Team trains to counter potential terrorist threats

Oakland Tribune

February 3, 2002

Mark Abramson STAFF WRITER

HAYWARD — THEIR JOB is to be ready to respond to the unthinkable: a nuclear, chemical or biological weapons attack.

The soldiers of the California Army National Guard’s 95th WMD-CST (Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team) train to deal with everything from anthrax to a nuclear “dirty bomb.”

The unit is based next to the Hayward airport and opened for business less than two months ago. Hayward was chosen because of its proximity to multiple airports.

The 22 soldiers in the fledgling unit have yet to respond to an incident.

“We don’t deploy to your typical hazmat (scene) unless it’s related to a weapon of mass destruction,” said Maj. Jeff Smiley, 37, the unit’s deputy commander. “I’m trained to detect military-grade weapons. It is very dangerous. We are going into an unknown and dangerous environment.”

The unit’s training is more extensive than that of a hazardous materials, or hazmat, team. They were certified for the job in December.

The training was supposed to take two years, but after Sept. 11 the Department of Defense sped things up and the unit was ready seven months ahead of schedule.

The goal of the 95th is to be at the scene of an attack, or wherever a weapon of mass destruction is detected, within four hours. They are supposed to respond within a 250-mile radius of San Francisco, but can be sent anywhere in the country.

A WMD-CST unit can also serve in a preventive role at events such as Monday night football, Smiley said. There is a similar unit in Louisiana that is probably in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, he said.

The 95th’s job includes determining if an incident involved a weapon of mass destruction, figuring out what area is affected by radiation or a chemical weapon and deciding who needs to be evacuated.

The unit can also provide satellite pictures of a scene and communications ranging from video conferencing to phone and the Internet.

The soldiers are aided in their dangerous duties by a vast array of high-tech gadgets that a fire department can’t afford, Smiley said.

The $250,000 Hapsite GC/IMS can be used to detect a quarter of a million volatile organic compounds that can be used for making weapons like nerve gas. They also have devices for detecting radiation levels in an area and on soldiers going into it.

Some of their equipment is classified. Smiley would not let the media look inside the mobile command vehicle or say where the soldiers in the 95th live. Everyone has to live within half an hour’s drive from the National Guard base, he said.

The soldiers in the survey team don protective suits to go into what the military calls an NBC (nuclear, biological or chemical) environment. They may have to search for something as small as an envelope laced with a biological or chemical weapon in a high rise.

“The suits are bulky, hard to maneuver in and need oxygen,” said 2nd Lt. Darrin Cox, who is in charge of the survey team.

Having to replace oxygen tanks during a search for a biological or chemical weapon means the soldiers may have to go in several times to find it. There’s a lot of humidity in the suits, and fatigue is a factor, Cox said.

Other duties include advising doctors what type of weapon was used so they can decide how to treat someone. The medical staff also has to know the capabilities of area hospitals for treatment.

There is also a science officer, who Smiley said is the “genius” of the 95th. The science officer understands what goes into chemical and biological weapons.

The 95th is one of 27 National Guard outfits of its type in the country. Seven have been certified as WMD-CST since the terrorist attacks. The Southern California-based 9thWMD-CST is the only other comparable Guard unit in the state.

The 95th also keeps watch on what is happening around the country to be ready if called upon, Smiley said. They sift through intelligence reports about al-Qaida weapons of mass destruction designs that have been found in

Afghanistan. Their new headquarters will have TVs to monitor CNN and other national news broadcasts to follow events around the country.

“We try to do plans to be ahead of the game,” Smiley said. “The press now is usually the fastest resource.”

So what motivates these soldiers?

Cox joined the 95th in late September, after spending 15 years in the Marines. He said he joined the 95th because he liked the risks involved.

“I like to push the envelope,” Cox said.

Firefighters, National Guard join in attack exercise

Simulated disaster teaches numerous response teams

Tri-Valley Herald

September 22, 2002

Mark Abramson, STAFF WRITER

ALAMEDA — Local fire departments worked with soldiers Friday from three Army National Guard teams, including a Hayward-based unit, on a simulated catastrophe.

The drill, dubbed Bayex for Bay Exercise, simulated an attack with a nuclear device, such as a dirty bomb that spreads radiation, on the USS Hornet, the World War II-era aircraft carrier-turned-museum anchored in Alameda.

According to National Guard officials, they need drills like this to learn to work with local fire departments.

Bayex began with a fictional call in the morning about smoke coming from the rear of the Hornet.

