Terrorism drills were learning experience

By B.J. Reyes
Associated Press

While Hawai'i generally would be ready to respond quickly to a terrorist attack, preparedness exercises conducted last week have shown state leaders the magnitude of the coordination effort that would be needed, Gov. Linda Lingle said.

"It's clear that there are a lot of questions that need to be thought through in advance," Lingle said last week at state Civil Defense headquarters, where she gathered with members of her Cabinet to oversee simulated response operations.

State officials have called the week's exercises the most extensive preparedness drills ever conducted in the Islands.

The exercises, which ended Friday, involved a simulated smallpox outbreak on the Big Island.

In the scenario, the presence of smallpox was confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 7 p.m. Wednesday. At 9 p.m. Lingle requested an emergency declaration from President Bush that was granted at 10:30 p.m.

Working under the simulated security threat level of black — meaning a terrorist attack has occurred — Lingle and her Cabinet flew by helicopter to state Civil Defense headquarters at Diamond Head crater from an undisclosed location.

In the simulation, officials placed travel restrictions over O'ahu and the Big Island and discussed whether to pursue larger measures to prevent more passengers arriving into the state by air.

"Under our exercise we had to send National Guard troops to the Big Island because the hospitals were being inundated by people who were fearful," Lingle said.

Lingle spent most of the day in the operations center discussing responses with state officials and other groups, including the four county mayors and organizations such as the Hawai'i Tourism Authority and the Hawai'i Hotel Association.

"We hope we never have to do it for real," Lingle said, "but it has helped us to move closer to achieving our state's strategic objectives in homeland security, which are to prevent a terrorism attack, to reduce our vulnerability and to improve our capability for a rapid response."