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Exercise Clever Sentinel Ends with Major Operation

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS040423-08

Release Date: 4/23/2004 6:40:00 PM

By Journalist 3rd Class Stephen P. Weaver, Naval Air Station Sigonella Public Affairs.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA (NNS) -- The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) multilateral maritime interdiction training exercise, Clever Sentinel 2004, kicked off April 19, and ended with a major operation that simulated the interception of a ship carrying weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Sicily, April 22.

"PSI is an American initiative," said Gary Robbins, counselor for Political Military Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. "It involves several partner countries who have worked together to develop ways to fight jointly to oppose proliferation and terrorism, particularly with respect to movement through international spaces."

In the scenario, intelligence indicated "a cargo or cargos suspected of transporting WMD-related materials from one country to a potential terrorist organization was cruising in the central Mediterranean and the Ionian Sea," said Counselor Paolo Cuculi, with Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation department.

The operation started with the ships USS Gonzalez (DDG 66), Italian frigate Bersagliere, French frigate Courbet, Spanish frigate Infanta Elena and Dutch frigate Van Speijk surrounding the Military Sealift Command ship SS PFC Obregon (T-AK 3006). A group of Italian Navy special forces boarded an Italian SH-3 helicopter to rappel down and take control of the suspect ship.

After the special forces took control of the ship, a chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) inspection team boarded the ship to determine the condition of the container. The inspection team found discrepancies with the ship's cargo and diverted it to Italian Coast Guard, Italian Ministry of Interior and Italian Fire Department control. Italian fire department personnel then performed a CBR screening of the container in order to detect the nature of the cargo on shore at Augusta Bay, Sicily.

"The result seems quite encouraging due to the cooperation in intelligence and with military assets of some of our PSI partners," said Cuculi.

The exercise demonstrated that PSI can work on many levels.

"It was to move all the way through the political, the legal and the diplomatic channels down to the actual military operations to carry out a PSI exercise," said Robbins. "This is a way that we can sort of shake the tree and see what mechanisms are in place, how well they work and above all, to remedy weak points if we find them."

"The idea is to show that this operation can be done in a multinational context," said Lt. Larry Johnson, a Personnel Exchange Program member from the U.S. Navy, attached to the operation division of the Italian High Seas Commander, "but also at the same time, to try to address some of the realities of the problems. That's the short notice, quick response and quick integration of the force and moving forward to find the targets in a complex environment."

The U.S. and its PSI partners found that the exercise was a chance to see how several different nations can cooperate.

"I think it was a good chance for the nations not just to work together, but to show that they can work together in a fairly realistic scenario," said Johnson.