The Doomsday Memo – Administration Prepares For Worst-Case Terror Scenarios

“In the post-9/11 world, this isn’t just good manners, good government; it’s a national security responsibility,” said outgoing White House chief of staff Josh Bolton.

So this past week, outgoing Bolton and his Obama counterpart Rahm Emanuel took part in something that has never happened before: a mock homeland security exercise for top incoming and outgoing officials.

The premise: In the wake of train and bus bombings in London and Madrid, how would the U.S. government deal with bomb attacks simultaneously targeting transportation and other major systems in numerous American cities?

“We need to train, exercise, and execute as a team,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “And we built the process based on a lot of some of the tough lessons learned over the last few years that now works.”

But mock domestic attacks, such as one staged in Seattle last year to simulate how rescue workers would respond to a dirty nuclear bomb set off in an American city, are just part of the planning.

Memories of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa have led the National Security Counsel to create a memo suggesting options for dealing with future attacks on U.S. facilities abroad – just one of about a dozen scenarios dealing with possible overseas crises that could impact the United States.

“As far as I know, this is the first time that policy contingency papers have been created,” NSC spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, adding that his boss, National Security Adviser Steven Hadley, came up with the idea.

via Source – CBS News.

Bush and Obama Administrations Practices Homeland Security Event

Officials of the outgoing and incoming Bush and Obama administrations are teaming up for a rehearsal of how to handle a theoretical national emergency.

Bush White House chief of staff Josh Bolten announced that the exercise, involving representatives of both administrations, will take place on Tuesday afternoon at the executive mansion.

Bolten said that such a joint rehearsal for a possible terrorism-era emergency is a matter of necessity, not just courtesy.

He said a few key members of the Obama administration and the current administration will get West Wing briefings on “incident management procedures” and “continuity of government procedures.”

Bolton said officials will “work on a specific scenario … and talk about who does what” in the event of a homeland security incident.

via Source