US to Hold Largest Homeland Security Exercise: Newspaper

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, May 06, 2003

US to Hold Largest Homeland Security Exercise: Newspaper

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The United States will stage a fictional "dirty bomb" explosion followed by a simulated germ warfare attack next week in what federal officials say will be the largest homeland security exercise in US history, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The five-day drill, dubbed TOPOFF 2 (for Top Officials), will begin on May 12 and involve more than 100 US agencies as well as Canadian government organizations. It will cost an estimated 16 million US dollars, the report said.

The scenario involves an explosion of a radiological dispersal device, commonly known as "dirty bomb," in the central business district in Seattle, followed by release of a deadly biological agent in Chicago, about 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) to the east,that sends patients pouring into hospitals.

Federal officials said the exercise is designed to test the response to widely dispersed, almost simultaneous terrorist attacks using weapons of mass destruction, and to glean from the experience lessons that can be applied in case of the real thing.

This would be the second homeland security exercise staged by the US government. The first, involving a mock germ warfare attack,was held in Denver, Colorado in 2000. It was described as chaotic,with agencies reportedly jostling for control while critical decisions delayed amid 100-person conference calls.

About 8,500 people will take part in the planned exercise, including hundreds of "evaluators" who will watch the unfolding events and report their finds on the response for later study.

Lessons learned from the experience will not be made public to prevent potential adversaries from benefiting from the information,the Post said.

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