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TOPOFF Leaves Some Concerns Unanswered
The TOPOFF 3 terrorism drill has not addressed the troubles government officials would face in evacuating potentially huge numbers of people away from the site of a WMD attack, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, April 7). Attorney General Peter Harvey of New Jersey, which hosted the large-scale exercise along with Connecticut this week, said the state should prepare a plan to use highways, railways and waterways to move people away from an attack site. “If we have to evacuate people in this state on a massive level, how do we do it? Harvey said. “No matter what state has tried to do it, usually because of hurricanes, the highways get clogged real fast.” TOPOFF ends today with local drills and an early evaluation of the five-day exercise. New Jersey has been managing the aftermath of a mock biological attack that was expected to kill 9,000 “victims,” while authorities in Connecticut were faced with a simulated chemical weapon attack. Communications and logistics troubles that emergency personnel faced this week will provide lessons to help them prepare for an actual WMD incident, officials said. “I’m going to declare this drill a success,” said Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell. “We learned so much. We did so much, but we have so much more to learn.” Harvey noted that the mock closing of the New Jersey borders in TOPOFF — to help prevent the spread of an infection outside of the state — would be hard to pull off in reality, AP reported. “If we need to seal off certain counties, what is the complement of officers we need?” he said. “We have many highways, but also a lot of back roads in and out of the state, and the usual New Jersey exuberance: ‘You don’t tell me where to go, pal’” (Wayne Parry, Associated Press/PhillyBurbs.com, April 7).
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