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Exercise Clever Sentinel

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, 2004.

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.

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.