Morning Sentinel November 14, 2008
WINSLOW: Training of the guard
By Joel Elliott
WINSLOW -- Fifteen members of the Maine Army National Guard in full-body protective gear on Thursday entered the abandoned Kimberly Clark Corp. building on a training exercise to prepare for the possibility of a terrorist attack.
There was no attack. It was only training.
According to the scenario they followed, State Police had served a warrant at the mill. While there, police noticed equipment that seemed to resemble a methamphetamine laboratory, Capt. Rick Hallowell of the 11th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team said.
But when police officers entered the building to investigate further, they saw equipment that looked more suited for manufacturing explosives.
At this discovery, so the story went, police pulled out and called for the Waterville-based Civil Support Team, which came to assist first responders, Hallowell said.
"I want to stress that we don't replace the incident commander (in this case, David LaFountain, Waterville's and Winslow's fire chief)," he said. "We're here to assist him."
Hallowell said his team sets up a base and establishes communication with pertinent agencies, such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
In Thursday's scenario, he said, the substance being manufactured in the mill could have been radiological, poisonous or explosive.
The 22-member team goes out on such training exercises several times a year, aiming to familiarize local first responders with them and their procedures, Hallowell said.
President Bill Clinton 10 years ago announced the creation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams, saying the move was needed to help protect the United States against chemical and biological terrorist attacks, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a military information Web site.
Following this, the Department of Defense formed an initial 10 teams trained to respond quickly to incidents that could possibly involve a terrorist attack. More teams were added over the years, to the current level of 55 teams, with at least one in each state and territory, Hallowell said.
"This is the heart of the homeland defense mission of the National Guard," he said. "The CST's response is within the United States and its territories, but by law we are not allowed to cross borders."
© Copyright 2008, Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc.
