Posted on 08/25/2005 1:26:52 PM PDT by ExSoldier
WASHINGTON — U.S. ports are preparing for catastrophic terrorism in a major new program of security drills that began last week in the San Francisco Bay area and continues next week in Baltimore (see GSN, Aug. 11).
The federal Port Security Training Exercises Program (PortSTEP) is to bring together government and private-sector officials responsible for maritime transportation and commerce, emergency response and land transit in 40 port districts around the United States. Officials participate in fictitious incident scenarios intended to reflect the terrorist threat environment.
“Everyone was really, really engaged because the scenarios were very realistic” in the San Francisco Bay exercises, Universal Systems and Technology Inc. Vice President for Homeland Security David Holmes said yesterday.
The company, known as Unitech, was the lead contractor for last week’s exercises and will fill that role for most of the exercises scheduled around the country through September 2007. The U.S. Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration are administering the program.
Holmes would not specifically say whether weapons of mass destruction figured in the San Francisco Bay scenarios.
“You certainly have to know what the realities are today, what the challenges are today” in order to design realistic exercises, Holmes said. “What are the events that could shut down, for example, transportation or the shipping industry on the West Coast?”
The 40 sets of exercises are being conducted in seaports and inland ports of various sizes and terrorist threat profiles, ranging from Chicago to San Juan, Virgin Islands. Holmes said exercises would be tailored to the ports’ varying situations, potentially involving threats to cruise ships in San Juan or to sea commerce in Long Beach, Calif.
“There are different challenges based upon levels of readiness, levels of resource,” he said. “A lot of it is threat-risk-based. As a contractor, we are certainly aware of the Department of Homeland Security’s — particularly this secretary’s — focus on ensuring that we are spending the resources correctly based upon threat-risk.”
The overall goal of the program is to harmonize and improve security efforts among different agencies, companies, transportation modes and regions potentially affected by threats to ports. Last week’s participants included city and state emergency management agencies, fire departments, port administrators and land transportation entities, Holmes said.
Federal and contractor officials refused to divulge specific exercise scenarios, but the Transportation Security Administration said last week that “scenarios range from how officials react to discovering a suspect cargo container to an explosion at a seaport rail yard.”
“Through these exercises and other programs,” Coast Guard port security head Capt. Frank Sturm said last week, “we will be continually testing and evaluating how ready we are to deal with an actual threat to our ports.”
For now, the exercises are of the “advanced tabletop” variety, which involves top officials’ reacting to specific attack scenarios but not actually deploying emergency personnel and resources in response to the fictitious incident. The Baltimore exercise is set to kick off Wednesday, and the first full-scale, nontabletop exercises will begin about a year from now, Holmes said.
In the two-day San Francisco Bay event, hosted by the California Maritime Academy, such techniques as live fictitious news broadcasts were used to impart realism to the proceedings. Different participants were progressively given different pieces of information.
Holmes said the exercises involved more than 100 participants and yielded valuable insights.
“The notion of testing any plan is to look for ways to improve it,” he said. “We learned certain things that we needed to refine.”
I don't think this is a coincidence, not now. I think the newsies know it, and so does the government. In fact I think that everybody who's anybody knows the critically of preparations. But they don't want a panic they're not ready to control for an event they know they can't stop. Articles similar to this one have dominated the wires and services for the better part of the last six weeks. The ports are open territory, even more so than the southern border because from Mexico, you mainly get illegal personnel. Through a port you're going to be able to transport a very heavy device in the relative security of a large metallic cargo container; one among tens of thousands and only about what, 5% get checked? If that? Talk about a ticking time bomb!!!
As a good friend of mine just recently said to me (he is a federal agent): We're in the bottom of the ninth....
Be ________.
I worked for the International Council of Cruise Lines in Arlington, VA. prior to and after 9/11. The Coast Guard is fine military organization (I married a Coastie) that works hard to keep our ports and waterways safe. I'm not crazy about cruise ships but it would be a tragic event if something bad happened. I learned much while working for ICCL about shipping, ports and cargo. It was a great education.
We need to telling the American public the truth and get the Americans involved and trained in civil defense.
The ChiCom/Soviet war games are a good indicator that people had better wake up and see the dangers that we are facing - AlQaueda is only a knife in the hands of the chicom/soviet bloc.
"Gentlemen, Comrades, do not be concerned about all you hear about glasnost and perestroika and democracy in the coming years. These are primarily for outward consumption. There will be no significant internal change within the Soviet Union, other than for cosmetic purposes. Our purpose is to disarm the Americans and let them fall asleep".
Mikhail Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union, to the Politburo in Nov 1987.
