Point
17th-November-2006, 10:20
Chemical Willie goes into crisis mode . . . silently
Curragh fell silent yesterday as Willie O'Dea and his crack team mopped up the aftermath of a simulated chemical disaster.
This was operation Silent Echo, and the Defence Minister was there to quietly oversee how an emergency would be handled.
They were dealing with the demands of a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) fallout.
It was one of a number of structured exercises ordered by the government task force which is chaired by Mr O'Dea and set up to plan for emergencies.
And despite the seriousness with which the exercise was undertaken, senior garda anti-terrorist officers and military intelligence say there is no evidence indicating a "live" threat from radical Islamists to targets here.
Both agencies have indicated that comments made by exiled cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed supporting a terror attack on Dublin Airport are not hugely significant. And Mr O'Dea, well used to the biological exchanges on the floor of the Dail, confirmed the risk of an international terror strike on any target here remained low.
So he went silently about his business, shaking hands with key personnel.
The simulated exercise involved the gardai, the Army, local authorities, fire service and health service executive.
It focused on four strands - casualties, bomb disposal, forensic examination of the crime scene and decontamination - and dealt with the danger from a CBRN device.
A number of radical Islamists have made remarks suggesting that Ireland could become a target for terror attacks because United States troops are passing through Shannon Airport on their way to Iraq.
However, members of the Garda Special Branch Middle Eastern desk and military intelligence analysts say there is no intelligence supporting these threats.
The gardai and the military have been heavily involved in monitoring the movements and connections of known international terror sympathisers living here over the past eight years.
Several suspected terrorist activists were known to have been living here in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, but more recently the focus has been on a hard-core group providing logistic support to units based overseas.
This group has been involved in providing false identities and forged documentation, including credit cards to activists operating closer to the "frontline".
Intense surveillance is kept on a key band of about a dozen suspected terror targets but up to 50 others are also subject to regular monitoring.
The gardai and the Army keep in close contact with the security agencies in Britain and the United States, in particular, and exchange intelligence on the activities of mutual targets.
One senior security source said last night: "Intelligence on a potential terrorist attack is likely to come from a more reliable source than an internet chatroom, which can be easily infiltrated."
Omar Bakri Mohammed was linked in the past to the notorious al-Muhajiroun group, which has since been disbanded.
Tom Brady
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9& (http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1725393&issue_id=14900) ;si=1725393&issue_id=14900
Curragh fell silent yesterday as Willie O'Dea and his crack team mopped up the aftermath of a simulated chemical disaster.
This was operation Silent Echo, and the Defence Minister was there to quietly oversee how an emergency would be handled.
They were dealing with the demands of a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) fallout.
It was one of a number of structured exercises ordered by the government task force which is chaired by Mr O'Dea and set up to plan for emergencies.
And despite the seriousness with which the exercise was undertaken, senior garda anti-terrorist officers and military intelligence say there is no evidence indicating a "live" threat from radical Islamists to targets here.
Both agencies have indicated that comments made by exiled cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed supporting a terror attack on Dublin Airport are not hugely significant. And Mr O'Dea, well used to the biological exchanges on the floor of the Dail, confirmed the risk of an international terror strike on any target here remained low.
So he went silently about his business, shaking hands with key personnel.
The simulated exercise involved the gardai, the Army, local authorities, fire service and health service executive.
It focused on four strands - casualties, bomb disposal, forensic examination of the crime scene and decontamination - and dealt with the danger from a CBRN device.
A number of radical Islamists have made remarks suggesting that Ireland could become a target for terror attacks because United States troops are passing through Shannon Airport on their way to Iraq.
However, members of the Garda Special Branch Middle Eastern desk and military intelligence analysts say there is no intelligence supporting these threats.
The gardai and the military have been heavily involved in monitoring the movements and connections of known international terror sympathisers living here over the past eight years.
Several suspected terrorist activists were known to have been living here in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, but more recently the focus has been on a hard-core group providing logistic support to units based overseas.
This group has been involved in providing false identities and forged documentation, including credit cards to activists operating closer to the "frontline".
Intense surveillance is kept on a key band of about a dozen suspected terror targets but up to 50 others are also subject to regular monitoring.
The gardai and the Army keep in close contact with the security agencies in Britain and the United States, in particular, and exchange intelligence on the activities of mutual targets.
One senior security source said last night: "Intelligence on a potential terrorist attack is likely to come from a more reliable source than an internet chatroom, which can be easily infiltrated."
Omar Bakri Mohammed was linked in the past to the notorious al-Muhajiroun group, which has since been disbanded.
Tom Brady
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9& (http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1725393&issue_id=14900) ;si=1725393&issue_id=14900