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Northern Edge exercises homeland air defense operations

March 17, 2003

By Staff Sgt. Connie L. Bias
3rd Wing Public Affairs

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- Despite increased tensions and the threat of additional deployments around the globe, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region officials continue to focus on the need for heightened homeland defense operations.

Northern Edge 2003, which began March 3 and concluded March 13, focused on perfecting Alaska's capability and readiness to defend regional land, sea and airspace.

This year, Alaska's premier joint training exercise employed more than 1,600 airmen, soldiers, sailors, Marines and coastguardsmen around Alaska to test and practice joint service operations. There was also an increased emphasis on non-military players, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Aviation Administration, local police forces and other civilian organizations needed for Homeland Defense.

Amalgam Chief, a NORAD exercise coordinated with Northern Edge 2003, exemplifies the Air Force's push to link military and civilian forces as joint national security assets. During an Amalgam Chief exercise March 11, the Alaska NORAD Region concentrated on the air defense portion of Northern Edge.

Amalgam Chief is a bi-national exercise run by the United States and Canada, and like its Northern Edge counterpart, uses representatives from multiple U.S. services. The exercise is dedicated to Homeland Defense scenarios; this year, players responded to a simulated stolen military aircraft flying over Alaskan airspace.

"This is the aftermath of the realities of 9-11," said Col. Jerry Siegel, 611th Air Operations Group commander here. "Pre-9-11, when aircraft were hijacked, the assumption was we would negotiate with the hijackers, talk them down and negotiate. The assumption was, the hijacker did not want to kill himself and everybody aboard."

That assumption was proven erroneous when airplanes were used as weapons over U.S. soil. Now, military planners in the U.S. have a new job -- to prepare exercise scenarios that place the U.S. in the attack zone.

"You can't be too careful; you can't be too cautious," was the lesson Tech. Sgt. Yvette Thompson learned. She's the NCOIC of the Alaskan NORAD Region flight exercise section, and helped prepare the Amalgam Chief scenario.

"I would have never thought I'd build an exercise in which my capitol was being attacked," she said, adding that now the scenarios she builds always include one of the 50 states.

Exercises such as Amalgam Chief use a long list of base assets. Aircraft from the 19th Fighter Squadron flew over Valdez as exercise players, and representatives from agencies such as the Office of Special Investigations, Alaskan Command, and Fort Richardson's Rescue Coordination Center were involved. There was also increased coordination with the FAA and other civilian organizations. The FAA practiced clearing airspace for military jets in this exercise.

"This is not a military combat zone; the FAA owns all the airspace, so we are assisting them," said Colonel Siegel. "There has always been coordination (with civilian agencies) but I'd say that the civilian authorities now have a better understanding of what we do."

Although the day's events were just practice, Siegel said there is no room for error in these exercises -- this is serious stuff, and as the country has witnessed, could be real.

"The procedures are very, very conservative," stressed Colonel Siegel. Final actions are decided by the military's senior leaders -- the commander of NORAD, Gen. (Ralph) Eberhart, or by the Secretary of Defense.

And the NORAD battle staff, once called together, is in constant contact with those very people. In fact, the information flow is almost overwhelming, said Sergeant Thompson. Once a battle staff is set up, a non-stop surge of details is passing from the pilots to the battle staff, the FAA operations center, Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, the Secretary of Defense, and a host of other players spanning the country.

"Worst case scenario, if this is somebody truly meaning to do us harm, it's up to the Alaskan NORAD Region to get as much information as possible to the guy who's making the final decision," said Sergeant Thompson. "From the airman who first detected the aircraft to the person who talks to the FAA, to the guys controlling the mission -- all of them have to have accurate information as fast as possible."

They all came through with flying colors, according to Colonel Siegel.

"I was very pleased," he said to his troops at the Amalgam Chief debrief. "I felt like I always had the information I needed in plenty of time to assist our nation's leadership in making a timely decision to engage the simulated terrorist target."

That's nothing new, said Sergeant Thompson. Watching her flight exercises being put into action, whether it be Northern Edge, and Amalgam Chief exercise, or any other training operation, has given her complete confidence in the Elmendorf, NORAD and Air Force teams.

"They keep it coming; they never let us down," she said. (PACAFNS)