US prepares for largest terrorism exercise

DIRTY BOMBS: The program involves the government's highest officials such as top people from Defense and Homeland Security, but lawmakers are demanding answers

AP, WASHINGTON
Friday, Oct 05, 2007, Page 7

The US is preparing for its biggest terrorism exercise ever later this month when three fictional "dirty bombs" go off and cripple transportation arteries in two major US cities and the Pacific island of Guam, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.

Yet even as this drill begins, details from the previous exercise held in 2005 have yet to be publicly released -- information that is supposed to help officials prepare for the next real attack.

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives demanded answers on Wednesday, including why the "after-action" report from 2005 has not been made public. Congress has required the exercise since 2000, but has done little in the way of oversight beyond attending the actual events.

Representative Bennie Thompson, the Democratic committee chairman, did not get a direct answer to why it has taken the department two years to finish the after action report.

"I'm just wondering how much of that information you gleaned is actually current enough to move forward with," Thompson told Dennis Schrader, a preparedness official at the Homeland Security Department.

Wednesday was Schrader's 45th day on the job at the department, and he lacked most of the answers lawmakers were seeking on the US$25 million exercise.

Democratic Representative Norm Dicks suggested the department might be hiding something by not releasing the report.

"Is it so sensitive because there was a lot of failures in this exercise?" he asked. "You know, Katrina wasn't exactly" a success.

The fourth Top Officials exercise -- dubbed TOPOFF -- takes place during the week starting Oct. 15. The program costs about US$25 million a year and involves the federal government's highest officials, such as top people from the Defense and Homeland Security departments.

"The challenge with TOPOFF is not the exercise itself. It's to move as quickly as possible to remedy what perceives to be the problems that are uncovered," former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge said in an interview with AP this week.

Ridge, who launched his own security consulting company on Monday, said he is a big fan of the TOPOFF exercises. But he said "it's not acceptable" that the review from the 2005 exercise is still not released publicly.

The House Homeland Security emergency communications, preparedness and response subcommittee was holding a hearing on Wednesday on the terrorism exercise program.

This year's TOPOFF will build on lessons learned from previous exercises, Homeland Security said.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/10/05/2003381807