Next week thousands of Chicago-residents will get the plague as a result of a bio-terrorist attack. A plane will crash Wednesday at Midway airport. Al-Qaida terrorists will try to foil the government’s plans to control the situation. But this is only a test.
The largest nationwide terrorist drill in history, known as Top Officials 2, is part of a congressional mandate to prepare U.S. cities for terrorist attacks involving weapons of mass destruction. The simulated attack will cost a total of $16 million and place Seattle and Chicago at the center of next week’s activities.
“You may see real first responders actually working at simulated scenes and treating volunteers who pretend to be victims,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said during a press conference Monday.
“The scenario calls for large numbers of victims to be utilized,” according to a request for volunteers from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Federal organizations need more than 8,000 people to act sick, injured and scared to simulate the public’s response to the planned attacks in Seattle and Chicago from May 12 through May 16.
The massive test will peak May 13 and 14 as hundreds of volunteers flood 12 participating Chicago-area hospitals complaining of flu-like symptoms that are meant to simulate pneumonic plague, Thursday organizers will simulate a plane crash at Midway Airport — a fictitious terrorist organization will claim responsibility for both attacks, although it is still trying to figure out how to simulate a plane crash.
The 3,100 volunteers required for the Chicago drills will come primarily from the hospitals — which are leading the recruitment effort — while the week-long activities in Chicago alone will cost the federal government $5 million. According to Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, which is coordinating the activities, the city-wide circus will include “a covert release of a biological agent, a mock disaster drill at Midway Airport and the staged arrest of suspected terrorists.”
The suspected terrorists, according to reports, will be played by former Navy SEALs attempting to keep fire, police and federal officials from effectively containing the attacks. Specific details have been kept secret, as organizers want the theatrics to be as realistic as possible.
Besides the activities in Chicago, there will be a simulated radiological “dirty bomb” explosion in downtown Seattle, and the national terrorist alert will be moved to red. Not coincidentally, Seattle and Chicago were chosen for the staged activity for their proximity to the Canadian border, as Vancouver, British Columbia, will also be involved.
The first Top Officials drill, staged in Denver in 2000, proved disastrous after health officials estimated that more than half the volunteers “diagnosed” with pneumonic plague would have died as a result of miscommunication and organizational problems.
Three years later, government officials hope the kinks that the first simulation exposed have since been smoothed over. They also expect it to be more successful since the creation of the Homeland Security Office in 2002 and increased interest in domestic safety after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Cortez Trotter, executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications in Chicago, sees the simulations as a learning opportunity.
“The lessons Chicago learns from TOPOFF2 will provide vital information that translates into improved response and mitigation efforts for all emergency situations,” he said in a press release.
Medill freshman Dan Pieringer agreed that the city could learn valuable lessons from the drill.
“I think it will be interesting to see how Chicago deals with such an attack,” he said. “I think Mayor Daley has a few tricks up his sleeve — he’s definitely Giuliani-esque.”
