LA becomes ground zero for multi-agency anti-terrorism exercise

A multi-agency taskforce today continued a three-day anti-terrorism exercise in Los Angeles, responding to the threat of a nuclear device in the city.

The scenario assumed that a nuclear device had been detonated in a major U.S. city in the Midwest, and that intelligence indicated another device had been planted in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles' Police, Fire and Emergency Management departments, the FBI and other state and federal agencies were tasked in the exercise to work together to track down the explosive and deactivate it.

"This collaboration and cooperation represent government at its best,'' Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said of the exercise, dubbed the Marble Challenge, outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

"We understand that public safety is our number-one priority and we'll never waver in our effort to protect our residents from either man-made or natural disasters,'' he added.

The mayor's office described the Marble Challenge as a three-day "White House-directed, US government-wide exercise'' aimed at demonstrating a coordinated tactical response to a potential nuclear or radiological incident, and assessing agencies' ability to share information and intelligence
efficiently and quickly.