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October 14, 2007 at 22:56:58

"TOPOFF 4" and Vigilant Shield: October 15-19

by Rowan Wolf     Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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Starting tomorrow Portland, Oregon (and Phoenix AZ, and Guam) will be the site of a "simulated" terrorist attack with a "dirty bomb." A radioactive substance is scheduled to be released so that live tracking of the plume can be observed and integrated into the exercise. According to a source I have who is in the exercise, the supposed release in the Pearl District is inaccurate. Where the release will occur is "top secret." When I pressed, my source stated that "some things have not been made public, and he wasn't going to leak the information."

According to the Oregon Fact Sheet on the exercise:



The Scenario
The T4 full-scale exercise is based on National Planning Scenario 11 (NPS-11). Terrorists have planned attacks in Oregon, Arizona, and the U.S. Territory of Guam. They have brought radioactive material into the United States. The first of three coordinated attacks occurs in Guam, with the detonation of a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD), or "dirty bomb," causing casualties and widespread contamination in a populous area. Within hours, similar attacks occur in Portland and Phoenix.

An RDD is not the same as a nuclear attack. Rather, it is a conventional explosive that releases radioactive material into the surrounding area. Although it does not cause the type of catastrophic damage associated with a nuclear detonation, an RDD causes severe problems in rescuing victims, providing emergency care, and managing long-term decontamination.


TOPOFF stands for "Top Officials" and is a Homeland Security exercise costing about $2.5 million for Portland and surrounds funded by Congress.

While state agencies have been preparing for the exercise for two years, there has been no effort to prepare Portland's citizens for either the exercise or a real emergency. Periodic public broadcasts of what to put in an emergency kit aside, one would think that the state would have taken advantage of the funding to prepare for an actual emergency.

TOPOFF 4 is a "full scale exercise," meaning that first responders are included in the drill.

Some people are quite nervous about the exercise, and I would be the last to say that they are overly paranoid. Certainly it is difficult for a "full scale exercise" to be realistic if there are not real people panicking. We'll see as the exercise runs for five days.

However, TOPOFF 4 is not the only major "exercise" that is occurring October 15-20. Also running will be Vigilant Shield 2008. This is a six day martial law exercise being run by NorthCom. The NORTHCOM Fact Sheet on Vigilant Shield states"

National Level Exercise 108
will include the simulated detonation of three radiological dispersal devices within the USNORTHCOM and U.S. Pacific Command areas of responsibility. These exercise events and others are designed to test the full range of incident management response procedures at the local, state, and federal levels.

Purpose: Exercise VIGILANT SHIELD 2008 and National Level Exercise 1-08 will provide local, state, tribal, interagency, Department of Defense, and nongovernmental organizations and agencies involved in homeland security and homeland defense the opportunity to participate in a full range of exercise scenarios that will better prepare participants to prevent and respond to national crises. The participating organizations will conduct a multilayered, civilian led response to a national crisis.


In other words, Vigilant Shield is running in coordination with TOPOFF 4. However, Vigilant Shield appears to be bigger as "These linked exercises will take place 15 - 20 October 2007 and are being conducted throughout the United States with several partner nations (Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom), as well as the Territory of Guam.."

It seems like a strong possibility that the three TOPOFF sites may be targets for martial law "exercises," and possibly beyond that.

According to the NORTHCOM fact sheet, NORTHCOM is "conducting multiple homeland defense and critical infrastructure protection events." These "events include "aerospace" defense and control, as well as inter-agency coordination.

So, NORTHCOM will be testing response and "missile defense" which likely means a number of military jets in the air, and "bogies" on air controller's screens. If this sounds hauntingly familiar, it should. Massive "exercises" were also occurring on September 11, 2001 (see also Complete 9/11 Timeline). While this has been left out of most of the corporate media renditions of that day, those who have bothered to look at the full story are well aware of those events.

The level of the TOPOFF & Vigilant Shield exercises presents a distraction, and possibly an opportunity, for other things to happen. Whether that is a "terrorist" attack, or an opportunity to launch "surgical strikes" at the "Axis of Evil" remains to be seen.

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www/uncommonthought.com/mtblog/

Rowan Wolf is an activist and sociologist living in Oregon. She is the founder and principle author of Uncommon Thought Journal, and a Senior Editor for Cyrano's Journal Online with her own page being CJO's Avenger.

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A meteorologist by trade, I am an ardent Bush, Cheney and (general liar) detractor. When I'm relaxing, I love to camp and fish.
wxman2001A meteorologist by trade, I am an ardent Bush, Cheney and (general liar) detractor. When I'm relaxing, I love to camp and fish.

we'll see by Tuesday AM, I would guess

Im more than leery, I'm a bit anxious.  I grew up in Portland, and have family and friends there. I have recently read a post on 'Crimes and Corruptions of the New World Order" site written by a medical professional who has been involved in the training and preparing for this drill in Portland. He says that his boss is leaving town for the whole week, to go to BC, without telling anyone (he found out from the man's brother). Some people in Portland are awake to the fact that this scenario is close to what the morning of 9-11 was like, with all the different war games ongoing. Some are leaving town. Since Portland is a port for deepwater vessels, and the scenario calls for the RDD to be set off on a bridge, if it goes live wanta bet it's a device in a ship passing under the bridge in question that does the deed. Darth Vader will be present in Portland for the drills as well. 

http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/10/controversial-concerns-insider-warning.html

by wxman2001 (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 13 diaries, 114 comments) on Monday, October 15, 2007 at 4:37:32 AM
 


Rowan Wolf is an activist and sociologist living in Oregon. She is the founder and principle author of Uncommon Thought Journal, and a Senior Editor for Cyrano's Journal Online with her own page being CJO's Avenger.
Rowan WolfRowan Wolf is an activist and sociologist living in Oregon. She is the founder and principle author of Uncommon Thought Journal, and a Senior Editor for Cyrano's Journal Online with her own page being CJO's Avenger.

Wait and See

Thanks for the additional information. I am also troubled by what Vigilant Shield is proacticing for. The actual number on that exercise is 1-08. Since the 08 stands for 2008, then it is logical that the 1 could stand for January. Hmm.

by Rowan Wolf (73 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 98 comments) on Monday, October 15, 2007 at 9:38:19 AM
 

 

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