Nuke search exercise off Alki and beyond
More than 300 maritime law enforcement and first responder personnel from 23 federal, state, local and tribal agencies participated in an operational maritime exercise in Puget Sound Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 22 and 23.
They were simulating attempts by small boats to smuggle nuclear weapons into the area, particularly Elliott Bay and the Canadian Border because of it being a possible target during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
A serious game of cat and mouse played out. The small vessels, those under 300 gross tons, were loaded with safe, low-level radioactive materials. Law enforcement craft were armed with radiation detectors at lines drawn in the water, or “choke points” set up at Admiralty Inlet, Bellingham Bay and North Skagit Bay.
The boats carrying radiation attempted to breach the choke points.
For on-shore back-up. three temporary shore-based hazmet centers, in La Conner, Bellingham and Port Townsend were operated by members of the Washington State Patrol bomb squad, the Federal Bureau of Investigation bomb technicians, and the 10th Civil Support Team, a National Guard Unit.