Put it to the test!

[NJFFSA16]

By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The massive Homeland Security plans
created in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks will be put to
their first test next week during simulated attacks in Connecticut
and New Jersey.
The National Response Plan and the National Incident Management
System were created to bring dozens of federal and state agencies
under one leadership umbrella in case of a terrorist attack.
"We hope we've worked out the glitches," said Col. Robert B.
Stephan, special assistant to Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff on Tuesday. "We test drove some of the concepts before we
gave them the green light, but on a smaller scale and never all put
together before."
The exercise, the world's largest-ever terrorism drill, will
begin Monday with a simulated biological weapons attack in New
Jersey that overwhelms local hospitals with volunteer victims.
Meanwhile, a simulated maritime chemical weapon attack in New
London will expose more volunteer victims. The drill will also
involve agencies in the United Kingdom and Canada.
To avoid panic, rescue crews would not use their flashing lights
and residents were being alerted about the drill, Gov. M. Jodi Rell
said.
Investigators have been picking up simulated "chatter" for the
past few days. Officials received a mock report Tuesday that a pair
of night-vision goggles had been stolen.
The National Response Plan took two years to create and was
approved in January. It gives local rescue workers and firefighters
control over the scene, with federal agencies stepping in after
resources are exhausted.
"I want to see if the plan works," said Coast Guard Capt.
Peter Boynton, who is based in New Haven. "It'd be a little
bittersweet if it turns out parts of our plan aren't right. Nobody
likes to find out, 'Hey, this wasn't good. That wasn't good.' But
in the larger perspective, that's helpful."
Mike Wolf, FBI special agent in charge of Connecticut, said he
wants to see how his agents communicate with other federal
agencies. "Communication is the big thing," he said.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Health and law enforcement officials will
show up for work on Monday morning knowing something big is about
to happen, but unsure of exactly what.
By the time most of the state is settling in to begin the work
week, these officials will begin participating in the largest
counterterrorism drill ever held in the United States.
Named "TOPOFF 3" for the top-level state and national
officials behind it, the drill will simulate a bioterror attack in
Union County, the ripples of which will quickly spread to Middlesex
County and beyond.
At the same time, the $16 million exercise also will simulate an
attack involving fake chemical weapons in New London, Conn.
The drills will be monitored by top U.S. Homeland Security
officials from a command center in Washington, as well as regional
centers in New Jersey and Connecticut.
Although no real weapons or bio-agents will be used, officials
will respond as if it's the real thing: flooding the area with
investigators and first responders in haz-mat suits, dispatching
fleets of ambulances to hospitals across the state, and dealing
with throngs of "victims" piling up outside emergency rooms.
Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey stressed that the exercise should
not alarm the public, invoking the panic touched off by Orson
Wells' 1938 "War Of The Worlds" broadcast of a fake Martian
invasion in Grovers Mill, N.J. among people who didn't realize it
wasn't real.
Even the state's health commissioner, Fred M. Jacobs, is playing
along but dealing with the drill as he would if a real attack
happened.
"I'm going to go to work Monday morning like it's any other
Monday morning, and then we're going to be hit with this scenario
that's known to the planners but not the players," he said.
The exact biological agent to be used in the fake attack will
not be announced in advance; investigators responding to the
incident scene- the campus of Kean University in Union - will have
to identify the substances once they get there, just as they would
have to do in real life.
From there, they'll have to take appropriate steps including
sealing off the immediate area, getting those exposed or already
ill to hospitals, and preserving evidence necessary to determine
who dispersed the deadly substance.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the drill will shift to local
hospitals, where hundreds if not thousands of mock "patients"
will show up in various degrees of medical crisis. Some will be
treated in emergency rooms and admitted; others might undergo
triage and outdoor decontamination in parking lots, depending on
what officials deem appropriate for the situation.
Officials won't be happy unless things go badly wrong.
"We will intentionally stress our emergency response systems to
the point of failure so we can repair them," said Matt Mayer,
acting executive director of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security's Office of State and Local Government Coordination and
Preparedness.
"This is not an opportunity to say how great we are," added
state Attorney General Peter C. Harvey. "It's an opportunity to
find fractures in our system, stress points in our system that
don't work so well."
In New Jersey, all 21 counties and 82 hospitals have roles to
play, as do state police, hazardous materials teams, emergency
management personnel, and police, fire and emergency
first-responders, such as emergency room staff.
A virtual television news network will help officials test how
they would get information to the public during a crisis.
