Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
March 21, 2010
Infowars received the following forwarded email. It is dated Friday, March 19, 2010:
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| A number of military and government terror exercises coincided with the attacks of September 11, 2001. | |
Just learned that there’s a Navy-wide exercise this coming Mon. Mar. 22 and Tues. Mar. 23 during which, as currently planned, U.S. bases/ commands will be at ‘Charlie’ (C) security level on Monday and then at DELTA (D) security level on Tuesday, March 23. To the best of my knowledge, the last time we were at ‘Delta’ was the day of 9/11, then reduced not too long after 9/11 to ‘Charlie’. My understanding is that the base security levels correspond to DEFCON levels, and that Delta is very high. There’s also something strange about the lack of general alert to personnel on the base where I work, the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, Calif., about this exercise, as I’m told that other Navy bases in our Navy S.W. Region alerted their personnel to this exercise as much as a month ago, and that Navy instructions were/are for all bases to do the same, yet so far there has been no all hands alert at NPS, and I was also told that someone said they didn’t understand why there was all the ’secrecy’ surrounding the coming exercise for NPS and not elsewhere.
A Wikipedia entry on Force Protection Condition (FPCON) currently used by the Department of Defense describes FPCON CHARLIE as a situation when an instance occurs or when intelligence reports that there is terrorist activity imminent. FPCON DELTA describes a situation when a terrorist attack is taking place or has just occurred.
“The decision on what level of FPCON to implement is affected by the current threat of terrorism towards military facilities and personnel, the amount of security forces available, and current relationships between the United States and the world, which may affect the chances of an attack.”
The threat level is set by USNORTHCOM.
According to the Washington Post, the Pentagon went to an Alpha security and defense alert once news of the WTC attack was reported, and after their building was hit, they went to a Charlie level of security. This is a scale from A-Alpha to B-Beta, C-Charlie, D-Delta. See John Judge, Kean and failure on 9/11.
It should be noted that the U.S. Navy has an Anti-Terrorism Training Exercise scheduled for March 22 – 26. “Inside information is that the below exercise will go to security level ‘Delta’ on Tuesday, March 23, reportedly the first such instance since 9/11,” a second forwarded email from the same person explains.
“Exercise Solid Curtain/Citadel Shield 2010 is a single, large, Navy-wide integrated exercise designed to enhance the training and readiness of Navy security personnel to respond to threats that may happen in the real world, but is not in response to any specific threat. Loud noises may be heard and members of the surrounding community may experience changes in traffic flow. Gate access may be slowed due to Random Anti-terrorism Measures being in effect. As a part of the exercise, Force Protection Conditions may be elevated, and communications channels may be interrupted.”
“The nationwide exercise is the largest Anti-terrorism/Force Protection (AT/FP) exercise in the country,” Navy Compass reported on Friday. “It is designed to enhance the training and readiness of Naval Security Force personnel to respond to threats to installations and units, leveraging all processes security forces would implement in the event of an actual emergency.”
The following press release was issued by the U.S. Fleet Forces Command Public Affairs on March 19, 2010:
NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) — Navy shore installations and activities in the continental United States, Hawaii and Guam will participate in Exercise Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield ‘10 (SC/CS-10), an annual security training exercise coordinated by U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF) from March 22-26.
The weeklong security exercise is the largest anti-terrorism/force protection (AT/FP) exercise conducted nationwide. It is designed to enhance the training and readiness of Naval Security Force personnel to respond to threats to installations and units, leveraging all processes security forces would implement in the event of an actual emergency.
“Instead of having numerous smaller exercises, Exercise Solid Curtain/Citadel Shield is a single, large, integrated exercise that accurately emulates what may happen in the real world,” said Capt. Sam A. McCormick, USFF director for Fleet Anti-Terrorism.
As the Navy component for U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), USFF will also use SC/CS-10 to enhance their ability to support NORTHCOM’s Homeland Defense mission.
“Solid Curtain is mainly an operational-level training event, while Citadel Shield, conducted by Commander Naval Installation Command, will provide advance guidance for personnel involved with the individual field training exercises,” said McCormick.
SC/CS-10 will consist of more than 250 individual training events across the country, each designed to test different regional AT/FP operations. Scenarios range from events such as recognizing and countering base surveillance operations, to higher-tempo and active simulated emergencies such as small boat attacks on waterfront bases and cyber attacks on installations.
“We are really focusing on the land-sea interface at the waterfront, as well as active shooter scenarios, in light of the incident at Ft. Hood,” said McCormick.
Many communication tools will be used to keep base personnel informed about exercise security situations. Computer network alert systems will distribute messages to office computers and the “giant voice system”will be used to immediately alert people base-wide. The giant voice system is an outdoor intercom loud enough to alert anyone outside on base of a potential threat.
While disruptions to normal base and station operations will be limited, there may be times when the exercise causes increased traffic or delays in base access. Area residents may also see increased security activity associated with the exercise.
“There will be possible traffic and base access delays during the exercise; however, we have set up the exercise to minimize the impact to local communities,” said McCormick.
During the exercise, assessors will collect information and relay that data to decision makers to improve AT/FP practices and procedures in the future.
“We will have assessors here on the battle watch floor and threat working groups to look for any inconsistencies in the reporting processes and procedures,” said McCormick. “This feedback will enable us, in a training environment in a realistic scenario, to address issues that will make us more ready and prepared for any actual event.”
For more news from U.S. Fleet Forces Command, visit www.navy.mil/local/clf /.
On September 6, 2001, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) practiced for dealing with simulated hijackings of two commercial aircraft by terrorists as part of its annual training exercise called Vigilant Guardian. Vigilant Guardian is one of four major exercises that NORAD conducts each year.
“No one knew specifically that 20 people would hijack four airliners and use them for suicide attacks against major buildings,” John Arquilla, an associate professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, said after the attacks.
Prior to 9/11, the city of New York had scheduled an exercise called Tripod. The exercise was designed to test the operation of the city’s Office of Emergency Management in the event of a biological-terrorism attack. More than 1,000 Police Academy cadets and Fire Department trainees were recruited to participate. Then Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the police and fire commissioners, and representatives of the FBI and FEMA were present for Tripod on the morning of September 11, 2001.
On July 7, 2005, a consultancy agency with government and police connections was running an exercise at the same times and locations of terrorist attacks in London. “At half past nine this morning we were actually running an exercise for a company of over a thousand people in London based on simultaneous bombs going off precisely at the railway stations where it happened this morning, so I still have the hairs on the back of my neck standing up right now,” Peter Power, a former Scotland Yard official working at one time with the Anti Terrorist Branch, told the BBC.
There is no indication an actual terror event will “go live” on Monday or Tuesday, but considering the above forwarded email and the fact terror events were staged at the same time as terror drills on September 11, 2001, in New York and Washington and on July 7, 2005 in London, we should be attentive over the next 48 or so hours.
