Fake Iran Encounter Simmed in '02, CO Pandemic X, + News

Community plays out a devastating scenario in a tabletop exercise (CO)
http://www.montrosepress.com/articles/2008/01/14/news/doc478af4c796da5168636056.txt
From left, Montrose Memorial Hospital CEO Ken Platou, David Dreitlein, M.D., and Emergency Room Director Sharon Holbrook study what the chain of command would look like in the event of an outbreak of pandemic flu during a tabletop exercise at the hospital Wednesday. (Barton Glasser / Daily Press)

MONTROSE — “What if?” was the question local law, emergency and health officials faced last week during a pandemic tabletop exercise.Montrose County Health and Human Services collaborated with Montrose Memorial Hospital to present a devastating scenario involving the avian flu. The exercise was to test the readiness of important community entities including the police and sheriff departments, the hospital, health and human services, Montrose County and city, the fire department and school district.
“The outcome for us was to get the conversation started and get different players working together,” said Dr. Dick Gingery, MCHHS facilitator for the event. “We would all have to work together in this situation if it was a reality.”
Representatives from the different organization were given a packet that laid out a series of events which participants found daunting and overwhelming to their department.
The scenario started with an explosion at a chicken farm outside of Montrose. At the same time, there is “buzzing” in the community about the discovery of the avian flu virus in a chicken farm in Delta.
A pandemic is an outbreak of a disease that is prevalent over a whole county or the world.

Air Forces to launch relief exercises
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080114/NEWS01/801140320/1002
Pacific Air Forces will launch its first-ever total force humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise, known as Pacific Lifeline, from three locations within the Hawaiian Islands, Jan. 20 through Feb. 9, according to a news release from the Air Force.
About 900 Department of Defense personnel will participate in the 13th Air Force-led exercise, which will train and integrate Air Force and Army active duty, Air National Guard and Reserve component forces to respond to a real-world humanitarian crisis or national disaster in the Pacific Region. Initial forces will begin prepositioning at Kona International Airport Jan.11 via U.S. Air Force transport aircraft.
"We live in a region were natural disasters occur, unfortunately, all too often, and Pacific Air Forces are postured and ready to respond quickly and effectively when the call for help comes in," said Lt. Gen. Loyd S. "Chip" Uttterback, 13th Air Force commander. "Pacific Lifeline is a terrific venue to exercise our ability to organize, plan, rapidly deploy and lead a joint force to provide disaster relief and humanitarian assistance anywhere in the Pacific theater."

Iran Encounter Grimly Echoes ’02 War Game
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/washington/12navy.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
WASHINGTON — There is a reason American military officers express grim concern over the tactics used by Iranian sailors last weekend: a classified, $250 million war game in which small, agile speedboats swarmed a naval convoy to inflict devastating damage on more powerful warships.
In the days since the encounter with five Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz, American officers have acknowledged that they have been studying anew the lessons from a startling simulation conducted in August 2002. In that war game, the Blue Team navy, representing the United States, lost 16 major warships — an aircraft carrier, cruisers and amphibious vessels — when they were sunk to the bottom of the Persian Gulf in an attack that included swarming tactics by enemy speedboats.
“The sheer numbers involved overloaded their ability, both mentally and electronically, to handle the attack,” said Lt. Gen. Paul K. Van Riper, a retired Marine Corps officer who served in the war game as commander of a Red Team force representing an unnamed Persian Gulf military. “The whole thing was over in 5, maybe 10 minutes.”

WorldView satellite delivers its first views of the world
http://www.lompocrecord.com/articles/2008/01/14/news/centralcoast/news04.txt
A high-resolution imaging satellite that launched in September from Vandenberg Air Force Base has delivered extremely detailed first pictures, according to DigitalGlobe, the spacecraft's owner-operator.
The firm released images from the WorldView-1 satellite, showing skyscrapers in Houston, Texas; the port of Yokohama, Japan; and an area around a traffic circle in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while announcing that WorldView-1 has reached full operating capability for all customers.

Homeland Security proposes delayed Real ID rollout
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9848924-7.html?tag=nefd.pulse

Russian missile cruiser near Malta
http://www.di-ve.com/Default.aspx?ID=72&Action=1&NewsID=49140&newscategory=37


India, China to hold 2nd military exercise this year: PM
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=715466ec-6f22-4d53-a78d-fb810086b086&ParentID=3249e99e-8473-4433-8cd7-464efe5e749a&&Headline=India%2c+China+to+hold+2nd+military+exercise+this+year%3a+PM
India and China on Monday announced to hold their second joint military exercises this year and welcomed the "progress" in negotiations on the boundary issue.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao during extensive talks agreed to substantially enhance economic engagement by stepping up bilateral trade target from $40 billion to $60 billion by 2010.
Building on the goodwill generated by the landmark handshake between the world's two powerful armies last month in Kumming in China, the two leaders decided to have a second military exercise in India.
"We have agreed to continue to deepening mutual understanding and trust between our armed forces and welcome the successful first exercise in Kumming," Singh said.