Team trains for
bio-chem attack

A National Guard unit leads
Hawaii's efforts against terrorism
using nerve gas or germs

Twice a week in the middle of Diamond Head crater, a team of men don red and blue astronaut-like suits and practice detecting biological and chemical agents such as anthrax or the deadly nerve gas sarin.

The 22-man Hawaii National Guard team is at the forefront of the state's effort to protect the islands against terrorist attacks of the worst variety. Experts say the unit, together with efforts to stay up-to-date with intelligence on terrorist threats, is among the leading reasons why the state is prepared to cope with a such an emergency.

"Certainly Hawaii is an attractive terrorist target," said Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at the Singapore-based Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies. "But the state has taken certain measures to reduce the threat by investing and developing intelligence, providing better training, and also keeping relevant agencies alert and better oriented."

The Diamond Head-based 93rd Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team is one of 55 such units that have been set up or are being set up around the nation. All 50 states and the U.S. territories, including Guam and Puerto Rico, will eventually have their own teams in place.

Having a unit in the islands enables experts to swiftly identify potentially dangerous substances and start treating those exposed without having to wait for help to arrive from the mainland.

On Oahu, the team is trained to reach the scene of an outbreak within three hours and any site on a neighbor island within five hours.

The unit trains with the fire department's hazardous materials teams and authorities in all four counties at least once a year.

Hawaii is also one of only 12 states where National Guard soldiers are trained and equipped to decontaminate people exposed to chemical, biological or nuclear agents.

In addition, the Hawaii National Guard operates a backup communications system that would enable the governor, mayors and other leaders to communicate by phone and e-mail in the event the state's existing infrastructure collapses after a debilitating attack or natural disaster.

The satellite-based network -- one of only 12 under the command of National Guard troops nationwide -- is designed to let the state avoid a communication breakdown of the kind that hampered the rescue effort in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The more than 44,000 active-duty soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines stationed at Hawaii military bases, meanwhile, are able to back up state efforts. Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state adjutant general, said military commanders have assured him they will come to Hawaii's aid in a domestic security emergency.

Such abilities should also help the state cope with a hurricane, tsunami or other natural disasters.

Hawaii's distance from the rest of the country may have helped ensure that it has the extra resources.

Lee said the chief of the National Guard put Hawaii on the list to receive the decontamination training and the backup communications system after he explained how critical these capabilities were for the nation's only island state.

Hawaii has been similarly aggressive on the intelligence front.

Gunaratna said Hawaii has been studying which chemical agents terrorists might be developing to use and then investing in how to cope with these substances.

"They are constantly training and they are constantly looking at the capabilities of terrorist groups," Gunaratna said. "They understand what the terrorists know and they are preparing the countermeasures."

Gunaratna told delegates at a homeland security conference in Waikiki last week that al-Qaida had so far been prevented from obtaining biological and chemical weapons because it was having difficulty recruiting capable scientists.