New this year, each building on base has in place an emergency plan that tells occupants what to do in an emergency situation, such as which exit to use.
The base is in the midst of a regularly scheduled, two-week training exercise called Solid Curtain - Citadel Shield 2017, and as part of that, base personnel simulated an attack on the waterfront Wednesday.
The mile to mile-and-a-half of waterfront is one of the more vulnerable parts of the base, according to Commanding Officer Capt. Paul Whitescarver. But it's not likely the waterfront will be targeted. The bigger concern is soft targets such as the off-base child development center, and also the insider threat — a government employee who becomes radicalized or disgruntled and lashes out.
Al Brown, the base's emergency management officer, emphasized how quickly these events take place in real time. Brown used the example of the Norwich man who approached the base's main gate wielding a knife in November 2014, saying "that was over in 10 minutes."
The base undoubtedly has to be prepared to confront any number of threats, and on Wednesday that "threat" was to the waterfront.
First, a small boat came speeding down the waterfront as someone aboard snapped pictures of the base. A base security boat flashed its lights, turned on its sirens and began "shadowing" the small boat. A male voice came over the radio to relay that the boat was making s-shaped movements in front of the base.
"You need to stop taking pictures and move in a northerly direction," he said. And a bit later, he added that he was authorized to use deadly force if those on board didn't obey the commands.
In another waterfront exercise, personnel responded to a suspicious package being dropped in the water (an explosive that could take out the barrier around the base's waterfront or a submarine propeller). A base security boat located the package, and circled around it several times, pushing it further and further from the base.
Meanwhile the rest of the base was reacting. The lower portion, which is closest to the waterfront and where the submarines are docked, shut down. Security personnel were perched along the waterfront. The base's emergency operations center was activated, and information was being fed to Whitescarver and other top officials inside.
These types of exercises "harden" the base, Whitescarver said, explaining that it could dissuade someone intending to do harm to the base knowing that personnel there are well trained and prepared to take on any number of potential threats.
The exercises include debriefs, in which personnel are evaluated on their response and whether they did what they were supposed to do. In some cases, evaluators might find that the required response wasn't good enough, and future protocol will be tweaked.
j.bergman@theday.com
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