Story by PA1 Tasha Tully, PADET St. Petersburg, Fla., with contributions from Lt. Jason Franz, Sector St. Petersburg Planning
Photos by PA1 Donnie Brzuska, PADET Jacksonville, Fla
TAMPA BAY, Fla. -- The U.S. Coast Guard, along with federal, state, and local agencies, joined together Aug. 1 to conduct a large-scale maritime security exercise, Operation Bay Sentinel 2006, in Tampa Bay, Fla.
The Area Maritime Security Training and Exercise Program (AMSTEP) exercises are a series of full-scale drills taking place around the country. The Coast Guard recognizes that providing maritime security in Tampa Bay requires the close coordination of area responders, and exercises like Bay Sentinel 2006 can help prepare agencies for real-life events.
TAMPA, Fla. - A Coast Guard member stands watch over the unified command, which coordinated the response to Bay Sentinel 2006. Bay Sentinel 2006 was a multi-agency exercise aimed at testing the area's maritime security plan. Coast Guard photograph by PA1 Donnie Brzuska, PADET Jacksonville.
Bay Sentinel 2006 emphasized prevention, preparedness for response, crisis management and recovery, resource management, and information sharing during a simulated transportation security incident in the Tampa Bay area. In order to test these elements, contractors were hired to take ideas from Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC) members and a local design team to formulate a comprehensive plan to exercise all agencies that would be involved in such a response.
The target audience for Bay Sentinel 2006 included decision makers in the private sector, Maritime Transportation Security Act-regulated facility administrators, law-enforcement officials and emergency responders at the federal, state, and local levels.
The exercise began with a simulated report of a terrorist attack on a facility in England. The Tampa-area responders quickly set up a Unified Command (UC) at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg's Prevention Department on Davis Island in Tampa. The UC acts as a central information center where members from each agency and/or jurisdictions with responsibility for the incident share in managing the incident.
Information began pouring into the UC regarding threats made against Tampa port infrastructures, absconders on vessels, suspicious people surveying industry sites and an explosion at a fuel facility.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) immediately began working on information gathered on the absconders and reported that they had found a crewmember on an inbound cargo ship who matched the description of an individual responsible for the explosion in England.
FBI, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and Coast Guard Vessel Boarding and Security (VBS) teams were deployed from a Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter to the cruise ship Starship, which simulated a cargo ship for the scenario. Working together, the integrated team found, positively identified and apprehended the suspect in about two minutes.
Meanwhile, reports were coming in to the UC about individuals taking pictures and conducting surveillance at petrochemical companies. With a recommendation from the UC, the Captain of the Port of Tampa, Coast Guard Capt. Joseph Servidio, increased the
Maritime Security (MARSEC) level of the Port of Tampa just as a suspicious package was found at a port facility. The Hillsborough County Bomb Squad was
moved in to investigate, secure and neutralize the package.
TAMPA, Fla. - A Coast Guard homeland security boat from Station St. Petersburg, Fla., establishes a security zone around the cruise ship StarShip while a Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Clearwater, Fla., hovers over head with a joint FBI and Coast Guard boarding team aboard. The cruise ship was playing a motor vessel carrying hazardous cargo attempting to enter the port with a suspected terrorist aboard during Bay Sentinel 2006. The boarding team is preparing to lower from the helicopter and search the vessel for the suspected terrorist. Bay Sentinel is a multi-agency exercise aimed at testing the area's maritime security plan. Coast Guard photograph by PA1 Donnie Brzuska, PADET Jacksonville.
Simultaneously, a simulated explosion took place at a facility that was receiving jet fuel from a tank ship. Many first responders were already occupied with the suspicious package across town, so resources were pulled from neighboring counties, putting the entire Tampa Bay area response system under pressure.
Operation Bay Sentinel 2006 came to a close after careful investigation lead the UC to determine that the fuel explosion was an industrial accident and not terrorist related. Servidio called a meeting with all of the Tampa Bay area key players and asked for their feedback on the exercise.
During the 24-hour event, plans were tested, deficiencies were identified and lessons were learned. The outcome was captured in an after-action report which will identify and address each agency's deficiencies and help improve the readiness of all first responders within the Port of Tampa.
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