DTRA/SCC-WMD Supports Exercise Able Response 13

Photo By Ann Fox | Lt. Chris Chung (left), Lt. Col. Phil Franklin (center) and Amber Burke (right) pose in the Plenary Room at the Korean Institute of Defense Analysis following a successful Able Response 13 exercise. They were all part of the exercise control team who lead the bilateral interagency players through the paces in this functional exercise.  

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

06.21.2013

Story by Anne Marek 

Defense Threat Reduction Agency

SEOUL, South Korea - DTRA/SCC-WMD gathered with U.S. and Republic of Korea federal agencies at the Korean Institute for Defense Analysis (KIDA) in Seoul June 19–21 to participate in exercise Able Response 13 (AR13), the third in a series of U.S./Republic of Korea combined interagency exercises to coordinate and improve response efforts to a biological disaster, either naturally occurring or deliberately caused.

This year’s scenario – a deliberate anthrax attack affecting ROK civilians and U.S./ROK military targets – marked a key step forward in the Able Response series, as AR13 was a functional exercise, unlike the past two AR exercises, which were both tabletop exercises.

AR13 challenged participants to work together on the ground to execute a whole of government implementation strategy of information sharing, coordination and interface across ROK and U.S. counterpart organizations to respond to a notional crisis that could have a major impact on the ROK civilian population and the 28,000 U.S. military personnel deployed on the peninsula.

DTRA/SCC-WMD Foreign CBRNE Exercise Planner Air Force Lt. Col. Phil Franklin, J3-BPEF, served as the agency/center’s lead for the exercise, with support from Senior Technical Adviser-Pathology J9-CBM/Joint Science and Technology Office Army Lt. Col. Erica Carroll DVM, Ph.D., DACVP, Navy Lt. Christopher Chung, J3/7 Operations and Nuclear Support, Jin Lim, J3/7 Building Partnership Capacity Department, and J3/7 contractors Amber Burke and John Koch III. Other U.S. participants – DTRA/SCC-WMD, U.S. Forces Korea, U.S. Department of State, Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Embassy in ROK, FBI, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, U.S. Special Operations Command – and multiple ROK federal agencies, as well as a five-person Australian support cell participated in the exercise.

“I was really excited to be involved again in the premier biological exercise in the DOD,” said Lt. Col. Franklin. “The Able Response series is a DOD biodefense initiative which has grown in to a full-blown interagency, whole of government approach to exercising crucial capabilities with key allies.”

Exercises such as Able Response are critical in ensuring that the U.S. government and its allies are resourced and prepared to work together in advance of real-world events.

• Date Taken: 06.21.2013
• Date Posted: 06.27.2013 14:58
• Story ID: 109393
• Location: SEOUL, KR