Public-security test reveals strengths, flaws

Utah National Guard units, local police, emergency services and public safety personnel scrambled Tuesday to respond to mock terrorist attacks, and apparently performed well.

"It was a shock to me because I didn't get the word until 6 o'clock this morning," Lt. Col. Brad Blackner, spokesman for the Utah National Guard, said in a telephone interview following the exercise.

Word came to Guard officers that Gov. Olene Walker had activated the National Guard in response to reports of possible terrorist acts against critical infrastructure in Salt Lake City, Brigham City and Cache Valley, he said. The Guard mobilized a battalion of artillery soldiers from the 145th Field Artillery.

"We ended up with probably over 200 ... who responded from the Utah Army and Air National Guard," he said. "So we felt good about the response and the response time."

Guard members from as far away as St. George and Cedar City traveled to mobilization points at Camp Williams and Ogden and deployed from there.

They were sent to facilities in the Salt Lake area, including a water reclamation plant and a power plant in North Salt Lake, a water treatment plant in Brigham City and a Utah State University research facility in Logan.

"Everybody was pleased with how it went," Blackner added. "It did identify some weaknesses and things we need to work with, which we anticipated."

Shortcomings included communications problems, he said. Some problems cropped up concerning the different agencies trying to communicate with each other.

Walker, the only person who can activate the National Guard, was in New York City attending the Republican National Convention. Guard leaders were in Washington, D.C.

Because top officials of the Guard were out of state, "we had a lot of fill-ins," Blackner told the Deseret Morning News. The exercise had been planned in advance, apparently so that officers below the top ranks would be tasked to respond to the supposed emergency.

In a press release, Nannette Rolfe, director of the Utah Division of Emergency Services, said such training exercises are an excellent opportunity for the division to strengthen its partnership with the Guard and local agencies.

She added, "This collaborative approach helps us assess our level of preparedness and increase our ability to protect the public from potential threat or emergencies."

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com