The federal government is handing out grant money left and right for so-called terrorism preparedness measures. It's a joke. One of the rail yards my husband goes to just got a lump sum to redesign the entrance/exit. They added spikes, so the trucks can't go out the entrance. They added another guard shack, so the trucks have to go to the edge of the property before being checked. It's now easier to steal a trailer than it was before. But fear not. They never have anything on those trailers that would be of any use to terrorists. Even the trailers themselves are broken down rail containers, not useful for hauling anything dangerous. Your tax dollars at work.
So Gorbo losing his job was simply a ruse?
You mean the new Gog & MaGog roadshow, coming soon to a venue near you? And under "new management" to boot?
Thanks for the ping Ex!
It's good we are getting prepared. The gov't must be expecting something bad. All these drills cost money.
He didn't so much as lose his job as move his operations inside our borders to work VERY closely with the GREEN PARTY and other eco-terrorist groups.
There was a connection back in August 2001 with Gorbachev, Nader, Osama, .
One of FR's original members wrote an article in Aug 2001 that connected Gorby, Osama and several other eco-terror organizations dealing the the G-8 summit riots and assassination threats against President Bush - the connection was overlooked by the MSM. Nader was also mentioned - that article has since been removed from her website.
You will still find the smiling gorby giving american liberal women (As Rush describes) GORBASMS! He is still very much a communist with the goal to destroy capitalism - which is still us!
My fear: too little; too late
reactive, not proactive
the nuke scenario for some 7 cities
Bump
Brother, you don't know the half of it!
Watch for another "Italian Tile" incident like just after 9/11...remember that one?
They got a hit on a cargo ship off the coast of Jersey...sent in a N.E.S.T./ team...but it was only "Italian Tile" that set off a NEUTRON DETECTOR!
That story was HUSHED real fast...but some still remember, and know we dodged a BULLET on that one...thanks to some VERY hush-hush folk and some other alert good people.
WE have to be 100% good and lucky ALL the time...the Islamazis only need to be passably competent and lucky once!
Al Qaeda's Navy(Part 2)
An Analysis Of Its Potential Danger
By
Jill St. Claire
NOTICE
What you are about to read is a compilation of intelligence and information gathered from various sources ranging from press releases issued by the White House, to various communications made by known or suspected terrorists, on both open and “closed” forums. The opinions and theories stated here are those of this analyst, compiled from extensive research and analysis of the data referenced above. Any information contained in this analysis that could be interpreted as a threat to the US , its citizens, or allies has already been turned over to the appropriate federal authorities.To those not wishing to be informed of the possibility of a catastrophic event occurring within the United States that intelligence findings suggest “will make September 11th, 2001 pale in comparison,” you would be well advised to avoid reading the following analysis. It has proven to be an exhaustive investigation, with many twists and turns into areas that shocked even this analyst.What I present to you here is at times shocking and frightening, but should not be construed as a conspiracy theory or a prediction of “Doomsday.”
However, make no mistake…The Threats Are There, The Ships Are Real… The Possibilities That Exist….
This is Part Two
Of
AL QAEDA’S NAVY An Analysis Of Its Potential Danger
by
Jill St. Claire,
During an interview conducted in May 2002, United States Vice President, Dick Cheney spoke of another terrorist attack in the United States . Referring to the type of attack and the possible timing of such an event, Cheney stated:
"We don't know if it's going to be tomorrow, or next week or next year," Cheney said.. The U.S.-led war on terrorism has had some successes at disrupting the al Qaeda terrorist network, making it more difficult for them to carry out operations, he noted, but it's almost impossible to build "a 100 percent perfect defense."
"The American people must understand the reality of the enemy we're up against," he stressed. Even if your defense is 99 percent successful, that other one percent "can still kill you." [1]
It has been 27 months since the attacks of 9/11 at the time of this writing, and 18 months since the vice president cautioned that we must be prepared. Where do we stand now in terms of our preparation status? My analysis clearly indicates that WE ARE NOT PREPARED and have taken few significant steps to protect our country in any meaningful way against the specific threats I will identify in this report.
For those readers who have grown weary of hearing about imminent terrorist attacks in the United States and feel like you are you reading another “the sky is falling” analysis, I urge you to understand that it is not a question of IF, but a matter of when and where it will occur and by what means. This analysis addresses the latter two possibilities:
The Protection of Our Ports and Coastlines
Based on the intelligence and data reviewed by this analyst and the multi-faceted investigation conducted over the course of the last few months, I am convinced that an attack by ship, underwater, or through the use of tectonic weapons is indeed on the “short list” of possible scenarios.
One of the most disturbing facts I have discovered from my research is that I have found very little to support any conclusion that the US government is prepared to adequately protect its sea ports against a major terrorist attack. The intelligence is growing daily concerning maritime activities that could be (and have been verified) as related directly to terrorists.
Continued at:
http://www.homelandsecurityus.net/al_qaedas%20navy%20part%202.htm
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