CHICAGO, May 12 (UPI) -- Preparations were in full swing Monday for Chicago to take part in a nationwide terror drill to test emergency preparedness in case of multiple terrorist attacks.
This is only a test.
To make sure there are no "War of the Worlds" reactions, the media have been publicizing the drill for a week. The drill is to include a mock plane crash at Midway Airport and a biological attack that sends "patients" to Chicago hospital emergency rooms and draws in suburban areas as pharmaceutical distribution sites are set up. The city also will have to deal with the aftereffects of a dirty bomb going off in Seattle and a building collapse.
The drill began in Seattle Monday afternoon and worked its way East. Chicago's participation begins Tuesday.
The drill is called Top Officials 2, or TOPOFF2 for short. In 2000, similar drills were held in Denver; Portsmouth, N.H., and Washington. The scenario was put together by a team of writers, who dubbed their terrorist network GLODO.
The Department of Homeland Security is assessing the $16 million exercise and will use "mock" journalists to report on its "mock" disasters. No real reporters will be allowed to participate or report on events.
Most of the exercise is expected to be invisible to the public and disruptions are to be kept to a minimum though the drill involves hundreds of off-duty personnel and 19 federal, state and county health, transportation and emergency management departments.
The drill will have a fairy tale ending Thursday night. Police will arrest the "terrorists" at a biological laboratory on the Southwest Side.
