When the M/V St. Nicholas pulled away from the Allen Marine dock near Juneau’s ferry terminal Wednesday, it had the usual items on board, such as life vests, donut holes and coffee.
It also carried a radioactive device.
The ship, along with the 30 volunteer passengers on board, was involved in an exercise called Shielded Eagle that simulates a terrorism scenario. The scenario includes threats both on land and sea, forcing the Coast Guard, Juneau Police Department and other agencies to work together.
In the simulated scenario, a JPD officer pulls a car over and finds a suspicious suspect inside. This suspect, the officer determines, is a foreign national who just got off a ferry. This brings a U.S. Customs agent into the fray, who finds there to be radioactive material in the suspicious car.
The suspect then tells police that there’s another person and radioactive device on a ferry. This forces JPD to then communicate with the Coast Guard to find the device on the ferry.
In Wednesday’s exercise, the Allen Marine catamaran played the role of the ferry. Steve Baenen, an emergency management specialist for the Coast Guard, spoke to the passengers prior to disembarking.
“You add the element of realism to this exercise,” Baenen told the passengers.
The radioactive device on board was also real, Radiation Safety Officer Tom Clawson said to the passengers Wednesday. The amount of radiation was small and contained, he said, but there was still a high enough amount for JPD and U.S. Customs devices to pick up a signal on it.
The passengers were all volunteers. Some had volunteered with prior simulations by the Red Cross or Coast Guard, but many were first-time participants. Terri Mills, who moved to Juneau just last summer, signed up for the exercise to get out and see the scenery. She wasn’t sure what to expect. Neither did Taylor Funderburk, who has had an eye on joining the Coast Guard in the future. Funderburk also hadn’t participated in one of these scenarios before, and said he hoped to have fun and see the Coast Guard personnel in action.
The action started right at 9 a.m. Wednesday, as the St. Nicholas left the dock and JPD made its traffic stop just across the street. Emergency Management Specialist Steve Goff and State and Local Liaison Amanda Becerra took notes as JPD officers and a customs agent spoke to the volunteer playing the suspicious suspect. The officers then called back to dispatchers, who then roped in the Coast Guard and began the part of the exercise on the sea.
These kind of training opportunities happen every year for the Coast Guard, Public Affairs Officer Lt. Nick Capuzzi explained. Annual exercises are part of the Maritime Transportation Security Act, passed in 2002. The act created Area Maritime Security Committees, which create security plans for the nation’s ports. The annual exercises make sure these plans are routinely tested.
Juneau Emergency Programs Manager Tom Mattice said it isn’t often that multiple agencies have the chance to work together. The City and Borough of Juneau Docks & Harbors department and Capital City Fire/Rescue were also involved in the exercise.
“It’s always great to work in unified command with multiple agencies to understand how we would address things in the real world,” Mattice said. “We all do a lot on our own, but we don’t often get the time to train and plan together, and that’s what this is all about.”
Becerra said Shielded Eagle has been in the works since this past August. Goff said the name is fairly straightforward, as “Eagle” represents Juneau and the area, and the “Shielded” part represents the desire to protect Juneau.
Goff, who is based in California and runs training scenarios up and down the West Coast, said Juneau presents some interesting challenges.
“It’s a little more remote than a San Francisco or a San Diego or a Seattle,” Goff said, “and then of course, the big thing here is tourism industries. We’re making sure all the measures are in place.”
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
Juneau Police Department Officer Blain Hatch conducts a traffic stop during Shielded Eagle, a training exercise that has multiple local agencies work together to thwart a terrorist attack, on Wednesday, April 4, 2018. (Alex McCarthy | Juneau Empire)
