Drill Shows Port Vulnerability

In a strategic simulation of a terror attack designed to assess America's vulnerability through its ports, a group of business and government leaders found that such an attack could potentially cripple global trade and have a devastating impact on the nation's economy. The group focused on ways to improve detection before a weapon gets to a U.S. port, as well as help businesses to build resiliency into their operations. The two-day Port Security Wargame, sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton and The Conference Board, took place October 2-3, 2002, in Washington, DC, with 85 leaders from a range of government and industry organizations, who have a critical stake in port security. In the wargame scenario, a radioactive dirty bomb slipped through port security and was discovered when it fell off a truck at the Port of Los Angeles. A second, identical dirty bomb was unpacked from a shipping container in Minneapolis, having arrived by truck via Canada. The same day, three men, one on the FBI watch list for suspected terrorists, were arrested by Georgia Port Authority Police Force on suspicion of attempted cargo theft.