Exercise Atlantic Blue to test international response to terrorist incidents

Exercise Atlantic Blue is due to take place 4-8 April 2005 and is designed to test simultaneous responses to internationally linked terrorist incidents, focusing on how we communicate across international borders at a strategic level.

On 17 March 2005 Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said:

"The threat from international terrorism remains real and serious, and is a worldwide concern. It is vital we make every effort to enhance and develop our resilience to this threat by working closely with our international colleagues. Exercise Atlantic Blue provides an excellent opportunity to do just this, through sharing best practice on emergency planning and response procedures."

The Metropolitan Police Service is the host police force for the UK working closely with the Home Office and other government departments and London agencies on planning and delivery. Planning has taken over two years since it was first agreed between the UK and the US. See the statement issued in July 2003 by David Blunkett - An update on counter-terrorism and security issues.

The exercise will be a command post exercise (CPX). This means a real incident control room is set up to co-ordinate responses, but will not involve live action on the ground.

Running a CPX will allow the UK to focus entirely on strategic-level communication issues, rather than on the management of live play at an operational level which is regularly rehearsed around the country.

The Canada Exercise Tripleplay will also run as a CPX, and, as with the UK will involve players from the emergency services, local and regional governments, and the health services.

The US TOPOFF 3 will run as a live play exercise, this means it will incorporate strategic level play, similar to that played UK and Canada, as well as play at an operational level. Exercise TOPOFF3 will involve more than 10,000 participants representing more than 200 federal, state, local, tribal, private sector and international agencies and organisations, as well as volunteer groups.

International objectives
The international objectives of the exercise are:

• Incident Management
To test the full range of existing procedures for domestic incident management of a terrorist event and improve, through practice, top officials’ capabilities in affected countries to respond in partnership.

• Public Information
To practice the joint response of the UK, US, and Canadian governments to media handling and public information following a linked terrorist incident occurring in all three countries.

• Intelligence/Investigation
To test the flow of operational time-critical intelligence among US, UK, and Canadian agencies in response to a linked terrorist incident occurring in all three countries.

• Evaluation
To identify lessons learned and promote best practices.

FAQs
How was it decided to hold the exercise, and how long has it been planned for?

• Exercise Atlantic Blue is part of our on-going national exercise programme. The exercise has been planned for over 2 years and was first announced parliament in July 2003.

Why isn’t Exercise Atlantic Blue going to be a live exercise?

• A Command Post Exercise (CPX) is still a live exercise, but on a strategic level rather than operational one. In this case we believe a CPX is the best way for us to focus entirely on strategic-level communication issues with the US and Canada, rather than on the management of live play at an operational level, which is already regularly rehearsed around the UK.

What scenarios are being tested in the UK?

• We do not give details out of any exercise scenario in advance for obvious reasons. The exercise is designed to test players’ responses and to identify existing strengths and weaknesses. This would not be an effective test if players knew the scenario in advance.

Does this mean there is a greater risk to the UK?

• No. We are holding this exercise as part of sensible contingency planning with the aim of developing our joint preparedness and resilience in the event of a terrorist incident. It in no way reflects a change in the level of threat to the UK.

How many people are taking part in the exercise? What organisations do they represent?

• Around 2500 people are involved in the planning and delivery of Exercise Atlantic Blue. These include representatives from the Home Office and other Government Departments, the Metropolitan Police Service and a wide variety of London agencies including emergency services, utilities and local government.

What happens if a terrorist incident occurs during the exercise?

• In the event of a major incident of any sort a decision would be taken to halt the exercise. There will be no impact on the level of policing or security within London during the week of the exercise.

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