Exercise tests responses to hurricane, nuke and terrorists     *

Apr 30 07:38 PM US/Eastern

A hurricane roars ashore in Rhode Island. A nuclear device goes off in
the Midwest. And terrorists begin wreaking havoc in Alaska. What do you do?

The Pentagon and other US and Canadian agencies plan to answer that
question in a major exercise called Ardent Sentry-Northern Edge 07 that
began Monday and will play out over the next 18 days, involving
thousands of US troops and state and local officials.

The US Northern Command said it is "the largest and most complex
exercise" it has undertaken, combining natural and man-made disasters to
test preparedness plans on a national level.

"The intent obviously is to stress the system," said Mike Kucharak, a
spokesman for the Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The peak of the exercise will come next week when a hurricane bears into
Rhode Island under one scenario, and an improvised nuclear device is
detonated in Indiana in another.

Interspersed with those crises will be simulated terrorist actions in
Alaska, some of which will take place at sea while others will involve
aircraft.

That will allow participants to explore what might happen if terrorists
tries to take advantage of catastrophic event, Kucharak said. "How would
that stress the system?"

The nuclear scenario postulates the detonation of a 10-kiloton nuclear
device, which will draw in state and local authorities, and national
guard units from three states. Some 2,000 active duty military personnel
will also take part.

Kucharak said the military will for deploy specialized forces to handle
the consequences of a simulated nuclear event.