Mock attacks two years ago simulated a dirty bomb explosion in
Seattle and a bioterror attack in Chicago. They uncovered
communication problems and confusion among emergency responders,
and shortages in medical supplies and hospital rooms.
All told, more than 10,000 people will participate in this
week's drill, including exercises that will involve officials in
Canada and England as well as the United States.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer
HILLSIDE, N.J. (AP) - The largest anti-terror drill ever
undertaken in the United States started Monday, with officials
investigating a fake biological attack in New Jersey and responding
to a mock chemical explosion in Connecticut.
Named "TOPOFF 3" for top state and national officials, the $16
million, weeklong drill simulates attacks and gauges how quickly
emergency personnel can respond. New Jersey's mock attack started
with a report of a car accident about 9 a.m., during which
officials became suspicious about a black sport utility vehicle's
faulty registration. A hose nozzle sticking out a rear window
further raised cautions, and when officers took a closer look, they
found a commercial sprayer that presumably had been used to
disperse a fake biological agent.
"What seems to have been a typically innocuous event will have
growing ramifications. It is going to end up testing our health and
law enforcement systems throughout the state of New Jersey," said
Roger Shatzkin, a spokesman for the state's Office of
Counterterrorism. "It's exciting to finally get this underway."
Officials in both states said their responses to the fake
attacks were going well.
In Connecticut, federal officials shortly before 1:30 p.m.
staged a mock chemical weapons explosion on the New London
waterfront, prompting homeland security officials to open an
emergency command post at the state Armory. Homeland security
officials were planning to go to New London to survey the simulated
damage, where buses were overturned and volunteers were playing
victims exposed to chemical attack.
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell participated in a conference call
with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, declared a
state of emergency and raised her state's threat level to orange.
Her commissioners huddled in a glass conference room dubbed
"the fish bowl" as top aides shuttled updates in and out of the
room. Representatives from all state agencies worked the phones as
a virtual news broadcast kept officials update.
The drills are being monitored by top U.S. Homeland Security
officials from a command center near Washington, as well as
regional centers in New Jersey and Connecticut.
At an afternoon briefing for reporters, acting Gov. Richard J.
Codey said things had been going smoothly in the first four hours
after the drill started - a time that would be expected to be among
the most chaotic in a real emergency.
"Everything seems to be working well so far, both medically and
law enforcement," he said. "Nothing's breaking down so far."
Connecticut officials said information on the mock accident
there was being handled correctly there.
"It definitely feels real. I'm impressed with the way everyone
is doing," said James Thomas, commissioner of the Department of
Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
Although no real weapons or bio-agents are being used, officials
in New Jersey responded as if it were the real thing: flooding the
area with investigators and first responders in haz-mat suits and
dispatching fleets of ambulances to hospitals across the state.
They even rolled a bomb-squad robot with a mounted video camera to
the targeted SUV to let officials peer inside from a "safe"
distance.
Meanwhile, doctors were expected to try to connect the incident
to a fake patient who had been admitted to a hospital Sunday night
with "flu-like symptoms."
"It's a test of how well people are communicating with each
other and whether the right people are getting pulled into this
exercise," Shatzkin said.
Some "victims" headed to emergency rooms Monday and, by
mid-day, New Jersey health officials were zeroing in on pneumonic
plague as the likely fake biological agent being used in the
simulation, said state Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs. The real
plague is spread through the air on moisture droplets and its
fatality rate approaches 100 percent if left untreated, he said.
But it also is easily treated with common antibiotics, he said.
The focus of the New Jersey drill is to shift to hospitals on
Tuesday, with more and more "victims" seeking help.
In the federal command center, located in a suburban Virginia
hotel ballroom, more than 100 officials hunched over laptops and
picked up blinking phones as the test attacks began.
Enlarged photographs of the Connecticut site and its
surroundings were plastered on the wall in one corner of the
center. In another, officials began plotting possible responses to
the fake outbreak in New Jersey, anticipating its spread outside
state and national borders.
Chertoff said the exercise - which is mandated by Congress -
would push response systems to the point of failure to identify any
security weaknesses or gaps.
"I want to make it clear that we are going to push our plans
and our systems to the very limit," Chertoff told reporters Monday
morning after touring the command center. "So we expect failure
because we're actually going to be seeking to push to failure, and
that is, in our judgment, the best way to get a 'lessons learned'
from what we do here."
---
Associated Press writers Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington and
Matt Apuzzo in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this story.
---
On the Net:

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interap...orial-0588.xml

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) - A simulated chemical weapons attack in
eastern Connecticut revealed some gaps in the state's emergency
communications system, but homeland security officials gave the
state high overall marks for its response.
