The NIPC Watch and Warning Unit compiles this report to inform recipients of issues impacting the integrity and capability of the nation's critical infrastructures. Disaster exercise: flaws and progress. About 200 US, Maryland, Virginia and D.C. officials participated in a war game on 12 and 13 March that assembled federal and local authorities for the first time to test emergency plans adopted since September. The two-day anti-terrorism exercise found large and potentially serious gaps in the government's ability to remove debris, clear roads, and preserve public sanitation in a large-scale attack on the nation's capital. Federal and District officials aced a key objective of the test, however, demonstrating the compatibility of emergency plans in forming a common playbook and language intended to prevent bureaucratic paralysis in a crisis. Washington has made "drastic improvements" since September, when jammed roads and a sluggish, confused public response fueled criticism from Congress, said Kenneth S. Kasprisin, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's assistant director for readiness, response and recovery. (Washington Post, 28 Mar) Large, small airports to use different security systems. Smaller airports will use trace-detection systems, equipment that tests only parts of the outside surface of a piece of luggage for residue of explosive substances, a Department of Transportation (DOT) official said on 27 March. By contrast, bigger airports will use both the trace-detection equipment and the bulky conveyor-belt machines that scan for explosives with enhanced X-ray images of the luggage, both inside and outside. Many airports already use the trace-detection machines occasionally to scan carry-on luggage. The Transportation Security Administration will decide the mix of equipment used at each airport over the next several weeks and the technology will depend on a variety of factors, including airport layout and volume of passengers. The DOT said both technologies have strengths and weaknesses and "are good to do the job." (Washington Post, 28 Mar) WWU Comment: This article highlights the vulnerability of smaller airports in terms of weaknesses in reciprocal security (see NIPC Daily Report for 15 March). Terrorists take advantage of soft targets. And so it is possible that baggage and passengers originating at smaller airports without sophisticated equipment could be used to target large aircraft at a major airport via a connecting flight. An illustrative example is the 11 September hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, who embarked from Portland, Maine and connected through Logan Airport in Boston. Additionally, this article reinforces the importance of "two-factor security" (see NIPC Daily Report for 28 March) at all airports - large and small. Montana declared drought disaster. On 28 March, US Agriculture Secretary, Ann Veneman declared Montana a drought disaster area, opening the door for farmers to receive emergency disaster assistance. The declaration comes two months earlier than the USDA's drought designation last year. The USDA estimated drought-related losses at nearly $280 million. (Associated Press, 28 Mar) US will pay for gas masks for Alabama. The federal government will pay for safety gear that resembles a gas mask for thousands of people who live near an incinerator where the Army will burn deadly nerve agents. As many as 35,000 people in eastern Alabama could receive the protective hoods and training on how to use them. State and federal emergency management officials said they were unaware of any such previous effort, making this the first mass distribution of safety gear to American civilians. The hoods, which function like gas masks but are larger and simpler to use, would go to people who live nearest the incinerator. The money would also be used to buy gear for as many as 500 police officers, firefighters and emergency management workers, who would respond to any accident at the incinerator, said Mike Burney, emergency management director for Calhoun County. The Army plans to begin test burning of nerve gas in September. (New York Times, 28 Mar 02) FCC creates media-security panel. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the creation of an industry advisory panel intended to study the security of cable, broadcasting and satellite facilities in the event of another Sept. 11 terrorist attack. The panel is an outgrowth of last September's terrorist attacks on New York, when two commercial jets crashed into two World Trade Center buildings and caused their collapse. The towers had been antenna sites for several city broadcasters. Some stations that lost antennas were hardwired into area cable systems and continued to be viewed by cable consumers. A senior FCC official said the agency had no plans to require TV stations to build direct wireline links from the their stations to area cable systems. (Multichannel News, 28 Mar)
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