• Military
• WMD
• Intelligence

• Security Menu                     

• Systems
• Industry
• Operations
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Space

Exercise Solid Curtain/Citadel Shield '09 a Navy Success

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS090302-04
Release Date: 3/2/2009 2:06:00 PM

By Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW/AW) Jerry Foltz, U.S. Fleet Forces Public Affairs

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF) completed Exercise Solid Curtain/Citadel Shield '09 (SC/CS-09) Feb. 27. The four-day drill was the DoD's largest stateside anti-terrorism/force protection (AT/FP) exercise and concluded with 181 simulated events conducted by Navy shore installations and activities within the continental United States.

"We met all of our exercise objectives," said Capt. Sam A. McCormick, USFF director for fleet anti-terrorism. "It was done exceptionally well, and my hat's off to all of the participants that made this exercise a success."

SC/CS-09, designed to enhance Naval Security Force personnel training and readiness in response to installation and unit threats, used multiple command and security force processes that would normally be implemented in the event of an actual emergency. The events were played out as if attacks and emergencies actually took place, giving each scenario a sense of realism and authenticity. Situations ranged from recognizing and countering base surveillance operations and gate-runners, to small boat and swimmer attacks, vehicle-born intermediate explosive devices, light aircraft recovery, and installation network attacks.

"Overall, we maintained a high state of readiness, and we practiced our preplanned responses," said McCormick. "We were taking actions, literally, within minutes after the events had happened. The improved situational awareness led to greater decision making superiority."

SC/CS-09 culminated with six events simultaneously executed between Everett Naval Station, Wash., San Diego Naval Base, Calif., Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and Norfolk Naval Station, Va., and Kings Bay Naval Base, Ga., within a 13-minute timeframe to intensify the essence of the mock attacks.

"We had some interesting twists out there," said McCormick. "The scope of SC/CS-09 was the same [as previous SC/CSs'], but the complexity of the events were vastly different based off the maturity of the C2R [Command and Control Registry] architecture, making coordinated threat responses more seamless than in the past."

Regional training commands are already taking lessons learned from SC/CS-09 exercises to develop more robust AT-FP training for SC/CS '10 to enhance their ability to support U.S. Northern Command's (NORTHCOM) homeland defense mission.

"Participants thought scenarios were very realistic [and] they provided excellent training value," said McCormick. "We are already starting to think about where we can improve for next year, planning our next concept development conference to start the whole cycle over again to get ready for next year's exercise."

The conclusion of SC/CS-09 doesn't end AT/FP training development. Regional, installation and shipboard training teams are always taking a proactive posture by running drill packages monthly to ensure continuous vigilance.

"We want to build next year's scenario to facilitate numbered fleet integration and lead to a more complete maritime homeland response, as well as creating more inter-agency participation with local law enforcement, Coast Guard, Joint Terrorism Task Forces and NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigation Service)," said McCormick. "At the end of the day, it all comes down to how well that Sailor does his or her job on a daily basis to protect our nation's interests and wage our nation's wars," he added.