"Operation Bad Karma"
A Weapons of Mass Destruction Drill
 

Weapons of Mass Destruction: "Operation Bad Karma"

Homeland Security field drills shake things up - Ruidoso News Story
Yesterday morning the east side of the Union Pacific railroad tracks in Carrizozo became the focus
for over 100 people with a dozen different agencies conducting an interagency Homeland Security field drill.

Bill Martin, Coordinator of the Lincoln County Office of Emergency Services ran the drill. (Click on the pictures to see a larger version)

Bill Martin
  
Pictures above: The WMD site, Dave WMD consultants Dave Underwood & Jon Lopez from the Center for Response, Sgt. Robert Shepard (LCSO) briefs firefighters.

Pictures below: Jerry Carroll - Videographer, Harv Twite - PIO. Linda Vigil andstaff from the American Red Cross. Julie Carter (Ruidoso News) interviews
Sgt. Mark Dauster (Carrizozo PD), Curt Temple (LC Planner), Dave & Jon).

Below: Sgt. Tim Harvey and an unidentified bomb squad officer ( New Mexico State Police), assumes comand of the scene and orders in the 64th WMD Civil Support Team - US Army National Guard, commanded by Maj. Daniel Jaramillo.
To learn more about the CST, click here.

Army National Guard 2nd Lt. Xavier Miller of the 64th WMD Civil Support Team, Santa Fe, N.M., sets
up a decontamination area outside a simulated "hot zone" during a training exercise at Fort Leonard
Wood, Mo Photo by Staff Sgt. Kathleen T. Rhem, USA


Members of a weapons of mass destruction civil support team, wearing
protective equipment while training at Fort Leonard Wood, use a gas
chromatograph and mass spectrometer in a simulated "hot zone" during
an exercise. The equipment can identify up to 84,000 different substances.
Photo by Staff Sgt Kathleen T. Rhem, USA.

For more information, click here.

About WMD Civil Support Teams

The WMD Civil Support Teams were established to deploy rapidly to assist a local incident commander in determining the nature and extent of an attack or incident; provide expert technical advice on WMD response operations; and help identify and support the arrival of follow-on state and federal military response assets. They are joint units and, as such, can consists of both Army National Guard and Air National Guard personnel, with some of these units commanded by Air National Guard lieutenant colonels.

The mission of Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams (WMD-CST) is to support local and state authorities at domestic WMD/NBC incident sites by identifying agents and substances, assessing current and projected consequences, advising on response measures, and assisting with requests for additional military support.

The WMD civil support teams are able to deploy rapidly, assist local first-responders in determining the nature of an attack, provide medical and technical advice, and pave the way for the identification and arrival of follow-on state and federal military response assets. They provide initial advice on what the agent may be, assist first responders in that detection assessment process, and are the first military responders on the ground, so that if additional federal resources are called into the situation, they can serve as an advance party that can liaise with the Joint Task Force Civil Support.

The units provide critical protection to the force, from the pre-deployment phase of an operation at Home Station through redeployment. They ensure that strategic national interests are protected against any enemy; foreign or domestic, attempting to employ chemical, biological, or radiological weapons - regardless the level of WMD/NBC threat. They are a key element of the Department of Defense's overall program to provide support to civil authorities in the event of an incident involving weapons of mass destruction in the United States.

They maintain the capability to mitigate the consequences of any WMD/NBC event, whether natural or man-made. They are experts in WMD effects and NBC defense operations.

These National Guard teams provide DoD's unique expertise and capabilities to assist state governors in preparing for and responding to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) incidents as part of a state's emergency response structure. Each team consists of 22 highly skilled, full-time National Guard members who are federally resourced, trained and exercised, and employs federally approved CBRN response doctrine.

These units derive their origins in guidance from the US Congress which stated the need to "establish and equip small organizations in each of the 44 states not receiving initial RAID (Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection) element in 1999 to provide limited chemical/biological response capability".