Civil defense in America once meant knowing the quickest route to the nearest bomb shelter. How much that has changed will be evident this week when the nation’s biggest homeland security drills begin in Seattle and Chicago. More than 8,500 people from federal, state and local agencies and the Red Cross will participate in the exercises to test the USA’s ability to respond to terrorist attacks in more than one city. Seattle will mobilize after the simulated detonation of a ”dirty bomb.” Chicago will react to a scenario involving the release of a lethal biological agent.As the nation braces for its next home-front confrontation with terrorists, such tests of disaster-response capabilities are becoming common, even in places that might seem unlikely targets:
* Near Fulton, Mo., the Callaway Nuclear Plant staged a two-day drill last month. Officials from the Energy Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency took part. Full Story
