Navy exercise may cause traffic delays

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - Local Navy installations are participating in a nationwide security exercise this week that may lead to traffic delays into area bases.

Exercise Solid Curtain/Citadel Shield 2010 will be conducted March 22-26 on naval bases in Hampton Roads, as well as installations throughout the continental United States, Hawaii and Guam.

The Navy says the exercise is the largest anti-terrorism and force protection (AT/FP) exercise conducted nationwide and is designed to enhance the training and readiness of Naval Security Force personnel to respond to threats to installations and units, leveraging all processes security forces would implement in the event of an actual emergency.

"Instead of having numerous smaller exercises, Exercise Solid Curtain/Citadel Shield is a single, large, integrated exercise that accurately emulates what may happen in the real world," said Capt. Sam A. McCormick, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF) Director for Fleet Anti-Terrorism.

As the Navy component for U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), USFF will also use SC/CS-10 to enhance their ability to support NORTHCOM's Homeland Defense mission.

"Solid Curtain is mainly an operational-level training event, while Citadel Shield, conducted by Commander Naval Installation Command (CNIC), will provide advance guidance for personnel involved with the individual field training exercises," said McCormick.

Officials warn the exercise may cause increased traffic around bases or delays in base access. Area residents may also see increased security activity associated with the exercise.

"There will be possible traffic and base access delays during the exercise; however, we have set up the exercise to minimize the impact to local communities," said McCormick.

Exercise Solid Curtain/Citadel Shield 2010 will consist of more than 250 individual training events across the country, each designed to test different regional AT/FP operations. Scenarios range from events such as recognizing and countering base surveillance operations, to higher-tempo and active simulated emergencies such as small boat attacks on waterfront bases and cyber attacks on installations.

"We are really focusing on the land-sea interface at the waterfront, as well as active shooter scenarios, in light of the incident at Ft. Hood," said McCormick.

Many communication tools will be used to keep base personnel informed about exercise security situations. Computer network alert systems will distribute messages to office computers and the "giant voice system" will be used to immediately alert people base-wide. The giant voice system is an outdoor intercom loud enough to alert anyone outside on base of a potential threat.

Authorities stress that Solid Curtain/Citadel Shield 2010 is not in response to any specific threat, but is a regularly scheduled exercise.

The annual security training exercise is coordinated by U.S. Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk and the Navy Installations Command in Washington, D.C.