Newswise — The National Agricultural Biosecurity Center at Kansas State University planned and directed a recent simulation exercise in Topeka. The objective was to test how well the Kansas National Guard and federal military and civilian resources would cooperate if called upon to handle an animal health emergency, such as foot and mouth disease, in Kansas.
In the aftermath of an actual foot and mouth disease outbreak, it would take years to bring Kansas cattle operations back to full commercial productivity. The total cumulative economic loss would amount to billions of dollars, according to exercise planners.
The Kansas National Guard and other emergency first responders faced a simulated scenario: over the course of a disease outbreak, more than 50 Kansas cattle operations are affected and 1 million animals have to be destroyed and buried.
The outbreak scenario required quarantines, highway closings, elapsed time waiting for federal lab results to confirm the suspicions of state veterinarians, and after positive identification of foot and mouth as the disease involved, a massive euthanization and carcass disposal effort.
The main objective of the two-day exercise, said veterinarian Dr. Marty Vanier, National Agricultural Biosecurity Center assistant director and program coordinator, was to explore conditions under which civilian and military interagency cooperation is going to be needed and the processes that can make cooperation happen.
The component of "Exercise High Plains Guardian" that has not been studied before by any homeland security training exercises, according to Vanier, is looking at how state and local agencies might interact with the federal civilian and especially, military agencies.
The National Agricultural Biosecurity Center planning team includes an expert in intergovernmental management. Jim Stever, a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati, is studying the interagency interactions of the High Plains Guardian exercise.
"We pushed this exercise," Vanier stressed. "National Agricultural Biosecurity Center staff had the exercise designed specifically so that very, very quickly the local units of government and state responders ran out of resources and had to turn to federal agencies for help."
During the exercise, the severity and scope of the disease, the numbers of animals involved, the need to quarantine feedlot and halt traffic coming into and out of Kansas unfolded very quickly, she said.
The federal laboratory confirmation of foot-and-mouth disease caused Kansas authorities to request additional personnel to help euthanize millions of animals and dispose of the carcasses, she explained.
Vanier is the principal investigator of the Department of Defense-funded project, "Evaluation of Agroterrorism Response and Capabilities Within NORTHCOM and Selected State National Guards." The Department of Defense grant funded the "High Plains Guardian" tabletop exercise held at the State Defense Building in Topeka, July 30- 31.
The simulation is the second phase of a National Agricultural Biosecurity Center program called Military Assistance to Civil Authorities Initiative. The goal of the initiative's first phase was to determine the missions and requirements for the Kansas National Guard in a foreign animal disease security incident.
In June 2003, National Agricultural Biosecurity Center conducted "Exercise High Stakes" at the Kansas Emergency Operations Center and in participating counties. That exercise drilled local, state and federal departments and agencies in preparedness for, response to, and consequence mitigation of an agroterrorism attack on the state's livestock industry.
National Agricultural Biosecurity Center personnnel learned from that exercise that the Kansas National Guard would play a significant role in responding to any such agroterrorism event. Consequently, the Kansas National Guard is beginning to plan, train and prepare for that kind of occurrence, Vanier said.
It also became apparent that beyond the local and state assets, regional and federal resources would be needed to mount an effective response to an actual agroterrorism act.
"The National Agricultural Biosecurity Center is fortunate to be working with Kansas Animal Health Department, the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, the Adjutant General and the Kansas National Guard in the emergency preparedness training exercise," Vanier said. "As we're thinking about how the state can respond effectively to an agroterrorism incident, it's essential that everyone be thinking about how they are going to work with federal agencies."
Representatives of the following agencies participated in "Exercise High Plains Guardian" -- Kansas Animal Health Department; Kansas Bureau of Investigation; Kansas Department of Health and Environment; Kansas Division of Emergency Management; Kansas Highway Patrol; Kansas National Guard; 89th Army Reserve Command; USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; U.S. Department of Homeland Security Region VII; U.S. Northern Command; Joint Task Force-Civil Support; U.S. Fifth Army; and U.S. Army Veterinary Corps.
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