The commanding officer of the Naval Support Activity Washington reacted to the shooting of two DOD police officers from the Pentagon Force Protection Agency during the evening of March 4 with an affirmation that safety and security is a top priority.
Capt. John Sears, commanding officer of NSAW, which includes the Washington Navy Yard and three other naval installations in the Washington D.C. area, expressed his admiration for the risks law enforcement and security personnel face on a daily basis.
"The shooting of the officers performing their duties, serves as a reminder of the risks faced and the important job protecting the security of DOD personnel, visitors and facilities that DOD police officers and Master-at-Arms personnel face daily."
"While we do not discuss specifics regarding security; I can say that the safety and security of our personnel, installations, and equipment is paramount. Security at all of our installations is thorough," Sears said.
"We extend our sympathies to those affected by the Pentagon tragedy. We also extend our admiration to the brave police officers who were involved in the incident, as well as to our own DOD police officers and Master-at-Arms personnel, who remain vigilant and professional at all times to keep us safe," he continued.
Security exercise planned
Unrelated to the Pentagon incident, NSAW will join other naval installations and activities in the United States and Guam in an annual security training exercise, known as Exercise Solid Curtain/Citadel Shield 2010, coordinated by U.S. Fleet Forces Command and conducted by Naval Installations Command, March 22-26.
Sears said, "This is a previously scheduled exercise, coordinated locally by our training department. Exercise Solid Curtain/Citadel Shield has been conducted since 1999 and is not being conducted in response to any specific threat."
"The week-long security exercise is the largest Anti-terrorism/Force Protection exercise conducted nation-wide. It is designed to enhance the training and readiness of Naval Security Force personnel to respond to threats and situations that would occur during an actual emergency," Cynthia Brown, NSAW director of security said.
More than 250 training scenarios will be utilized across the country, testing operations, according to Capt. Sam A. McCormick, USFF Director for Fleet Anti-Terrorism.
"We have designed the exercise to minimize the impact and disruptions to normal installation operations, but there may be times when the exercise causes increased traffic or delays in base access. Employees and visitors may also see increased security postures and emergency responder activity associated with the exercise," Brown stated.
NSAW Training Officer Tim Trammell stated subject matter experts in various security and emergency response specialties will observe the exercise; serve as evaluators; collect and analyze information and relay that data to command authorities to further improve security and emergency response practices and procedures for the future.
"Using a realistic scenario as the focus of our exercise, we can use the training environment and the feedback from the evaluators to address issues that will make us more prepared for any actual event," Trammell concluded.