The events, part of the world's largest-ever terrorism drill,
included an explosion on the New London waterfront and hundreds of
volunteers playing victims of a suspected mustard gas attack.
Officials were counting on the drill, called TOPOFF 3, to
evaluate the response plans developed after the terrorist attacks
of Sept. 11, 2001.
"We feel very confident that as we got information in, we got
it out," said Mike Wolf, Connecticut's top FBI agent, who
coordinated with officials in New Jersey, Washington, Canada and
England.
The drill was expected to last most of the week and involve
public safety officials from local fire departments up to the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., a
member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government
Affairs, was observing the operations in Connecticut.
The drill in Connecticut followed an early morning simulated
attack in New Jersey, where a biological agent was supposedly
released.
In New London, buses were overturned and volunteers playing
victims wore gruesome makeup to simulate blisters and bloody scars.
While people generally applauded the state's ability to share
information at the highest levels, local officials said a number of
glitches kept them from getting information quickly.
"I think it flows from the bottom up pretty well," New London
City Manager Richard Brown said. "I'm not so sure about from the
state down."
He said his emergency crews never received word that Gov. M.
Jodi Rell had opened an emergency operations center at the state
armory in Hartford or that she declared a state of emergency.
He also said a local request for the state to release health
information about mustard gas got scuttled by the state's
bureaucracy.
Firefighters were generally pleased with radio improvements that
allowed top officials to quickly communicate, but said more people
needed access to the new technology.
"We're looking for that kind of thing," said James Thomas,
commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Management and
Homeland Security. "It's important that we look at everything we
know we're going to have some work we need to do."
Officials said such communication missteps, while important to
address, are to be expected. They were pleased that many of the
communication breakdowns seen during the World Trade Center attacks
were not repeated.
"You have to accept, with so much going on, that you can't get
all the information exactly when you want it," said Leonard Boyle,
the state's public safety commissioner.
The drill was to continue Tuesday and was expected to last
through much of the week. After the initial response was
coordinated, the FBI and state police were expected to take a lead
role in investigating the attack.
Rell said Monday evening that she was proud of the state's
response. Earlier in the day, she met with top commissioners,
declared a state of emergency and raised the state's alert level to
orange, or "high."
Her commissioners huddled in a glass conference room dubbed
"the fish bowl" at the armory in Hartford as top aides shuttled
updates in and out of the room. Representatives from all state
agencies worked the phones as a virtual news broadcast kept
officials update.
As part of the drill, Rell briefed volunteers posing as
reporters at a news conference. She explained that an explosion had
released a chemical into the air and urged residents to stay inside
and close their windows.
"Please understand that we are in control," she said.
Though the drill felt real to those who participated, there were
some indications it was just a simulation. As Rell entered the
briefing room about 2:30, an aide said to her, "This is the fake
press."
Then, shortly before 3 p.m., victims started showing up at
Hartford hospitals, even though that would have been too soon for
them to arrive. Rell had said ambulances weren't going to the scene
because of contamination.
But participants said such glitches only added to the chaotic
feel that made the drill seem like a real emergency.
U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., chairman of the House
Homeland Security Committee, toured the mock attack site in New
London on Monday afternoon and headed to New Jersey later in the
evening.
"One of the things that really struck me is how hard everyone
has to work for an exercise," Cox said. "It's every bit as much
work as if it were real."
Cox said he was impressed by the way Connecticut officials
responded to the mock attack.
"The level of commitment from the first-responders is
extraordinary," Cox said. "I don't think we will know for several
weeks, indeed months, exactly how well we did and where the
problems are, but I can tell you immediately that the personal
commitment of every single one of the first responders that I have
observed and talked to is through the roof. I have no doubt they're
doing everything they can do."

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) - Federal Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff was scheduled to observe a mock antibiotic
distribution effort Wednesday as the nation's largest
anti-terrorism drill entered its third day.
The secretary, a New Jersey resident and former U.S. attorney in
Newark, was to watch as emergency workers dispensed fake drugs to
people including the so-called "worried well" who were not
exposed to the pneumonic plague bacteria but want or need the
medication to prevent them from contracting the deadly disease.
The drill in New Jersey involves a fake bio-terror attack
launched from a sport utility vehicle with a commercial sprayer. By
noon on Wednesday, 3,076 "deaths" had been recorded statewide as
part of the exercise scenario.
At the same time, Connecticut officials are dealing with a
simulated chemical weapons attack on the New London waterfront.
New Jersey officials are setting up drug distribution points,
including a large one at the Rutgers University Athletic Center,
which Chertoff will visit with acting Gov. Richard Codey.
