Terrorist exercise points out flaws

Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Glitches have cropped up in the government's response to the simulated terrorist biological attack on the Las Vegas Strip, officials said Tuesday.

Frank Siracusa, chief of the state Division of Emergency Management, said some communications and coordination problems were found but they were not major.

While the make-believe attack was set in Las Vegas, Siracusa said the state's emergency center in Carson City was "the hub of the crisis response."

Las Vegas is participating in a national exercise to test the readiness of the country to handle any emergency. The state's role was to assist when Clark County facilities were overwhelmed.

For instance, when Clark County ran low on medicine in the drill, it asked the state for supplies to treat the more than 200 people who contacted simulated pneumonic plague after terrorists supposedly sprayed it on the Strip.

State Health Officer Dr. Brandon Lee said he called the federal Centers for Disease Control for medical supplies at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. Under the simulated scenario, the supplies arrived by truck from Texas on Tuesday at 8 a.m. The federal response goal is for needed medicine to arrive within 12 hours. Lee said the government, however, had to verify and make arrangements for the shipment.

Under the exercise scenario, the attack occurred last weekend when there was an aerosol release on the Strip. Doctors had made their preliminary diagnosis. But it was not until Tuesday morning that the state Health Lab in Reno confirmed it was an attack of pneumonic plague that affects the lungs and can cause death.

The delay is due in part that the specimens had to be shipped from Las Vegas to Reno for examination where the health lab is located.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said the state will be using a federal grant to develop a health lab in the Las Vegas area, where 70 percent of the state's population is located.

Officials said the exercise is costing about $2 million in Nevada but will help identify where the state may have to update its emergency response effort.

Maj. Gen. Giles Vanderhoff, adjutant general of the Nevada National Guard, said the exercise is designed to determine where weaknesses occur in the system so corrections can be made. Dave Kieckbush, acting director of the state Department of Public Safety, said the radio system of the Nevada Highway Patrol functioned properly in the drill.