On May 2, 2015, Republican presidential candidate and Texas senator Ted Cruz said he had "reached out to The Pentagon to inquire about this exercise." In comments to Bloomberg News at the South Carolina Republican Party's annual convention, he said, "We are assured it is a military training exercise.
I have no reason to doubt those assurances, but I understand the reason for concern and uncertainty, because when the federal government has not demonstrated itself to be trustworthy in this administration, the natural consequence is that many citizens don't trust what it is saying."