Feds act out terror attack scenario

Thursday, February 3, 2005

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

At 9:10 yesterday morning, 149 federal officials from 61 agencies found themselves grappling with a frightening, fictitious scenario designed to test their ability to sustain government operations in the face of a disaster or terrorist attack.

Participants from agencies ranging from the Army Corps of Engineers to Veterans Affairs broke into small groups at Seattle's Jackson Federal Building, where they were told that the FBI had received a credible threat of a possible chemical or biological weapons attack that might target federal offices downtown.

At the same time, a small "bomb" detonated near City Hall.

Security agents then uncovered a bag of suspicious powder near the main intake of the federal building's ventilation system, prompting an evacuation order.

The officials had to discuss what to do next.

The question they had to answer: What steps do federal workers take to ensure continuity of government operations?

June Uson of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's regional office outlined the key components of such planning:

An alternate location ready in case of the destruction or evacuation of a primary work site;

Orders of succession readily available in case key staff members are missing;

Provisions for preserving vital records, databases and systems;

Plans listing the agency's essential functions that must be maintained.

Yesterday's 'tabletop exercise' came after a Jan. 4 meeting of a White House Homeland Security Council deputies meeting in which eight national essential functions were defined.

Those functions are to:

Preserve our constitutional form of government;

Provide leadership visible to the nation and the world, maintain the trust and confidence of the American people;

Defend the country against all enemies, foreign or domestic, and prevent or interdict future attacks;

Maintain and foster effective relationships with foreign nations;

Protect against threat to the homeland and bring to justice perpetrators of crimes or attacks against the nation, its citizens or interests;

Provide rapid and effective response to and recovery from the domestic consequences of an attack or other incident;

Protect and stabilize the nation's economy, ensure confidence in financial systems;

Provide for critical federal government services that address the national health, safety and welfare needs of the nation.

In coming months, many of the graduates of yesterday's tabletop exercise will participate in a full field exercise testing their capabilities to continue government operations in the wake of a disaster or attack.

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com

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