Congressional Quarterly Article

CQ HOMELAND SECURITY – LOCAL RESPONSE
June 7, 2007 – 5:46 p.m.

Major Terrorism Exercise to Include ‘Hams’ in Oregon Portion

By Eileen Sulliivan, CQ Staff

Amateur radio operators — known as hams — are keying up for the next major counterterrorism exercise to be held this fall.

They have participated in previous TOPOFF exercises and have been invited to take part in the Oregon portion of the exercise in October.

TOPOFF is the federal government’s largest counterterrorism exercise. This year it will be held in Arizona, Guam and Oregon and will include dirty bomb scenarios.

The Department of Homeland Security, which coordinates the TOPOFF exercises, does not include amateur radios in its exercise participants. Instead, states invite hams to participate, said DHS spokeswoman Marlene Phillips.

Hams have served critical roles during emergencies such as the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, so it should come as no surprise that they participate in these types of exercises, said William Morris, the American Radio Relay League’s section emergency coordinator for amateur radio in Oregon.

“It isn’t just a bunch of guys B.S.-ing over the radio because it’s fun,” Morris said of the 722,000 licensed amateur radio operators in the U.S. “While we do that, the reason is so we can provide emergency communications when it’s needed.”

In fact, the House report on the failures during Hurricane Katrina, released in February 2006, specifically sites amateur radios as part of the response that was actually successful.

According to the House report, the National Communications System used nearly 1,000 Amateur Radio Emergency Services volunteers to provide communications for government agencies, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

In Mississippi, the Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched hams to hospitals, evacuation centers and county emergency operations centers for 24-hour emergency messaging needs. Hams were especially helpful in providing situational awareness after the hurricane, House investigators were told. And hams also tracked evacuees at airports in Texas and Louisiana and helped notify families of their whereabouts.

“We can come in with all our own communications equipment and provide the service . . . at no cost,” Morris said.

The key to the services hams can provide is planning ahead of time, said Dan Henderson, the regulatory information specialist for the American Radio Relay League. “The preparation end of it should never be overlooked,” and that’s why participation in exercises like TOPOFF is important, he said.

As for the upcoming TOPOFF exercise, Morris said the hams, who are all volunteers, are limited in how they can respond to the dirty bomb because they do not have personal protective gear. As a result, any help they offer will be limited to the “cold zone,” which is not radioactive, he said.

Eileen Sullivan can be reached at esullivan@cq.com.

Source: CQ Homeland Security
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