Alaska Capitol to host military exercise, including National Guard, FBI and other agencies
Cruise ship passengers in Alaska's capital city, visitors to the Alaska State Capitol and residents could be greeted by officials in hazmat suits next week as the city hosts a large-scale military exercise.
'Operation ORCA' will test the readiness of first responders and members of the Alaska National Guard for a terrorist attack that involves chemical, biological, nuclear or explosive weapons, said Lt. Col. Brett Haker, commander of the 103rd Civil Support Team, which is putting on the exercise.
Haker said ORCA is held every other year in Alaska, but this is the first time for Alaska's capital city and for the State Capitol itself, where they will stage a scenario involving an attack by fictitious Russia-based terrorists.
Streets on three sides of the Capitol building will be closed to traffic for three days, June 9, 10 and 12, according to the Juneau Police Department. The Capitol itself will remain open to the public during the exercise.
Haker said some parts of the scenario will involve a houseboat at or near Juneau's cruise ship docks, which welcome more than 1 million visitors per year.
'They will see us in our hazmat suits. We will have signs up, and ultimately, they'll see us entering and exiting. We'll have our vehicles — they are all like a blue Air Force color. They look civilian, but they all have lights on, and they look like, like an emergency vehicle,' he said.
The exercise will involve about 100 people, he said, including members of the FBI, U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard, local police and fire departments, and local governments including the Tlingit and Haida Central Council.
Some members of the National Guard from other states will also participate, and large military cargo planes will be involved.
Haker credited his operations officer, Capt. Kyle Rehberg, for organizing much of the exercise but said it will also be a test of organization for everyone involved.
'Ultimately, the main purpose is to improve interoperability, so that we are all speaking the same language when we work with all these additional first responders … and we have these complex problem sets that we have to work through collectively,' he said.
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