OPERATION ATLAS EXERCISE SERIES: BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Operation Atlas was a highly successful, innovative, comprehensive, integrated series of five Tabletop Exercises (TTXs) that culminated in a Full Scale Exercise (FSE) designed to enhance the capability of Metro-Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Federal homeland security and emergency service agencies to respond to incidents of terrorism. Operation Atlas enabled stakeholders to assess the Metro-Boston Homeland Security Region's ability to respond to a high-level threat to its stability and security.

The scenario for the Operation Atlas Exercise Series was based on the United Airlines (UAL) daily trans-Atlantic flight from Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France, en route to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Because of a security breach at de Gaulle and incidents on-board this flight, a decision is made to divert the flight to Boston's Logan International Airport. From this baseline scenario, a series of tabletop exercises was developed to test specific areas of responsibility held by the area's Federal, State, and local first responders.

In addition, it allowed civic leaders, airport management, United Airlines management, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other stakeholders addressed issues including communication and information sharing on an interagency and intra-agency level, interoperability of personnel and  equipment, and health and medical issues. The Operation Atlas Exercise Series covered the following areas: Intelligence and Information Sharing Operational Personnel, Interoperable Communications Medical Community (IEMC Course) Senior Leaders

"We're very satisfied. We recognized some areas that need to be fine-tuned, but less areas of difficulty than I thought we'd find several months ago when we started this process."   - Carlo Boccia, Boston's Homeland Security Director, Boston Globe article

The June 4, 2005 FSE was the first to integrate the resources of a major metropolitan area, a major business, and the US military. It served to scrub the preparedness and capabilities of many government agencies. It was deemed extremely successful and received a high level of media coverage around the country.