The Alameda County Fire Department sent its hazardous materials team to the ship to investigate. Once aboard, hazardous materials crews had to evacuate. The firefighters pretended to be overcome by the smoke and faked symptoms of exposure to radiation.

At about 11 a.m., fire department officials requested the help of the Army National Guard’s95th WMD-CST (Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team) and two other units in the area for the exercise. Military officials call the units CSTs.

“Where the CSTs come in is when it goes beyond your typical paint-burning (and other hazardous materials) situations,” said Capt. Paul Spackman, a science officer with the 95th.

The Hornet was an ideal place to train because of its cramped quarters, Spackman said.

“The scale of this is larger than what we normally do,” said Lt. Col. Terry Edinboro, a spokesman for the California Army National Guard.

The CSTs pulled up to the Hornet in a wave of blue vans and trucks, and the leaders met with Alameda County Fire Department Assistant Chief Rich Brown to figure out how they could work together and the best way to diffuse the danger.

The civilian authorities — local firefighters, in this case — are always in charge during such an incident, said Maj. Daniel Weber, the commanding officer of the 9th WMD-CST, based near Los Angeles.

Although everyone knew it was a drill, nobody knew that the danger was simulated radiation. The National Guardsmen and women who participated didn’t even know that it was going to be held at the Hornet until they were called.

The military commanders told Brown what their troops could do. They worked out a plan, as Guard members set up tan tarp-like tents to operate out and mobile command posts in trailers.

An “entry team” donned A-level protection suits, which look like space suits, before they went aboard the contaminated part of the Hornet.

They used satellite phones, maps and a satellite dish to access satellite imagery of the scene and determine which way plumes from a nuclear detonation are headed, said Lt. Col John Haramalis the commander of the 95th.

A mobile lab allowed the National Guard to test the area and determined what the danger was.

For situations involving radiation, the CSTs would withdraw briefly to a safe area to figure out the best way to stop the radiation from spreading and eventually find a way to decontaminate it, Haramalis said.

That could mean calling in for more equipment, he added.

Friday’s drill was the third exercise that the 95th WMD-CST participated in this week. The other two simulated leaking VX nerve agent in a train yard in West Oakland and a crop duster spraying Mountain View with some sort of nerve agent.

Alameda County Fire Chief Bill McCammon said he was impressed with the National Guard units, which also included the 11th WMD-CST from Waterville, Maine. They worked well with fire department officials in charge of responding to the situation, he said.

“It does a number of things for me,” McCammon said about having such a guard unit nearby. “For me, it gives me a good sense of security.”

McCammon wasn’t the only one who praised the National Guard’s work. Bo Mayhew, a retired Army colonel and an expert evaluating the exercise, liked what he saw.

“It shouldn’t be going this well,” Mayhew said about the Guard’s performance.

War on terrorism hits home for San Leandro police officer

The Daily Review

March 20, 2002

Mark Abramson STAFF WRITER

CAMP PENDLETON — The world changed while Sonya and Shawn Wilson celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary last Sept. 11. One of them sensed their world would change, too.

Shawn Wilson, a San Leandro police officer and a gunnery sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserve, reported for active duty in late January.

According to his orders, he will be gone from his family for a year, maybe two. He serves with the 23rd Marines Echo 223 Company at Camp Pendleton, a sprawling base near Oceanside in Southern California.

“It was just a surprise,” Shawn Wilson said. “She was the one who had the feeling.”

He said he misses his family and their home in Livermore, but the native New Yorker isn’t upset about being called up for duty. He knew three firefighters who died in the World Trade Center that day.

Sonya Wilson is now head of the household. A preschool teacher in Livermore, she pays the bills, takes their sons — Curtis, 14, and Christopher, 7 — to Little League, sees that the household chores get done and handles the disciplinary duties. She said she is taking it in stride and is proud that her husband is serving.

“Part of me wasn’t surprised,” she said. “As soon as Sept. 11 happened, I had a feeling. He was also called up for the Gulf War.”

San Leandro has continued the family’s health benefits and is paying Shawn Wilson the difference between his salary and that of a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant. By federal law, he can’t lose his job for being put on active duty.

During the Gulf War, Shawn Wilson was on active duty for four months and stationed in Yuma, Ariz. He was a HAWK surface-to-air missile operator.

His job now is “homeland defense.” Shawn Wilson and other Marines wouldn’t elaborate on what that means, other than to say they are the United States’ 9-1-1 force.

He handles the logistics of his unit, which includes making sure the Marines have food, water and other necessities to keep the outfit running smoothly. He also spends his 12-hour days training Marines in martial arts — just as he did with San Leandro police officers.

