California Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program
The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) directly supports the operations of the California Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP).
HSEEP assists state and local governments with the development and implementation of an exercise and evaluation program to enhance and assess domestic preparedness. A multidisciplinary team of subject matter experts was created to provide exercise coordination services for state and local entities desiring to mitigate the threat of terrorist activities involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and catastrophic natural incidents. ORISE senior operations planners, budget analysts, and administrative personnel based in California are fully integrated members of the California Office of Homeland Security Training and Exercise Division team. Additional subject matter experts from our Washington, D.C., and Oak Ridge, Tenn., offices respond when necessary to ensure the success of this program.
Recent exercises have included:
Golden Guardian 2008 and Beyond
Development of GG08 is fully underway. GG08 will consist of operational and discussion-based exercises designed to evaluate local, state, and federal responses to a catastrophic, 7.8 magnitude earthquake along the San Andreas Fault in southern California. To study the regional, state, and national effects of such an earthquake, the California Office of Homeland Security Exercise Branch and ORISE has teamed with other aspects in California government as well as the U.S. Geological Survey.
- ORISE personnel are acting the roles of:
- Lead exercise planner
- Lead coordinator in two California jurisdictions
- Lead coordinator for the extensive federal response portion of the exercise.
Additionally, an ORISE senior operations planner is coordinating the participation of the Emergency Management Agency Region IX (along with emergency support functions) and the Department of Defense, which includes Joint Staff and components of the United States Northern Command (NORTHCOM).
One cutting-edge aspect of GG08 is the use of a “timebridge,” that over the course of a weekend break will essentially “fast forward” the exercise from Day 2 response activities to Day 30 recovery activities. This innovation will provide the government and emergency managers a more comprehensive evaluation of the response to such a large disaster.
Extensive use of the DHS homeland security exercise and evaluation program toolkit throughout the course of the exercise will serve to strengthen and enforce exercise design and conduct capabilities for all participants. With this knowledge and experience using the toolkit, local jurisdictions and separate agencies will be able to develop their own exercises for other type of incidents.
GG08 will be conducted concurrently with several community activities as part of the state’s “Dare to Prepare” earthquake preparation awareness campaign. The exercise is also being linked to the 2009 U.S. NORTHCOM Vigilant Shield exercise, which is part of a homeland security program designed to test the coordinated response to complex, large-scale incidents.
Simultaneous to GG08, an ORISE senior operations planner is leading the development of a functional exercise in South Lake Tahoe. This event, scheduled to occur one week prior to the GG08, focuses on mitigating the effects of a siche wave (an inland body of water tsunami) that results from an earthquake in the local mountain ranges. This exercise involves planners from several California counties, the city of South Lake Tahoe, and local and state agencies from both California and Nevada. Critical capabilities to be assessed include continuity of government operations, urban search and rescue, and fatality management.
Golden Guardian 2007
The state of California’s Golden Guardian 2007 (GG 07) full-scale exercise (FSE) assessed the state’s ability to respond to multiple, simultaneous terrorist attacks across the three California geographical regions. The largest statewide exercise conducted to date, GG 07 involved more than 6,800 participants from across state, local, and federal agencies. An ORISE employee was the Lead Planner for this statewide exercise.
ORISE staff assisted in the development of the exercise scenario involving: a terrorist improvised explosive device in Anaheim, the dispersal of Anthrax and an improvised explosive device in Stockton at the University of the Pacific, and a biological attack at the HP Pavilion arena in San Jose.
A critical aspect of GG07 was the Preventive Exercise. This stand-alone exercise used the master scenario as a basis to evaluate the State’s information sharing infrastructure. An ORISE Senior Operations Planner led the planning team for this component of the overarching GG07.
The GG 07 FSE provided California first responders and emergency managers the opportunity to validate federal, state, and local capabilities. Lessons learned from the exercise will be used to enhance the state’s ability to meet the four critical missions of homeland security (to prevent, protect, respond, and recover) using the following state overarching exercise goals:
- Interoperable communication
- Information and intelligence sharing and dissemination
- Medical surge
- Law enforcement investigative operations
- Explosive device response operations
- Emergency Management
- Critical Resources and Logistical Needs
- Public Safety and Service
This exercise involved multiple local agencies, 12 State Agencies, the Coast Guard, FBI from the Federal Government.
Golden Guardian 2006
During 2006, members of the ORISE team assisted the California Governor’s Office of Homeland Security Exercise Branch (CA OHSEB) in the planning, development, and conduct of Golden Guardian 2006 (GG 06), a continuation of the Golden Guardian Exercise Series initiated in 2004.
Using catastrophic terrorist and natural disasters as vehicles to assess the four critical missions (prevent, protect, respond, and recover), the planning team immersed federal, state, and local responders and emergency management officials in a three-day statewide full-scale exercise involving the three California geographic regions.
ORISE staff assisted in developing a Preventive Exercise using the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attack model and universal adversary. In the Coastal Region, ORISE planners— in conjunction with a regional planning team—developed a scenario of a Magnitude 7.9 earthquake, modeled on the earthquake of 1906, striking the San Francisco Bay region.
Concurrently, planning was conducted by ORISE and the regional planning team allowing the Inland Region to act as a receiving area for persons evacuated from the earthquake zone. Completing the process, ORISE staff integrated emergency managers from 20 state and 5 federal agencies to manage the incidents from the State Emergency Operations Center. This effort involved the collaboration of the State Offices of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Department of Health and Human Services Agency, the Emergency Medical Services Authority, and many other critical agencies of California state government, in addition to the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IX, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Defense, and the Pacific Service Area of the American Red Cross. Lessons learned from this exercise are used to enhance the state’s ability to meet the four critical missions of homeland security. Improvement plans developed to identify shortcomings and best practices are shared throughout the community.
Golden Guardian 2005
At the time of its execution, Golden Guardian 2005 was the largest statewide WMD exercise ever conducted. The goals were to assess the ability of all levels of California government to prevent the occurrence of, protect California citizens again, respond to, and recover from catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist events.
ORISE staff served as lead exercise designers, planners, coordinators, evaluators, and after-action report drafters. They assisted in all aspects of outreach, planning, training, preparation, and execution of the exercise.
ORISE staff facilitated multiple activities throughout the year long planning cycle including planning conferences, workshops, seminars, tabletop exercises, and after-action report conferences.
National Incident Management System Support
ORISE staff supports California's efforts to integrate the National Incident Management System (NIMS) throughout the exercise design and execution process. Important NIMS integration activities take place as training opportunities during exercise conferences, seminars, and workshops. These initiatives will aid California in gaining NIMS compliancy as required.
