Swan Island Networks News

Operation Golden Phoenix: Homeland Security 2.0

Local, State and Federal Agencies Team Up for an Innovative “Bottom Up” Terrorism Training Event; Swan Island’s TIES Service to Provide Common Operating Picture

SAN DIEGO, CA, July 18, 2008—A new kind of government-sponsored terrorism training event will spring to life July 21-24 in San Diego, complete with faux terrorists, real UAVs, and thousands of participants. Known as Operation Golden Phoenix 08, it will involve nearly two hundred public and private organizations working together dynamically in response to a fictional terrorist scenario—a bio-terror attack in southern California that evolves into a catastrophic medical emergency.

What’s remarkable about this particular training event is that it has no central budget (other than $535 for coffee); and is staffed largely by a volunteer force made up of federal homeland security officials, state and local first responders, medical workers, private companies, academic leaders and many others. Golden Phoenix 08 was jump-started by a Marine major and a San Diego Border Patrol agent who believed that emergency training events should build collaborative relationships not just inside organizations, but across them; and that these groups should largely be free to self-organize, just as they would in a major disaster.

At its core, Golden Phoenix uses the techniques and technologies of social networking to build the kind of personal relationships that become essential when responding to a major emergency.

The lead federal agency for Golden Phoenix is U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in conjunction with the County of San Diego, the City of San Diego and Marine Aircraft Group-46 (Marine Forces Reserve).

Swan Island Networks, Inc. (www.swanisland.net), a leading Software-as-a-Service provider of enterprise security, continuity and emergency needs, is playing a key role in Golden Phoenix. Swan Island’s TIES® service will support an ad hoc network of Golden Phoenix participants and observers—providing them with a real-time common operating picture (COP) of the event. TIES’ Golden Phoenix COP will display incidents, alerts, local San Diego information, related maps and breaking news, all delivered as an Internet service, with full functionality delivered on both PCs and mobile devices.

In the real world, TIES is used by large enterprises (both public and private) in two key ways:

• As a virtual enterprise command center: TIES aggregates data from thousands of sources, mashes it up to create rich situational awareness and common operating pictures, then delivers it to authorized users—anytime, anywhere. Information is filtered according to individual needs, responsibilities and locations.

• As a professional social network: TIES creates “communities of trust”—scalable networks of trusted partners and vendors that help government and enterprise collaborate in order to manage crises, mitigate disasters and reduce business disruption.  

“We’re honored to participate in Golden Phoenix,” said Charles Jennings, CEO of Swan Island Networks. “This event is like an old-time community barn raising—but with cutting-edge technology, and a homeland security mission.”

Some of the incidents included in the Golden Phoenix scenario are:

• Marine Corps personnel will simulate a humanitarian relief response

• The San Diego Police Department will practice traffic and crowd control measures around each hospital. Marine Corps personnel (non-uniform) will be involved as mock victims.

• Two H-46 military helicopters will land on the helipad at the rear of the hospital, dispatching two dozen law enforcement officers dressed in full decontamination gear.

• The San Diego Fire Department will practice “wash downs” of victims “contaminated” with bio-terrorism materials.  

As the training event proceeds, TIES will publish incidents and alerts from all the various scenarios, as they happen, displaying them in alert grids and on maps along with local San Diego information. All participants and observers in the Golden Phoenix network will have visibility into events and incidents as they unfold, enriched with additional information and reports from the field.

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