Alaska Capitol to host military exercise, including National Guard, FBI and other agencies

06-06-2025

The Alaska State Capitol is seen behind a curtain of blooming branches on Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
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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How do Cambodia and Thailand's military capabilities compare?

Yahoo

2 hours ago

Yahoo

How do Cambodia and Thailand's military capabilities compare?

Months of simmering tensions between Cambodia and Thailand have exploded into armed conflict, in the heaviest fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours in over a decade. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia, the current chair of Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN, in which Thailand and Cambodia are also members, urged calm and said he would speak to leaders of both countries to peacefully resolve their dispute. China also expressed concern at the fighting and said it was willing to play a role in promoting de-escalation. For more than a century, Thailand and Cambodia have contested sovereignty at various undemarcated points along their 817km (508-mile) land border, which has led to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths, including during a weeklong exchange of artillery in 2011. Tensions were reignited in May following the killing of a Cambodian soldier during a brief exchange of gunfire, which escalated into a full-blown diplomatic crisis and now has triggered armed clashes. Here is a look at the defence forces and arsenals of two countries, according to data from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies: Budgets and ground personnel Cambodia had a defence budget of U$1.3 billion in 2024 and 124,300 active military personnel. The armed forces were established in 1993 from the merger of the country's former Communist military and two other resistance armies. Of this, the Cambodian army is the largest force, with some 75,000 soldiers, backed by more than 200 battle tanks and around 480 pieces of artillery. Thailand, which the U.S. classifies as a major non-NATO ally, has a large, well-funded military, with a defence budget of U$5.73 billion in 2024 and 360,000 active armed forces personnel. The Thai army has a total of 245,000 personnel, including an estimated 115,000 conscripts, around 400 battle tanks, over 1,200 armoured personnel carriers and some 2,600 artillery weapons. The army has its own fleet of aircraft, comprising passenger planes, helicopters such as dozens of U.S.-made Black Hawks, and unmanned aerial vehicles. Air Forces Cambodia's air force has 1,500 personnel, with a relatively small fleet of aircraft, including 10 transport planes and 10 transport helicopters. It doesn't possess any fighter aircraft but has 16 multi-role helicopters, including six Soviet-era Mi-17s and 10 Chinese Z-9s. Thailand has one of the best-equipped and trained air forces in Southeast Asia, with an estimated 46,000 personnel, 112 combat-capable aircraft, including 28 F-16s and 11 Swedish Gripen fighter jets, and dozens of helicopters. Navies The Cambodian navy has an estimated 2,800 personnel, including 1,500 naval infantry, with 13 patrol and coastal combat vessels and one amphibious landing craft. Thailand's navy is much larger, with nearly 70,000 personnel, comprising naval aviation, marines, coastal defence and conscripts. It has one aircraft carrier, seven frigates, and 68 patrol and coastal combat vessels. The Thai fleet also contains a handful of amphibious and landing ships capable of holding hundreds of troops each and 14 smaller landing craft. Thailand's naval aviation division has its own fleet of aircraft, including helicopters and UAVs, besides a marine corps that has 23,000 personnel, backed by dozens of armed fighting vehicles.