Highlights
– Nearly 50 multinational agencies participated in the anti-terrorism exercise
– Simulation provided opportunity to test new mine detection equipment
– Large-scale exercises are vital to strengthen emergency response against future terror threats to US ports
Last week, the United States (US) and Canada conducted a large-scale maritime exercise titled “Frontier Sentinel”. The drill tested the ability of officials to communicate and coordinate actions at the federal, state and local levels as it simulated a maritime terrorist attack and a natural disaster at the Maine and New Hampshire border. Nearly 3,000 sailors from the US and Canadian Navies participated from Nova Scotia to Virginia. Additionally, the US Coast Guard and hundreds of officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Transportation (DoT) participated.
The multi-agency terrorism drill parallels the 2007 Top Officials 4 (TOPOFF 4) exercise, which simulated a “dirty bomb” explosion in Portland, Oregon, Phoenix, Arizona and the US territory of Guam (Previous Report). Simulating massive terrorist attacks similar to TOPOFF 4 and Frontier Sentinel will be an important practice to sustain to strengthen homeland security and protect maritime infrastructure in the long-term. The drills provide law enforcement and emergency agencies on all levels an opportunity to interact, practice response times and rescue efforts, and improve the ability to provide security in times of a crisis.
Drill Scenarios
The drill centered on New Hampshire’s Portsmouth Harbor, providing a unique location with its close proximity to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and other industrial facilities, as well as the Piscataqua River’s fast tidal currents and limited underwater visibility. The drill began with news of a shipboard explosion on a 600-foot container vessel, prompting the US Coast Guard and Navy, with assistance from the FBI and local law enforcement to fictitiously close Portsmouth Harbor. Subsequently, responder teams determined that a mine had exploded in the port and massive casualties were reported.
Canada’s Navy deployed its Joint Task Force Atlantic (JTFA) where it launched the “Dorado”, a seven-ton remote underwater vehicle prototype designed to detect mines. The Dorado is capable of reaching depths of 750 feet and utilizes side-scan sonar to relay real-time imagery of the ocean floor. In addition to the Dorado, six other unmanned, undersea vehicles were deployed in the area, as well as twenty-four American and Canadian divers to search for the fictional mines.
Law enforcement agencies were also tested in several other scenarios including the hijacking of a tugboat and an emergency situation simulating a disabled ship that was pinned against the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge. Throughout the remainder of the weeklong exercise, US Coastguard cutters and Navy officers boarded and searched suspect ships while divers continued to survey and search the seafloor. Additionally, a mock oil spill will be simulated this week allowing the US Coast Guard to coordinate with local oil industry representatives.
Proactive Exercises Essential to Bolster Homeland Security
Frontier Sentinel follows the unveiling of the Small Vessel Security Strategy (SVSS), a strategy DHS created to enhance maritime domain awareness on a local level. Still, serious challenges remain for DHS to secure the homeland and maritime infrastructure from future terrorist plots (Previous Report). Small vessels will likely remain the primary weapon of choice for future maritime attacks due to their relatively low cost, the low level of boating knowledge required to operate small vessels and the previous successes terrorist groups have demonstrated while launching attacks via waterborne improvised explosive devices (WBIEDs). Additionally, terrorist groups will likely target US ports in the long-term as they represent an integral component of the US economy.
Continuing exercises similar to Frontier Sentinel at major ports in the US, along with improving the flow of information between small vessel recreational communities and the public and private sector through the SVSS, will be critical to better secure the US maritime environment from terror threats in the long-term.
