JEFFERSON PROVING GROUNDS, Ind. –
It sounds like the plot to Hollywood blockbuster.
A terrorist has detonated a nuclear device in a major Midwestern city. More than 300,000 have been killed; hundreds of thousands more are wounded or missing. Local, state and federal forces rush in to provide lifesaving and life-sustaining care.
A small team of Soldiers, Airmen, FBI agents and scientists set up a forward operating base near the hotzone and start collecting samples that are rushed off to national laboratories to be analyzed to help track the nuclear device to those responsible.
That is the training scenario for Prominent Hunt 12, a smaller exercise within Vibrant Response 13, a major incident exercise conducted by U.S. Northern Command and led by U.S. Army North.
Members of the National Technical Nuclear Forensics Ground Collections Task Force, assembled from the Departments of Justice and Defense, with oversight from the Department of Homeland Security, conducted around-the-clock operations July 26 through 31at Jefferson Proving Grounds, Ind. During this time, they collected the simulated radioactive debris samples to quickly process, prepare and package the evidence for transport to national laboratories.
The DHS led the planning for the exercise and coordinated the government's nuclear forensics program across six federal organizations with responsibilities for nuclear forensics, which also included the Department of State and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
"In the event of a nuclear detonation, the foremost question in the mind of the President of the United States, members of Congress and the American people will be: 'Who is responsible for this?'" said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Terry Kerns, deputy assistant director of the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. the mission of the task force was straightforward.
"We are collecting evidentiary samples after a post-detonation event to do analysis and provide insight for attribution," said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Fred Pflueger, task force leader.
Determining those responsible for an actual attack would depend on information from intelligence and law enforcement as well as nuclear forensics analysis.
From their unnamed forward operating base at Jefferson Proving Grounds, Soldiers from Nuclear Disablement Team 2, 20th Support Command, based at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., headed out to collect a spectrum of simulated radioactive debris samples which were then passed on to the DOE scientists.
On each collection mission, a four-man team, composed of two nuclear disablement team Soldiers, an FBI special agent who stays with the team to maintain chain of custody, and a DOE scientist, collected samples at locations that the task force planning cell had determined based on the simulated plume after the detonation.
The Soldiers, clad in personal protective equipment, used small, hand-held vacuums to capture the debris for handoff.
"Then the DOE takes collection at the forward operating base, screens it, and then it's flown out with a special agent to a national laboratory for analysis," said Maj. Leif Hansen, Nuclear Training and Exercises, 20th Support Command.
The nuclear disablement team Soldiers said they enjoyed the opportunity to perform their mission.
"What we are doing is assisting the FBI with evidentiary collection of ground samples," said Staff Sgt. Sacha Moore, NDT 2. "Every day that I get to do my job is a great day."
During the exercise, the task force was able to accomplish a milestone.
"On July 30, we took the collection samples on a Black Hawk helicopter from here to a nearby Army airfield and then flew it out on a fixed-wing aircraft to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico," said Hansen.
Before the formation of the joint task force, collection missions were not well integrated among the separate organizations and were less efficient, Pflueger said.
"Now we have a unified front and excellent agency interoperability," said Pflueger, adding that Army North's exercise was a great opportunity for the task force to rehearse its mission and certify the Nuclear Disablement Team Soldiers.
"It was great working with Army North and Vibrant Response, and we received outstanding logistical support," he said.
Working with the FBI, DHS and DOE has been beneficial for Army North, said Lt. Col. Thomas Bright, ARNORTH director of training.
"Every interaction is an opportunity to learn," said Bright. "We're certainly learning."
The task force has made great strides, said Brig. Gen. Leslie Smith, commanding general, 20th Support Command.
"The National Technical Nuclear Forensics Ground Collections Task Force has grown immeasurably in the last two years," Smith said.
"They demonstrated great interagency and intergovernmental cooperation. It took the hard work of all the team members to make this mission happen."