CAW Hosts Operation Golden Phoenix Tabletop Exercise

On June 9, 2010, The Naval Postgraduate School, (NPS) Center for Asymmetric Warfare (CAW) in conjunction with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) hosted a Tabletop Exercise as part of “Operation Golden Phoenix” (OGP) 2010 Exercise series. Over 170 participants from 80 agencies participated in this Tabletop Exercise. OGP is a series of training events designed to explore the emergency response and management following the detonation of an improvised nuclear device in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The exercise program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate who’s Program Manager, Theresa Lustig, was in attendance at the event.

The Tabletop Exercise was designed to provide training and facilitated discussion on the types of resources, capabilities and subject matter expertise available at various levels of government and from supporting organizations.

David Lamensdorf, President of Safe Environment Engineering and Ron Kimmelman, IT Manager for CAW teamed up for a demonstration on Interoperability technology that is available as a resource to manage information during a crisis of this magnitude. The Integrated Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives Program, provides an instantaneous way to share and collaborate CBRNE information across region, state, nation or beyond.

The participants were presented with a scenario, which was developed by the CAW team. One of CAW’s responsibilities is to develop realistic and robust scenarios which assisted in driving discussion among participants.

Participants were then divided into breakout groups such as field level, local government, operational and state, federal and military. The breakout session focused on the issues surrounding emergency response and management during the first 12 hours of the incident. As the exercise progressed, the agencies were provided with scenario updates.

The results of the breakout sessions were briefed back in a panel discussion format that included; field level, local government, operational area, state, federal, military and even Public Information Officers (PIO).

The OGP TTX and Training was designed to stimulate planning activities and initiate preparations for the July 28 OGP-10 Functional Exercise. Events in addition to the Functional Exercise include: Los Angeles County Executive Workshop, Communications Exercise and an After Action Conference.

For more information on Operation Golden Phoenix, contact Alan Jaeger, CAW Program Manager at ajaeger@nps.edu