“The exercise went off without a hitch,” said COL Michael Shute of the New Jersey National Guard's Homeland Security Center of Excellence.  The exercise was a simulated incident involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and was held at the Mid Atlantic Shipping and Stevedore site in Salem County on June 30.

      The event was part of the validation process for the National Guard's 21st Civil Support Team (CST), which was called out on 90 minutes notice in order to respond to the simulated WMD incident.

      “The location in Salem County was ideally suited for simulating a WMD event because of the various commercial and industrial sites, in addition to its proximity to the ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia,“ noted Shute.  The location was also important in that it went against commonly held perceptions that a WMD event in New Jersey would likely occur in a major city or port closer to New York City, according to Shute.

      The CST was being evaluated on its initial response time to the incident, which could have been staged anywhere in the state, and also how it handled the possible contamination of the simulated WMD.  During the exercise, local police were called upon to provide security for the site and to answer queries from curious Salem County residents who were surprised to see Civil Support Team members in their brightly colored inflatable “moon suits.”

      The CST consists of 22 highly skilled, full-time members of the Army and Air National Guard who, through the state's Adjutant General come directly under the command and control of the Governor, yet are fully resourced, trained, and evaluated by the federal government.

      The Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team supports civilian authorities at a domestic CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives) incident site by identifying agents/substances, assessing current and projected consequences, advising on response measures, and assisting with appropriate requests for additional state support.

      “We'll advise, assist, assess and identify what agents are downrange,” notes Lt. Col. Jerry Gagnon, commander of the 21st CST.  “We have an analytical laboratory that we travel around with that if we go downrange to take samples of chemical or biological agents, we can assess and identify right on site about 90 percent of the chemical warfare agents that are out there in the world.”

      The WMD-CST's participate in both military and civilian emergency responder specialized technical training.  Each team member required approximately 600-800 hours of initial training above and beyond his or her primary military occupational skill (MOS) qualification or professional military education requirement.  Several DOD schools, the National Fire Academy, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Energy (DOE) as well as other relevant agencies, provided professional instruction.