Operation Gotham Shield: Simulating 10kt Nuke Detonation over NYC/NJ on April 24-26
Red Flag from April 18 to May 5
A Joint Operation, code named Gotham Shield is scheduled for Apr. 24 – 26. The premise of this simulated crisis will be the detonation of a 10,000-ton nuclear device in the air over New Jersey.
But many agencies use varying dates! The Exercise has probably already started on April 18, 2017 and will last until May 5, 2017. Therefore several observers are seeing what they call “Red Flags” and are now more concerned than ever that something strange may actually take place during this “exercise.”
“Operation Gotham Shield” is a MAJOR exercise, involving the actual mobilization of numerous federal, state, county, and local resources over and above the military mentioned earlier: Law enforcement, Fire/Rescue/EMS, Hospitals, Doctors, Nurses, Regional Trade Associations such as the Health Care Association of New Jersey and the Eastern Regional Helicopter Council, to name just a few.
The electromagnetic pulse (EMP) caused by the detonation of this device will cause the disabling of most telephone, internet, and other electronic devices in a 20 kilometer radius around the detonation site.
The “triage area” for this exercise will be MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, NJ. That’s where teams will assemble and where “victims” will be initially evacuated.
Red flag: Different dates for the exercise!
The MARS/ARES Ham Radio people have been explicitly told Monday and Tuesday, April 24 and 25. But the Health Care Association of New Jersey is telling its people, April 26
The Eastern Regional Helicopter Council is telling its people one day earlier, April 25.
The US Government itself is using vastly differing dates. For instance, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says the Gotham Shield Exercise started already, on April 18, and continues to May 5!
Finally, Murad Raheem, Field Supervisor, HHS Region II, Regional Emergency Coordinator Program, shared information about a national, explains the FEMA-led exercise is scheduled to take place from mid-April through early May: “Gotham Shield” is the name for a collection of smaller, separate exercises “to evaluate the whole community effort to prevent, protect from, respond to, and plan initial recovery after the effects of an Improvised Nuclear Device attack.” The exercise will involve multiple Federal, State, and City agencies. New York City plans to activate its Emergency Operations Center on a single day of play, and test its ability to respond 24 hours after an initial attack. During the March EPCC meeting, participants brainstormed ways that a small number of hospitals could explore how facilities at various geographic distances from the point of detonation would likely respond. GNYHA is working with various government response agencies to plan this complementary exercise.
With so many agencies using such varying dates, several observers are seeing what they call “Red Flags” – saying they are now more concerned than ever that something strange may actually take place during this “exercise.”