anything from them at all.

Now it looks like Congress is wondering about that, too.

Posted in: Homeland Security

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#1

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:01 pm, jeffshultz said:

Gotta admit, shutting down Portland, OR sounds like a net plus to me….
#2

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:06 pm, 30 pcs of silver said:

Houston, we have a problem.
#3

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:13 pm, JHSII said:

Shutting down San Francisco would also be a net plus…
#4

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:16 pm, lgm said:

This is a Bush operation, incompetent and ineffective. You can excuse a liberal for thinking that the Bushies are not all that worried about terror attacks. They are much more vigorous in using the threat of attacks for political advantage.

They spend hundreds of billions in Iraq supposedly to make America safer (though experts from both parties say the Iraq operation has made America less safe). But don’t do obvious things such as:

*secure the borders

*guard chemical and nuclear plants

*scan incoming shipping
#5

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:28 pm, 30 pcs of silver said:

#4, lgm
Yes, and we are very familiar with liberals and their support of:

*securing the borders
*guarding chemical and nuclear plants
*scan incoming shipping
*the war on terror, etc…
#6

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:34 pm, walterc said:

30 pcs of silver said:
#4, lgm
Yes, and we are very familiar with liberals and their support of:

*securing the borders
*guarding chemical and nuclear plants
*scan incoming shipping
*the war on terror, etc…

But they are trying to fix global warming, socialize health care and stop the dreaded panties on the head torture in gitmo. They can’t fix everything.
#7

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:37 pm, maurelius said:

There is the crazy idea if only we could prepare a MS Project plan for every eventuality the response would be flawless.

First, there is the idea of planning and preparing for every event, no can do.

Then the idea that an inadequate response is because of inadequate preparation or planning. IIRC General George Patton said no plan survives first contact with reality and then there is the problem with adequately knowing exactly what to plan for, even if the general idea of the event is known.

lgm ever hear of the Maginot Line?

It is important to drill and practice but do not expect the actual real life exercise will be at all smooth.
#8

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:39 pm, PhredE said:

And, recall, that under Mayor Potter’s leadership, the city opted to “change” (read end) cooperation with the FBI’s JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force).

Supporting info here: http://tinyurl.com/2af697

(alias to: http://www.kgw.com/ site)
#9

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:41 pm, LarryD said:

Complacency and overconfidence. Or outright denial. The most effective terror attack on the US wasn’t on the World Trade Center, it was the anthrax letters. And we still don’t know who was responsible for that.

While TB is still mostly treatable, the treatment regimen takes six months or more, and failure to complete the regimen often results in a drug-resistant strain.

Untrated, TB has a mortality rate of 2 out of 3.
#10

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:51 pm, 30 pcs of silver said:

#6 walterc,
Yes, how could I forget…
All of the pressing matters are being handled by the liberals…
We simply must add to the list their fervor in suppressing the free speech of a conservative radio host based on lies…
Which came on the heels of their cronies denigrating a four star general.

Very busy indeed.
#11

On October 19th, 2007 at 12:58 pm, Leatherneck said:

With all the Homos partying in the streets, the State Department creating a terrorist country next to Israel, and Homeland Insecurity acting as an agent to help the third world invasion into this country, I say we have earned some destruction.

Keep your weapons clean, and make sure they are BZO’ed.
#12

On October 19th, 2007 at 1:31 pm, TMoney said:

If I have to wait on an HSA first responder, I’d better be incapacitated. As revolting as the thought of swimming through a lake full of sewage or walking out of Dallas with a large pack of food, water(lots) and weapons(clean) on my back may be, I’d rather be moving than wait.

Don’t rely on the gov’t to save you are anyone around you; they need more time than you have.
#13

On October 19th, 2007 at 4:41 pm, scooter56 said:

As a disaster response professional, contracted to DHS, I would like to thank you all for your support. It’s comforting to see all of the support for the work that we do.
Of course there are sacrifices for many of us, no and I mean no time at home, but we do get to travel to exotic locations all at taxpayer expense. I got top spend 4 months in New York from Sept ‘01-Jan ‘02. I must say, August ‘04-May ‘05 wasn’t bad, got to spend all that time in sunny Florida. And July ‘05-May-07 was a lovely time to in Mississippi. I’ve worked from the Virgin Islands-Guam and all of the lower 48 and have never seen crap spewed at us for the job we do, like it is here.
As for Michael Chertoff….imagine having that job….shouldering that responsibility. I guess in your minds the only ones that deserve respect are soldiers and jailed Border Patrol agents.
But don’t worry. When a disaster happens we will respond to your needs as well. And if you think that when your community is destroyed and the infrastructure is down that all ones needs is a few MREs and a shotgun, well good luck.
Also I have a few hours before deploying to an area struck by last nights tornadoes. I would be glad to come over and critique your job performance and call your boss a lettuce head.
#14

On October 19th, 2007 at 4:50 pm, Leatherneck said:

scooter56,

Thanks for being part of the solution. Please tell your Boss Chertoff, homeland security means a secure southern border. I am tired of all the trash they leave behind, and the free health care illegals gets.

I have no problem with those who work like you.

Be careful,
#15

On October 20th, 2007 at 12:15 am, maurelius said:

Scooter56,

You can not be everywhere at once nor can you be prepared for every emergency.

I live a couple of hours from Crandon WI and despite numerous 911 calls the first responders were anything but first responders.

Also, Mr. Chertoff has earned the lettuce head moniker not for the way he handles disasters but by his stand on something different from disasters.

The problem as you indicate, is people expect too much of you. When you can not (of course note) produce and wave your magic wand to make it all better the next morning we get BS coverage like we saw during Katrina.