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Valid Preparation or More Scare-Mongering?

05:59 / 13.05.03

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3019097.stm

The five-day test, which began with an explosion and fire in the north-western city of Seattle on Monday, is designed to test US emergency response teams.

The simulation, dubbed "Topoff 2", has a 200-page script containing some surprises not announced to the public in advance. It will cost an estimated $16m and involve 8,500 people in the United States and Canada.

"Protection against terrorism requires that organisations at every level of government and in the private sector work together in partnership to prepare for events and deal with their consequences," he [Mr Ridge] said in a statement.

So, just how useful do we think these 'Terror-Tests' are going to be? Emergency services and the public are - apparantly - to be given enough prior warning to ensure that the element of surprise (arguably the greatest weapon of any terrorist attack) is removed, which rather invalidates the exercise. And then we have the tying up of resources as 'Actors playing victims were rushed to hospital'.

And, if that weren't bad enough, 'The writers of the scenario have even invented an imaginary terrorist organisation - called Glodo - to blame for the attacks.'

Thoughts?

12:01 / 13.05.03

To be fair, this is not a new (i.e., post-9/11) thing: this sort of coordination-of-emergency-services exercise was conceived during the Clinton administration, and the first exercise (TopOff-1, obviously) was held several years ago—I don't recll the excat dates, but it was before the WTC attacks and the declaration of TWAT.

12:46 / 13.05.03

I saw this on TV and thought the same thing: "oh yeah, like we'll ever be prepared for a terrorist attack." Not too worried though; I have duct tape and plastic sheeting. Is there another agenda? I don't know. The rise of Glodo as an imaginary threat?

12:46 / 13.05.03

I saw this on TV and thought the same thing: "oh yeah, like we'll ever be prepared for a terrorist attack." Not too worried though; I have duct tape and plastic sheeting. Is there another agenda? I don't know. The rise of Glodo as an imaginary threat?

12:48 / 13.05.03

I saw this on TV and thought the same thing: "oh yeah, like we'll ever be prepared for a terrorist attack." Not too worried though; I have duct tape and plastic sheeting. Is there another agenda? I don't know. The rise of Glodo as an imaginary threat? The whole War on Terror seems like scare-mongering.

12:50 / 13.05.03

sorry about that.

15:29 / 13.05.03

The whole War on Terror seems like scare-mongering

Well, er, yeah. Obviously. But with regards to this particular situation, I'm a little less certain. I appreciate that a country both needs - and has the right - to defend itself, particularly at a time where anti-Americanism, justified or not, is very high.

That said, these operations just seem to have the unmistakable stamp of governmental showmanship about them (although let's not forget that boorish showmanship has and does work very well for the US).

Speak up US 'lithers. Do you feel any safer knowing your government is blowing things up in the middle of Washington and Seattle?

18:58 / 13.05.03

By what I heard on NPR this morning, I say, "Feh." The preparation done for TopOff 1 was, "There will be some drill... sometime in May." This time around, the emergency services knew the day, the time, the subject; I actually heard a phrase very like, "If all goes according to schedule the fake terrorists will be caught and arrested Wednesday."

I'm sure there's some utility in emergency services practicing working together, but this seems far too choreographed to root out real bugs in the response system.

at the scarwash

20:29 / 13.05.03

It smacks a little bit of the "duck and cover" propaganda cartoons shown to schoolkids in the 50s and 60s. Only a pageant. With ambulances and policecars.