Photo By Spc. Christopher Shannon | The FBI Special Weapons and Tactics team enters and clears a warehouse during Exercise...... read more read more
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GULFPORT, Miss.--The Mississippi National Guard partnered with several emergency preparedness and law enforcement agencies to conduct Exercise Marlinspike II, April 3-6, 2017 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Marlinspike is an interagency exercise designed for a unified response to weapons of mass destruction threats.
The exercise was hosted and planned by Mississippi National Guard’s Flowood-based 47th Civil Support Team, that responds to emergencies such as incidents involving weapons of mass destruction, toxic industrial chemical spills, and natural disasters.
The 47th CST has maintained a working relationship with multiple agencies that were involved in the first Marlinspike exercise in 2015, and that relationship helped the team to initiate planning the second iteration of the exercise.
Marlinspike II was designed to facilitate multiple organizations working to investigate various threats in a team fashion. The exercise consisted of detection of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons, manhunts, explosive ordnance disposal, underwater body recovery, and the tactical entry of a warehouse and ship. The training is aimed at creating scenarios in which agencies are not equipped to handle the situation by themselves, causing them to call upon an organization with the capabilities needed to help them.
The training helped participants build confidence in working with other agencies, which strengthened interoperability and cooperation, said Todd Bobe, FBI supervisory special agent with joint terrorism task force and the overall exercise commander.
The exercise began with the FBI Special Weapons and Tactics team, the Department of Marine Resource, and the 47th working together to locate, infiltrate, and clear a vessel at sea, which contained chemical and biological agents.
In that scenario the 47th surveyed, tested and contained the chemical or biological threats that were found on the mission, said 1st Sgt. Jonathan Luke, the unit's senior noncommissioned officer.
The scenario then shifted to nearby Port Bienville where the Department of Homeland Security and the Mississippi Air National Guard provided surveillance assets to monitor a warehouse identified from intelligence gathered from the ship. The warehouse and nearby dock were secured by the FBI with simulated casualties. The Gulfport Police Dive Team assisted in recovering the fictional remains from the water.
Devices containing hazardous materials and explosives were found on site. The Mississippi Air National Guard and the Biloxi Police Department explosive ordinance disposal team assisted in neutralizing the devices while the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks arrived to assist in securing the area and searching for suspects.
The exercise ended with found intelligence identifying a ship carrying a radiological dispersion device. Department Marine Resource and the Harrison County Sheriff's Office seized and secured the craft. The radiation mitigation team neutralized the simulated radiation threat.
After completing all the scenarios and working together the agencies and units involved are better prepared to respond to a disaster or incident. It will be these same organizations coming to provide aid on the coast, whether it is a hurricane or nuclear detonation.
“When we bring our capabilities together,” said Luke. “We can mitigate risk to protect the citizens of Mississippi.”
Exercise Marlinspike II successfully allowed the emergency preparedness and law enforcement communities to better work with each other protect the citizens of Mississippi. The 47th Civil Support Team is already planning future interagency training events.
| Date Taken: | 04.08.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 04.09.2017 18:59 |
| Story ID: | 229708 |
| Location: | GULFPORT, MS, US |
| Hometown: | FLOWOOD, MS, US |
| Hometown: | GULFPORT, MS, US |
| Hometown: | JACKSON, MS, US |
| Web Views: | 154 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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