Photo By Mark Olsen | U.S. Army Sgt. Eric J. Boyer, survey team member, 21st Weapons of Mass...... read more read more
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The New Jersey national Guard’s 21st Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team stare at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton, New Jersey.
In just a few hours, more than 10,000 people will crowd the facility to listen to the vice president of the United States.
The FBI has just received intelligence that a well-resourced domestic terrorist group has planted bombs, including one with cesium-137 – a radioactive isotope –in the arena.
The entire structure, from the catwalks crisscrossing above the floor; the various rooms and suites; the concession stands; the service areas; everything has to be searched.
The clock is ticking.
Fortunately, the threat isn’t real.
This time.
Four days of interagency training, March 25-28, 2024, brought together the 21st WMD-CST with Soldiers and Airmen from the 31st WMD-CST, Delaware National Guard, and the 101st WMD-CST, Idaho National Guard; explosive ordnance disposal technicians from the 177th Fighter Wing, New Jersey Air National Guard; U.S. Coast Guardsmen from the Atlantic Strike Team; New Jersey State Police; New Jersey Department of Corrections, and FBI special agent bomb technicians and a FBI weapons of mass destruction coordinator in a Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Yield Explosives Characterization, Exploitation, and Mitigation Course.
“The whole intent of the course is interoperability at the operations level,” said Carrie Hiser Sivley, president, Eniwetok Group, LLC – the contractor running the course. “We're talking about the folks that are on the ground that are actually out doing the work, that do the sweeps, that do the responses.”
That means, when WMD-CST units do their sweeps and come across certain hazards, they know who to reach back to remedy those hazards so that they can continue their sweeps.
The participants spent the first two days of the National Guard Bureau-funded course in the classroom reviewing responses to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive threats.
On March 27, the participants, which divided into four groups, assembled at the CURE Insurance Arena for the practical, hands-on training.
“It's going to be focused on realistic situations that have already happened,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Eric J. Boyer, survey team member, 21st WMD-CST.
Units involved in a domestic weapons of mass destruction response must be synchronized in their response and actions.
“They're doing a parking lot sweep training lane that has a radiation component,” said Mark Stewart, a trainer with the Eniwetok Group. “They're doing an improvised explosive lane; a biological toxin lane, and chemical dispersal lane.”
Each group has to discuss how they would respond to the threat each training lane poses, what actions they would take, and what they would do to mitigate the threat. Essentially, resolve any issues before an actual incident.
In the case of the 177th Fighter Wing explosive ordnance disposal technicians, that meant putting on their EOD-10E bomb suit and placing a pulsed X-ray generator between a simulated explosive device and a sensor panel. Once the panel is exposed it transmits an image to a laptop that shows what is inside the package. From there, the 177th EOD technicians discuss courses of action with their New Jersey State Police counterparts.
“The biggest take away is the level of communication necessary for these kinds of operations and how important it is to fully understand the capabilities of these other units and what assets might be available to you when something bad happens,” said U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Russell J. Bongiovanni, EOD technician, 177th Fighter Wing.
The last day was the practical exercise.
“We're gonna be doing a JHAT, which is a joint hazardous assessment team,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Nicky Lam, survey team chief, 21st WMD-CST. “We're gonna be clearing the CURE Arena of all potential hazards that can pertain to CBRNE. We're going to work with the FBI and state police.”
The Delaware, Idaho, and New Jersey WMD-CST survey team members, along with the Coast Guardsmen sweep the arena with handheld detection equipment. Once they locate simulated devices, New Jersey State Police; FBI special agent bomb technicians and a weapons of mass destruction coordinator are brought in to respond and mitigate the device.
“This simulated a Joint Hazard Assessment Team sweep of the CURE Insurance Arena that was designed to make sure that there were no threats that could be encountered if a VIP, in this case, notionally the vice president, were to be attending an event here,” said Sivley. “They did find three threats here and there were problems to solve that were radiological in nature. We had a hostage situation as well.”
The WMD-CST must be able to work with local, state, and federal partners in their area of responsibility – their backyard – to ensure one of the most important lessons from the class is effectively implemented.
“I would like to take back some point of contacts so that we have more opportunities to train with other units and other agencies throughout the region,” said Lam.
| Date Taken: | 04.04.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.04.2024 16:59 |
| Story ID: | 467839 |
| Location: | TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, US |
| Web Views: | 290 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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