National Security Exercises Test Lawmakers

Last week, legislators from the House of Representatives dealt with both 10-kiloton nuclear blast at New York's Grand Central Station and a smallpox attack in Europe and America. The situations were part of a training exercise for the lawmakers to test their mettle in the event of disaster.

According to an article by Joe Fiorill on the GovExec.com website, members of the House Homeland Security Committee took part in the exercises last week in Wye River, Maryland. Fiorill says the two exercises were chosen to represent what committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-Calf.) called the two "most serious" threats to national security.

Cox told Fiorill that unlike a chemical or radiological strike, a nuclear or biological attack could be a "civilization-buster" bringing about drastic, long-term changes in the very nature of the country attacked. "The greatest priority now is to prevent a nuclear or biological attack from ever happening," Cox said. "A nuclear or biological event is the clearest example of why homeland security must continue to push our borders out."

Fiorill says the nuclear scenario supposed that a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb detonated at Grand Central Station in New York after having been trucked there in a lead-sealed container. Cox told Fiorill that House members focused on emergency response, health care, financial markets, prevention of further such attacks, cooperation with allies and the use of intelligence.

The biological scenario involved a smallpox attack in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey. During that scenario, Cox told Fiorill that legislators discussed the roles of international organizations, allocation of limited medical resources, public information and general infectious disease containment.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0305/031005gsn1.htm