Sonya Wilson said she doesn’t expect a speedy return from this war. She believes her husband may be gone for more than a year. The family has been together two weekends since he was put on active duty, and plans to spend a week of his leave together around Easter. They communicate by e-mail and cell phone.

Retired U.S. Marine colonel predicts course of Afghan war

Alameda Times-Star

October 14, 2001

Mark Abramson STAFF WRITER

SAN LEANDRO — Dan Lunsford has never fought a war, but he knows all about getting ready for combat.

Until recently a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, Lunsford was at the forefront of planning battle strategy in the Middle East and the Pacific. He retired in January.

Lunsford, 53, of Danville, was also an assistant chief of staff for the Marine Corps forces in the Pacific. His job included developing the U.S. military’s doctrine for Central Asia.

He now works as the emergency services manager for San Leandro, helping the city prepare for disasters that could include terrorist attacks.

“Afghanistan is not an environment conducive for conventional warfare and strategy,” he said.

The first phase of the war — knocking out the bulk of the ruling Taliban’s air defenses and gaining air superiority — is over with, Lunsford said. Mastery of the skies is essential to keep bombing and to weaken the enemy’s ground forces.

Extensive bombardment makes for a shorter ground war, as the Gulf War proved, he said.

Lunsford predicts that the next step probably will involve some ground forces, who could advise and train the Northern Alliance resistance, take out terrorists and gather intelligence.

Marines could also be airlifted via helicopter into Afghanistan from amphibious assault ships in the Arabian Sea. Army forces could come from bases in Uzbekistan or other nearby countries supporting America.

Lunsford, like most military experts, doesn’t envision the United States putting a lot of troops on the ground and massing a large armored force. The enemy doesn’t have that many tanks to line up against, and the mountainous terrain isn’t suited for tanks, he said.

Lunsford also said American and Northern Alliance troops will be backed by Allied air power to track down terrorists and overthrow the Taliban.

“To get the al-Quaida, we’ve got to get the Taliban,” Lunsford said. “It’s up to the Northern Alliance to go in and do their thing, and us to destroy al-Qaida.”

According to the Bush Administration, the Taliban are harboring al-Qaida, a terrorist organization, and its leader Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks.

He also said there’s a reason the U.S. isn’t using many planes to bomb Afghanistan:

“The Taliban isn’t giving us enough targets. They have a rag-tag bunch of people who put their machine guns on Ford Broncos.”

Don’t expect to see a lot of U.S. warplanes going below 10,000 feet or low-flying helicopters buzzing around the Afghan skies, he said. That would be within range of anti-aircraft fire and Stinger missiles. The United States supplied the Afghans with the Stinger missiles to fight the Soviets.

“The Stinger missile was a deadly killer,” he said.

Another facet of the war and coalition against terrorism is likely to be help from many countries.

“I think any country subject to the anger and threat of terrorism will want to be part of the coalition,” Lunsford said.

Already the British have joined in the attack on Afghanistan. Other Western and even Muslim countries, despite anti-American sentiments there, are likely to join the fight, he said.

As for expanding the war to other countries suspected of supporting terrorism, that’s quite possible, he said. Lunsford pointed out Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya as other nations suspected of sponsoring terrorism or posing a threat to the United States.

Lunsford said he expects the United States’ next likely target would be Iraq. “Saddam Hussein is a bigger terrorist that Osama bin Laden,” he said. “The issue is, we are fighting terrorism.”

Gift helps family stay in touch

Lompoc Record and Lee Central Coast Newspapers

February 14, 2006

Mark Abramson/Staff Writer

Long-distance love got a whole lot easier Monday for one Vandenberg Air Force Base officer and his family.

Capt. Jim Cunningham is serving in Kabul, Afghanistan, as a finance officer helping the Afghan Army buy equipment. He and his family were given a high-tech Internet site to keep in touch, courtesy of TheFamilyPost.com.

His wife surprised him with the gift Monday, which was actually Valentine’s Day where he is stationed. He has been gone about four months and is scheduled to return to his family and the 30th Comptroller Squadron at Vandenberg in early March.

“This is awesome,” he said on speaker phone as he followed his wife, Kim’s, instructions for logging on to the Web site. “This is the best Valentine’s I could ever ask for.”

TheFamilyPost.com’s gift allows the Cunninghams and the two dozen other military families who got their own sites a way other than the cumbersome and sometimes slow military e-mail system to stay connected. Each site is password-protected.

“That’s something that makes us feel like we are doing something nice,” said Michael Sawtell, president and CEO of TheFamilyPost.com.

