Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Brigitte Peters | Over 50 members of USCG active duty, reserve and auxiliary receive initial...... read more read more
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By Ian R. Lazarus, SO-PB, USCG Auxiliary, Division 1, District 11SR
SAN DIEGO - A drill conducted at Sector San Diego (SSD) on March 13 & 14 provided the perfect embodiment of Semper Paratus. The Full Scale Exercise (FSE), including over 50 active duty, reserve and auxiliary personnel, was designed to assess the readiness of the base in effectively mitigating a potential disaster that could threaten people, property, and the entire marine environment in and around San Diego Bay. The exercise was conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, with each branch focusing on their area of responsibility in the event of an environmental disaster. The intended purpose of the FSE was to test Incident Command functions at the Captain of the Port (COTP) level, validate the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between USCG and USN with regard to radiological disaster response, and to exercise the Command Center’s Continuity of Operations Plan.
“Radiant San Diego” introduced a frightening hypothetical scenario: a Navy nuclear submarine experiences a shipboard fire in an engine room, resulting in a leak of radioactive material into San Diego Bay and creating a toxic plume that stretches from the entrance to the channel at Zuniga Point all the way to SSD and beyond. At 0900 on March 13, the exercise kicked off officially, with the Joint Harbor Operations Center conveying the news from the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP) that the sub accident had occurred. This triggered the simulation (“SIMCELL”) that would challenge each individual USCG cell to respond with action plans that could be quickly implemented, coordinated across the base, and integrated with other agencies.
Each cell focused on different response requirements:
• The Operations team provided hands-on support, issuing the Safety Marine Information Broadcast (SMIB), determining where staff needed to be evacuated, cutters that needed to move out of harm’s way, and establishment of the safety perimeter necessary to mitigate exposure levels.
• Intelligence teams monitored chatter and communication channels to determine if the breach was potentially due to a terrorist attack or other nefarious actors, and, especially, if there was any likelihood of a follow-on attack.
• Logistics identified critical resources and equipment needed to contain risk and damage.
• Finance determined how to create a streamlined process for procurement to quickly supply what was needed and to track overtime and related extraordinary expenses.
• Planning teams looked ahead at the various meetings and approvals needed across the agencies and what gaps might exist in executing the recovery overall.
• The Public Information Officers established what information could be shared with the public while responding to mock inquiries that could be expected from the media.
The USCG Auxiliary provided “injects” to the teams at prescribed intervals based on a Master Scenario Events List (MSEL), driving the scenario forward and introducing unanticipated challenges (for example, that Congressman Adam Schiff was traveling on a vessel near the perimeter of the safe zone). Finally, a series of “Evaluators,” also from the Auxiliary, floated during the exercise to observe and document performance against established capability targets in accordance with Exercise Evaluation Guides (EEGs).
“We were pleased to assist the Radiant San Diego exercise,” said Grant Graves, District Staff Officer, Emergency Management, USCG Auxiliary. “When asked to participate, we quickly assembled a diverse team with significant emergency management, medical, retired Coast Guard and law enforcement, and other related experience.”
The buzz of activity and sense of anticipation in the training room, where most cells were located, was palpable. But like any exercise of this nature, there were many moments where some staff had to “hurry up and wait.” The ExPlan was designed to come as close as possible to a real-life scenario, including specific developments at defined intervals that would simulate the likely cadence of events if the disaster were to really happen. Eventually, after dispositioning well over a dozen unique injects, the “all clear” was provided around 1430 and teams moved to debrief and review the feedback from Evaluators, an activity that ran through the morning of the following day.
“Full Scale Exercises require significant planning, coordination, and teamwork,” said LT Ashlee Wasowski, Deputy, Emergency Management / Force Readiness and onsite coordinator of the event. “The level of support from our active duty and reserve members at Sector San Diego, the Port of San Diego, and the Coast Guard Auxiliary resulted in a hugely successful exercise and advancing 45 members in their Incident Command System qualifications. We were also able to take away immediate feedback to improve our contingency plans and improve the partnerships and relationships we enjoy with our federal, state, and local partners.”
In addition to the benefits of having the various teams move through hypothetical disaster scenarios and to satisfy training requirements, the findings from the exercise will inform potential updates to the MOU between the Navy and USCG with regard to respective roles at the branch level.
-USCG-
| Date Taken: | 03.13.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.29.2024 11:46 |
| Story ID: | 467360 |
| Location: | SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 335 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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