US to test response to massive dirty bomb attack

 

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States will test this month its preparedness for a large scale terrorist attack with a dirty bomb, a Homeland Security Department official said Wednesday.

"TOPOFF 4" (Top Official 4), as the exercise is called, will be held between October 15-20, Deputy Administrator for National Preparedness Dennis Schrader told the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security.

The test will involve setting off fake "dirty bombs" -- combining conventional explosives with radioactive material -- in three locations: Oregon in the northwest, Arizona in the southwest and the US Pacific island territory of Guam.

"For TOPOFF 4, approximately 15,000 federal, state, territorial and local officials will participate in a robust, full-scale response to a multi-faceted terrorist threat," Schrader told the committee in a statement obtained by AFP.

It will "accurately simulate a truly national response to these major terrorist incidents" by emergency response teams, medical units, police forces and top government officials who will have to make difficult decisions to save lives.

The latest such exercise, "TOPOFF3," was held in April 2005 and involved simultaneous terrorist attacks in Connecticut and New Jersey.