Sawtell has some military roots himself. He used to work on the B-2 Stealth bomber program and his father served with the U.S. Army Air Corps in Italy during World War II. He said for every new customer he gets, he will donate a site to a military family. The sites normally cost at least $10 a month.

The donation to the Cunninghams includes a calendar section that lets Jim keep track of when his children, Brandon, 9, and Andrew, 12, have doctor’s appointments, baseball practice or games, and when Kim is doing something she wants her husband to know about, like going to see a family friend.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Andrew said.

He likes the idea of letting his father see lots of pictures taken at his birthday last Thursday and having another way to interact with Jim other than early in the morning in Afghanistan, when he may be too tired to talk. Andrew also plans on posting pictures of himself playing the baritone horn at his Vandenberg Middle School concert.

Jim said he plans to post pictures he took at Afghan orphanages and other unforgettable photos he’s taken while overseas.

Kim said she expects the site will make the family’s difficult time a little more bearable. This is the first time in their marriage that Jim has been deployed overseas.

“It’s been tough,” she said. “I think this is a fine idea and I wish I could have had it at the beginning. He doesn’t have a lot of time to e-mail back and forth.”

Another plus about the site is pictures can be downloaded a lot quicker than sending it over the military’s e-mail. And short video clips could be seen clearly using the latest technology. A family history section has information about the Cunninghams’ wedding day, their children and other important parts of their family and life. A news page lets her or the children write about what is going on, and there is also a section for writing long messages that he can read, then write back.

“It’s going to be great because pictures are so important to my husband. I also like the calendar.” Kim said.

“It definitely will help,” Jim said.

Mark Abramson can be reached at 737-1057, or mabramson@lompocrecord.com.

 Air Force teaches citizens how to fight terrorism

Lompoc Record and Lee Central Coast Newspapers

April 26, 2006

Mark Abramson/Staff Writer

Ever since 9/11, terrorism has been at the forefront of Americans’ minds. People have become more vigilant, and with a program called Eagle Eyes, the U.S. Air Force is trying to educate citizens about how to spot terrorist activity.

Eagle Eyes is taught by members of the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations (OSI) in communities near Air Force installations, such as Lompoc and Santa Maria. It emphasizes what people should look for during the seven steps terrorists typically go through before an attack.

The program was started about a year after the 9/11 attacks. It can be taught within a few hours and OSI agents teaching it can come to whoever is interested in the program.

The OSI has not kept statistics on how many people in the area have gone through Eagle Eyes.

“We feel it’s very effective here and it’s stopped planning activities around the world,” said OSI Special Agent Mathew Ferguson from Vandenberg Air Force Base. “We brief it to the locals like it’s a global Neighborhood Watch.”

Eagle Eyes incorporates things learned by 9/11, attacks on military installations overseas and anything law enforcement may learn in the future.

It has been taught in the area to police, hotel staffs, school staffs and faculty and civic organizations.

“I think overall it’s a great program to make the public aware,” said Toby Simmons, general manager of the Embassy Suites in Lompoc. “That’s the first line of defense being aware and everyone being eyes and ears. They give some eye-opening information.”

Simmons said going through Eagle Eyes has made him more vigilant when he sees unusual travel patterns before launches at the base. Spotting such trends has led Simmons to call the base sometimes when things seem out of place.

Although terrorists are not lining up to come to the Central Coast, the area is not immune from such activity, Ferguson said.

He pointed to an incident a few years ago where one man being investigated by a terrorism task force in Denver was seen taking pictures of part of Vandenberg Air Force Base. Investigators were tipped off by someone who spotted the suspect driving by the area, Ferguson said.

The seven steps Eagle Eyes teaches are surveillance with cameras or other means; elicitation, in which someone is gathering information about a base, military operations or people; testing security by measuring reactions to security breaches or getting response times to getting on a base without authorization, for example; acquiring supplies, whether it be explosives, passes, badges, ammunition or something else; and suspicious people who appear out of place.

The last two steps, the dry run and deploying assets, tend to be harder to spot. A dry run is when people are positioned to carry out an attack, routes are mapped out and the timing for a terrorist act is determined. Deploying assets involves final positioning to commit an attack.

“The dry run and deploying of assets, that’s when it’s really hard to detect,” Ferguson said. “That’s why we brief these first five steps. That’s where we want to get them (terrorists).

“It benefits the community as well as the base,” Ferguson said.

For more information about Eagle Eyes, contact Ferguson at 606-1852.

Mark Abramson can be reached at 737-1057 or mabramson@ lompocrecord.com.