National level exercise begins In May

There are three ways to guarantee that the next U.S. president will not say “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” after the next major natural disaster: The first is not to appoint someone so patently unqualified as the hapless, in-over-his-head Michael Brown to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); the secod is not the staff the upper echelon of this important agency with political hacks whose only qualification appears to be their work on George Bush’s various campaigns; the third is practice, practice, practice. The next presdient will take care of the first two requirements. DHS is currently taking care of the third.

In evidence: The National Exercise Program (NEP) of FEMA will conduct National Level Exercise 2-08 (NLE 2-08) — a combined functional and full scale exercise — from 1 through 8 May. NLE 2-08 will merge the objectives of U.S. Northern Command’s (NORTHCOM) Ardent Sentry 2008 exercise, FEMA National Continuity Program’s (NCP) Eagle Horizon 2008 exercise (formerly known as Forward Challenge), and FEMA Disaster Operation’s Hurricane Preparedness Exercise (HPE). The purpose of NLE 2-08 is to exercise national capabilities to prepare and respond to multiple incidents including both natural disasters and terrorist incidents. The exercise was designed to include scenarios addressing hurricane preparedness and response, national continuity capabilities, and Defense Support to Civil Authorities coordination in response to weapons of mass destruction terrorist attacks. The exercise venues involve a Category 4 hurricane impacting the Mid-Atlantic Coast and the National Capitol Region and multiple terrorist attacks in Washington State. Also during NLE 2-08, the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) will test its response to an accidental chemical agent release at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon. Canada will also participate through their Staunch Maple Exercise.

The exercise allows federal officials to implement continuity plans, test communications connectivity, operations and procedures for performing essential government functions from alternate locations, and interagency coordination. Additionally, it serves to demonstrate that essential functions can be effectively conducted during threats and emergencies. NLE 2-08 is a NEP exercise conducted within the five year exercise schedule. The NEP is the nation’s overarching homeland security exercise program, provides the federal government with a national, interagency wide program and a multi-year planning system to focus, coordinate, plan, conduct, execute, evaluate, and prioritize national security and homeland security preparedness-related exercise activities.