PHOENIX, Az. - "We've just received a report there's been an explosion at the intersections of Loop 101 and 202," announced news anchor Forrest Sawyer with the Virtual News Network. "At this time, we are not sure if this explosion is related to the dirty bomb detonations in Guam and Portland, Ore., we've seen today."
With the Oct. 16, broadcast from VNN, first responder agencies from across Arizona were thrust into the midst of Top Officials (TOPOFF) 4. TOPOFF is a national-level, multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, "real- time" exercise, designed to better prepare senior government officials to effectively respond to an actual terrorist attack.
Amongst the 140 different federal (i.e. FEMA), state (i.e. Department of Transportation), county (i.e. Maricopa County Emergency Services), and city (i.e. fire and law enforcement) level organizations involved in the exercise, the Arizona National Guard, "Always Ready, Always There," activated its Joint Force Headquarters and Emergency Operations Center in response to the detonation.
In 1998, reacting to terrorist events around the world, the U.S. Congress charged the State Department and the Department of Justice to initiate a real-world based exercise to better prepare high-level officials working in all facets of government. According to the U.S. State Department website:
"TOPOFF exercises are designed to simulate actual WMD attacks by fictionalized international terrorist organizations and involve live-exercise play. In order to make the exercises as authentic as possible, participants are given little forewarning of what scenarios they will face, such as type of WMD involved, or specific location, date and time of the attacks."
In the case of Arizona, a radiological dispersion device was detonated at the intersections of Highways 101 and 202, major roadways in the Phoenix metro area. The detonation was the third launched in a coordinated effort, first in Guam then in Portland, Ore., by the fictional terrorist organization The Uzbek Islamist Society.
"This exercise is specifically designed to overwhelm the emergency response capabilities of all levels forcing them to ask for assistance from higher levels, all the way up to the federal level," said Arizona public affairs officer, Maj. Paul Aguirre.
Once it was determined the detonation contained radiological components, the Arizona National Guard's 91st Weapons of Mass Destruction - Civil Support Team was activated.
"The 91st CST can be on scene, especially when the incident is so close to their home station, in a matter of minutes," said Arizona adjutant general, Maj. Gen. David P. Rataczak.
With their unique capabilities, the 91st CST can provide those in charge with a quick assessment of the contaminants in the device.
"The CST can take a sample for analysis, they can predict, or at least forecast, the downwind plume, and they have limited ability to decontaminate the first responders as well as providing them with immediate feedback to the type of contaminants," Rataczak said.
In response to the scenario, Arizona Governor, Janet Napolitano also directed commanders of the Joint Force Headquarters to deploy Soldiers and Airmen from the Arizona National Guard's reaction force to protect critical infrastructure pieces and augment law enforcement agencies.
"As a governor I call on the National Guard to be boots on the ground in a time of an emergency," said Napolitano. "To basically be the right arm to the governor to make sure people are taken care of correctly."
The three-day exercise fully tests the capabilities of all agencies involved, exposing holes in the system and areas for improvement.
"This exercise is something a little bit different for us," said Rataczak. "We have chance during this exercise to stress units, finding out what their capabilities are and what we can do to improve them."
Rataczak said that upon completion of the exercise, there would be an exhaustive evaluation by his staff as well as follow on exercises.
"We're keeping comprehensive notes and once the exercise is over, we'll conduct what we call a hot wash, where we evaluate what we did right, what we did wrong and ways to fix those deficiencies," Rataczak said. "We'll definitely look to have exercises in the future to test what we've identified here to put our focus immediately on those items we've identified."
While the reality-based scenario strained the resources of the involved National Guard units, Rataczak was very happy with the training received by the Arizona National Guard participants supporting TOPOFF 4.
"This exercise has provided us with a wonderful opportunity to integrate with so many different state agencies, municipalities as well as federal agencies," said Rataczak. "Agencies we sometimes don't get an opportunity to work with, even in a real world situation. From a training perspective, TOPOFF has been very beneficial for the Arizona National Guard."