Richard Kiehart,Able Response 11 Exercise Director, describes the greater CBRN coordination in the Republic of Korea
BAble Bodied
iological incidents, whether naturally occurring, industrial accidents, or as a result of state or non-state actors, are catastrophic in their effect, not only to military operations, but also to civilian populations in the affected areas. Although the effects are devastating, we often fail to ensure that proper planning is fully coordinated within and across US/ROK organisations and agencies. This problem is compounded when civilian organisations and military organisations of multiple nations are plan and prepare for crisis management in a stove-pipe with little coordinative effort. We cannot assume that when a crisis happens we will all link arms and work toward the same goal. Able Response 11 was the result of gaps uncovered during a visit by Andrew C. Weber, Principal Advisor to the US Secretary of Defense, during Ulchi Freedom Guardian 10, as well as discussions with various US and South Korean ministries and government agencies. The main focus was on enhancing the US/ROK alliance and increasing civil and military cooperation.
US Forces Korea, ROK agencies and the US CBRND community developed a plan for assisting a whole-of- government approach to combating the threat of biological incidents. This effort resulted in a unique, bilateral and interagency US/ROK three-day exercise named Able Response. This exercise was conducted in the ROK and hosted at the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis. It consisted of a two-day tabletop exercise (TTX), a one-day senior leader seminar (SLS) and selected office calls conducted by Weber, as well as selected US and ROK commands, ministries, organisations and agencies. Gen. Walter L. Sharp, former commander of US Forces Korea,
welcomed everyone by saying, “Able Response is an historical event for the Alliance. It is the first ROK/US interagency exercise focused on a whole-of-government approach to responding to biological incidents. Strengthening our bilateral, biological defense policies, procedures and plans is essential, and this week is a significant step in the right direction. I hope that this inaugural exercise is just the first of what are to be many to come.” The main focus of this event was to energise both USFK and ROK agencies, to ensure that all organisations are able to respond to a WMD incident, attack or crisis that would have strategic and geopolitical ramifications for the entire region. This included an integrated approach to detect, identify, treat and enhance US and ROK interagency coordination. The main focus of the
SLS was to examine the challenges and decisions of senior ROK/US military and civilian leaders following two simulated biological scenario vignettes that were worked through during the prior tabletop exercise. Andrew Weber commented in his welcoming remarks that, “We will focus on various vignettes over the next two days, and the issues that we need to address cut across all the departments and agencies represented here, from the military to the public health departments to local law enforcement and emergency response organisations.” Able Response was designed to highlight the challenges facing senior US and Korean military and civilian leaders following a biological incident.
Whether the incident is a natural outbreak of disease or a deliberate
Able Response was the latest step in ROK and US cooperation ©DoD
www.cbrneworld.com CBRNe South America 2012, 13-14 March, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. More information on
www.icbrnevents.com
February 2012 CBRNe WORLD
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