Signal Tribune Newspaper

BY NICK DIAMANTIDES
Staff Writer

It started with a message from the United States Department of Homeland Security informing state and local law enforcement agencies and fire departments that terrorists were planning to attack the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. A flurry of activities followed the communication.
Then, last Thursday, as the United States Coast Guard was escorting a cruise ship out of Long Beach Harbor, a small boat approached the cruise ship. All of the Coast Guard’s attempts to stop the smaller vessel failed. It reached the cruise ship. A bomb was detonated, killing all aboard the small boat and severely damaging the cruise ship.
Fortunately, the scenario described above was just a practice drill involving the Coast Guard and several federal, state and local agencies.
“Each year, all the agencies involved in security and safety of life in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach come together to exercise our area maritime security plan,” said Lieutenant Andrew Munoz, public affairs officer for the Coast Guard.
He explained that the plan was mandated by the federal Maritime Transportation Safety Act passed in 2002. The law requires federal, state and local agencies that protect the nation’s ports to coordinate their responses to a terrorist threat or attack. The agencies are also required to develop a system for sharing information and communicating with each other.
“Leading a response against a terrorist incident has to be a joint effort,” Munoz explained. “And it has to be coordinated in order to be effective.”
To practice working together, for two days last week the agencies staged simulated events in the ports, starting with the communication informing all the agencies of the credible terrorist threat. That led the Coast Guard to increase its security level and coordinate with local law enforcement to increase patrols and security stops.
The staged events included a simulated truck bombing of the Los Angeles Port’s vessel traffic system in San Pedro, which the Coast Guard uses to coordinate the large cargo ships coming into and out of the harbor. Drills also simulated an anthrax attack and a raid on a suspected terrorist headquarters.
Thursday’s drill, to which news reporters from all media were invited, simulated a USS Cole-style attack on a cruise ship.
Participants in the exercise included personnel from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), firefighters and paramedics from the Long Beach and Los Angeles fire departments (LBFD and LAFD), the Coast Guard, the Long Beach and Los Angeles police departments and the Los Angeles Port Police, as well as several other state and local agencies and representatives of organized labor.
“We had three engine companies, a truck company, an urban search-and-rescue unit, and two large fire boats and two rescue boats,” said Frank Hayes, battalion chief and public information officer for the LBFD. “All totaled, we had about 50 personnel responding.”
Hayes explained that during a major incident in the harbor, some LBFD land-based units report to a fireboat vessel, which takes them to wherever the fire is. The firefighters also take some equipment from their engine companies to augment the equipment already on the fireboat.
Allen O’Neil, an LBFD captain, said the drill was very realistic.
“We had actual people in the water that we had to pull out, as well as injured victims on the ship that had to be evacuated,” he said. “The fire department has numerous drills similar to this one throughout the year to test our ability to respond to incidents safely and efficiently and rescue people.”
The difference in last week’s drills was the inclusion of so many other agencies. The three-day exercise was coordinated at the Coast Guard’s unified command center in San Pedro. About 350 people, including victim players, participated in the various staged events. All participating agencies had their own radio band to communicate with their own personnel. They also used another radio band that linked the various agencies to each other.
“This multi-day port security exercise (was designed) to test the area maritime security plan,” said Coast Guard Captain Paul Wiedenhoeft.
He explained that the exercise tested the human resources, equipment, communications systems and disaster response plans of the various agencies.
“We are always improving the plans that we have and making sure that we can work together should there be a real event,” Wiedenhoeft added. “Our primary concern is to make sure that this vitally important economic complex known as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach can stay up and running and that the communities nearby remain safe.”
Steven Gomez. FBI special agent in charge of counterterrorism at the ports, explained that the important thing to understand is that FBI works with all the participating agencies on a daily basis.
He noted that the FBI has a squad specifically assigned to the ports to investigate any kind of terrorism-related tips.
“This exercise was a perfect example of how we are able to test our personnel and our ability to respond together in a joint manner,” he said. “We also want to make sure that we identify any type of issue that we have to address to further enhance the safety of the ports.”
He added that that the exercise demonstrated that the various agencies are indeed able to respond quickly, efficiently and in a coordinated manner to a terrorist threat or attack.
“The exercise was meant to stress us and test us,” Wiedenhoeft added. “It showed that we were able to come together.”
He acknowledged that the drills also showed some problems with coordination technologies, but those problems would be worked out easily.