The August 16 exercise built upon established partnerships between agencies to further
consistent and unified cooperation in times of real-world incidents
and another exercise developer,
and was borne from a discussion-
based exercise held at GPA last
year. “We built on the partnerships
established at last year’s event,
where we discussed resources and
capabilities, but we also wanted
to get this exercise to a level that
activated other agencies outside port
jurisdiction,” he said.
For Hampton, understanding,
interdependency and adaptability
is key to finding balance between
maritime security, homeland secu-
rity, and facilitation of international
commerce. “Nothing can be done
inside a bubble or silo. It’s great to
have plans, but if we can’t come to-
gether and work collectively within
those plans, we won’t be successful,”
he said.
After last year’s exercise, GPA and
the exercise developers approached
GEMA/HS for assistance with mov-
ing the discussions into a larger ex-
ercise with scenarios and injects,
causing the participating agencies
to make real-time decisions on the
scenarios presented. “Those part-
nerships that were enhanced from
last year’s event helped everyone
make sound decisions in this one,”
said Morse.
For both each of the exercise
developers, this year’s exercise suc-
cessfully brought everyone togeth-
er and moved them into a unified
command to handle the incident,
demonstrating everyone’s commit-
ment to working together to address
any threat to Georgia’s maritime
system.
The lessons learned in this year’s
exercise will be brought into the
2019 exercise, which is already in
the planning stages, and will move
everyone to a deeper understanding
of the incident command structure
and even further prepare the port
for an incident.
“GEMA/HS will provide us with
an after-action report in the com-
ing weeks. We’ll take those lessons
learned and use them to strengthen
our plans and be even more prepared
next time,” Trevathan said.
Planning is a critical element in
incident management, but exercising
plans and training for real-world
scenarios is what helps various
agencies work together to ensure
the protection of life and property
in Georgia. ■
_______________________
For more information on
planning an exercise, contact the
GEMA/HS Training and Exercise
Division at 404-624-2264.
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