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Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100330001-5 SPECIAL EDITION -- TERRORISM -- 26 JUNE 1984 DALLAS MORNING NEWS 19 May 1984 Pg. 33 Exercise in terror goes well City drills to be ready for anything at GOP convention By Mark Edgar Staff Writer of The News The terrorist, threatening to disrupt the Republican National Convention, drove a phony ambu- lance into the City Hall plaza and vowed to ignite a stash of dyna- mite. Police moved quickly to evacu- ate the plaza, filled with 2,000 anti- Reagan protesters trying to get closer to the RNC site at the nearby Convention Center. Negotiations with the ambu- lance driver, who bragged that he had contaminated the water sup- ply to the convention, lasted two hours. The man failed to make clear his demands, and _ President Reagan was never in danger. Fi- nally, after talking to the FBI, the man surrendered. Authorities found that the convention water had not been poisoned and that the ambulance had not contained explosives. ‘@ The Republican National Con- vention escaped a violent attack this time. But the episode with the terrorist was a fake, anyway — part of a drill Friday. by the Dallas Office of Emergency Prepared- ness. } The. city — in preparation to the Republican convention Aug. 20-23 — conducted the three-hour exercise with a slew of fake acci- dents, including hazardous waste spills, fires, traffic accidents and even a snake bite. Dubbed “Operation RNC,” the drill was aimed at putting Dallas agencies through simulated emer- gencies between 6 and 9 p.m. Aug. 23, as well as evaluating the suc- cess of the city’s emergency plans. Operated out of the Emergency Operations Center in the City Hall basement, the drill included more than 100-members of the police, fire, health and other municipal departments. TS CONVENTION CITY ‘S84 “The staff all performed ‘in a su- perb.manner,” Assistant City Man- ager Levi Davis said. Local reporters, although al- lowed to view similar exercises in past years, were excluded from much of the exercise Friday for “security reasons,” Davis said. About three dozen disaster workers were stationed in the off- ice, surrounded by the usual city maps, phones, radios and weather radar screens and the not-so-usual signs saying, “THIS IS A DRILL.” John Pickett, coordinator of the Office of Emergency Prepared- ness, said the disaster office will be on a state of “increased readi- ness” around the clock during the convention. The Federal Emergency Man- agement Agency will provide high-tech communications equip- ment, and regional officials will be on hand to assist in a major ac- cident. To give the scene authenticity, the organizers set up a television set that briefly broadcast news re- ports by Ken Smith, executive pro- ducer of CityCable . Protesters seemed to bear the brunt of the accidents in the first 30 minutes of the drill. The script — part of which was read by Smith in anchorman fashion — re- ported that, beginning on the sec- ond day of the convention, Tues- day, Aug. 21, two dozen conven- tion demonstrators camping at Reverchon Park clashed with an- gry residents. Six homeowners and four protesters were arrested. : Davis said incidents with pro- testers made up only a small part of the beginning of the script. Davis said the incidents were played at as true emergencies but none reached a crisis stage. No one died during any of the fake exercises. But just to keep everyone off guard, one of the emergency workers in the basement office suffered a heart attack during the drill. He, of course, is fine. PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER 17 May 1984 Pg. 19D Bomb scare interrupts drill at nuclear plant in Wash. United Press International RICHLAND, Wash. — A bomb scare occurred during a: mock “unusual event’ drill yesterday. at the Wash- ington Public Power Supply System's No. 2 nuclear plant, but the suspected bomb. — found taped to an empty nitrogen tank — turned out to be electrical putty, officials said. The discovery of the substance had prompted WPPSS to declare an “un- usual event” in the middle of the mock “unusual event,” which was called to test the ability of plant staff and local, state and federal officials to respond to an emergency situa tion. . WPPSS spokesman John Britton said the Richland Police Depart- ment’s bomb squad had identified the black substance as duct sealant, or electricians’ putty. “We. don’t know how it got there or who put it there,” Britton said. “It’s not some- thing that’s used on the outside of these tanks. We're investigating.” Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : ciASRpP96-00788R000100330001-5