The state's response to the hypothetical attack involves
isolating victims and those close to them, and distributing
preventive antibiotics to others to further halt the spread of the
fast-moving disease.
"To stop that in its tracks, the first thing is reaching the
people who are sick," said James Langenbach, an official with the
state health department who is helping organize New Jersey's
response as part of the drill. "Then we operate these points of
distribution to give medicine to help people from getting the
plague."
By Friday morning, all 21 of the state's counties will have drug
distribution points set up as part of the drill, Langenbach said.
The first day of the weeklong drill that began Monday focused on
investigating the initial incident when the sport utility vehicle
with the bacteria sprayer was found abandoned in a parking lot of a
satellite campus of Kean University in Hillside.
The second day, Tuesday, focused on the response of hospitals to
an influx of "sick" and "dying" patients.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

UNION, N.J. (AP) - Problems with communication and hospital
staffing surfaced Tuesday as the nation's largest anti-terrorism
drill entered its second day of simulated biological and chemical
weapons attacks.
The "death toll" as part of the fictitious exercise in New
Jersey involving an outbreak of pneumonic plague soared past 3,000
by midday. At the same time, Connecticut officials were dealing
with an influx of fake victims from a simulated chemical weapons
attack on the New London waterfront.
One of the most crucial decisions made by New Jersey officials
on Monday as part of the exercise - an order simulating drastic
travel restrictions within and into Union and Middlesex counties -
was poorly communicated and did not reach nearly enough of the
"public" or emergency responders, said state police Lt. Dennis
McNulty.
"Decisions were made at the highest levels of government, but
there are early indications those decisions were not disseminated
in an appropriate fashion," he said. "There seems to have been
some disconnect. Rest assured, that will be scrutinized."
Likewise, officials at Union Hospital, a small 201-bed community
facility nearest to the site of the simulated plague release, said
staffing issues quickly cropped up as waves of "victims" showed
up at four large blue outdoor triage tents set up in the emergency
room parking lot.
"We will face the reality of employees who will not want to
come to work and who will want to stay home with their families. We
will have to deal with a shortage of beds and we will have to deal
with traffic in and around the hospital," said Kathryn Coyne, the
hospital's executive director.
Fatigue among hospital workers also was becoming a problem.
"The staff has been doing this for 24 hours now," Coyne said.
"We have people who hadn't eaten or gone to the bathroom all day
long."
In a real emergency, the hospital would have to set up areas for
large numbers of workers to eat, shower and sleep and would have
trouble storing a large number of dead bodies, Coyne said.
By day's end, more than 100 fake patients were expected at the
hospital; 64 arrived by about 9 a.m. Doctors, nurses and the actors
all wore white face masks, and each "patient" was given a colored
toe tag to signify the severity of their condition. Black tags were
reserved for several patients who were "dead on arrival" and 22
others were "admitted" to the hospital and given gowns and beds.
By noon Tuesday, drill participants had counted 3,076 "deaths"
from the plague in New Jersey, a figure that included fictitious
"unattended deaths," or people supposedly found dead in their
homes. The toll could reach 9,000 by week's end, said Roger
Shatzkin, a spokesman for the state Office of Counterterrorism.
Exercise planners had victims "traveling" as far away as
Canada before falling ill, including some on a fictitious cruise
ship that supposedly left Bayonne with some exposed patients on
board.
The $16 million, weeklong drill began Monday with an
investigation of a black sport utility vehicle suspected of
releasing an aerosolized form of the deadly bacteria.
Connecticut officials focused Tuesday morning on recovery and
investigation from the simulated attack there. Rescue crews and
dogs sorted through the rubble pile, looking for volunteers playing
victims and dummies used to represent fatalities. State officials
discussed how to clean up the partially collapsed building without
risking additional injuries or contaminating the environment with
the simulated mustard gas.
Volunteers posing as grieving family members began arriving at a
family center Tuesday morning, as FBI and state police
investigators worked to determine who planned the attack.
As intelligence agencies attempt to find the culprits of the
attack in New Jersey, the state's health care system was expected
to be pushed to the breaking point. Hospitals were to continue to
be open and operating normally to treat real patients during the
drill.
The drills are being monitored by top U.S. Homeland Security
officials from a command center near Washington, as well as
regional centers in New Jersey and Connecticut. Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff was expected to hold a news conference
on the exercise Wednesday at Rutgers University in Piscataway.
Large-scale simulated dispensation of medication is to be the
focus of Wednesday's drills at various locations.
---
Associated Press writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report
from New Haven, Conn.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)