Exercise prepares Dover AFB, community for potential weaponized biological attack

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Melissa Phillips
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  More than 100 Delaware and Dover Air Force Base leaders and emergency personnel were tested with a large-scale weaponized biological scenario Aug.
8 - 10.

The tabletop exercise, held at The Landings Club, was designed to increase the planning abilities of emergency personnel to respond to potential tragedies by using skills and concepts from the weapons of mass destruction incident response program, or WMD-IRT.

The evolving puzzle started with an aircrew member turning up deathly ill from pneumonic plaque, which isn't common in Delaware. Further complicating matters, the local police confiscated a suspicious make-shift lab producing a weaponized biological substance located near the base.

Terrorism strikes close to home
As the scenario evolved, it was discovered that a terrorist group hid a container filled with the weaponized plague, triggered to dispense aerosol droplets into the air at highly-frequented base facilities, to harm people and hamper the mission.

Base and state officials had to work through the scenario as if they were responding to an actual event and provide recommendations to leadership, who had to quickly make decisions that would ultimately affect people's lives and well-being.

"These types of scenarios bring up a lot of good questions and examples," said Col. Chad Manske, 436th Airlift Wing vice commander. "Not one single person has the entire solution. These exercises teach you that it takes everyone communicating to make good decisions and consider all the inputs."

Presidential directive institutes federal emergency system
The tabletop exercise had a dual-hatted purpose. Along with providing an opportunity for responders to think through scenarios without any risk of life or death, it was also a venue to introduce two relatively new changes to U.S. emergency management: the National Response Plan and compliance with Homeland Security Presidential Directive - 5, Domestic Incident Management.

Urged on by the chaos at Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center, the U.S. government established a single comprehensive approach to domestic incident response Feb. 28, 2003 through the HSPD-5. The HSPD-5 and the NRP charge all government responders to find a common language, guidelines and rules of engagement to coordinate emergency response in the United States.

"9/11 changed the way we respond to weapons of mass destruction and terrorist events," said Wayne C. Smith, Jr., senior analyst for Government Services, Inc., L3 Communications.

"Your community isn't just Dover Air Force Base," Mr. Smith said. "Your community is Delaware. That's why it is so important to get together and practice."

One of the initiatives to bridge the gap between the civilian sector and the Air Force method of approach is the WMD-IRT.

"It was eye opening to find out the process structure the military has and what steps, actions and decisions military personnel would have to make," said Thom May, State Health Operations Center chief for the Division of Public Health, who along with more than 30 civilian and state employees were invited to the tabletop to share their expertise.
"It's good to know we are basically engaged in the same steps to monitor public health and a threat to the public's health," Mr. May said.

Sharing a common language
The presidential tasking essentially requires all responders to speak in a common language. For instance, our current follow-on force to take care of emergencies is called the Disaster Control Group in the Air Force, and something else throughout the DoD and the civilian sector.

Whenever Air Force Instruction 10-2501, which covers the full spectrum response threat, is rewritten, the DCG will be called the Emergency Support Function. The same will happen in the civilian sector in order to comply with directives. So when on-scene leadership, DoD or civilian, asks for ESF support, they'll know what capabilities that will bring to the scene.

Community-minded approach
Air Force leaders urge personnel to embrace the new system and a community-minded approach to emergency management.

"This training was great, because it enables us to look face-to-face and say, 'That's my counterpart. I can count on him or her to work together with us to solve the problem and get an answer,'" Colonel Manske said.

Although the tabletop impacted a small segment of the base population, in times of crisis Colonel Manske said prior preparation of emergency personnel is key to successfully mitigating a large-scale tragedy.

"We have a great teaming approach with off base first responders emergency personnel already," said Colonel Manske. "The take away from this tabletop is that everyone can trust that base leadership really looks out for the base populace. We owe that to our folks."