For seven years, the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has teamed up with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the Analysis for Coastal Operational Resiliency (AnCOR) project. Now coming to an end, AnCOR and its tools and resources will assist the USCG to respond to a biological agent attack and rapidly return to operational status.
S&T General Biological Scientist and Program Manager Dr. Andrea Wiggins shares word of the final team tabletop exercise and how AnCOR can benefit additional federal, state, local and tribal agencies, too.
AnCOR is a true testament to the power of cross-government scientific collaboration. S&T and EPA have worked side-by-side for nearly a decade to develop and assess methods, tools, and procedures to mitigate the effects of a potential biological attack. Together, we conducted field exercises, scientific studies, and a large-scale wide-area demonstration – all to ensure USCG’s mission readiness and ability to quickly clean maritime installations, assets, and urban areas surrounding bases. With AnCOR, USCG can better support, secure, and protect our maritime environment.
Over the course of three days in late April and early May, S&T, EPA, and the USCG conducted a tabletop exercise at the USCG Atlantic Strike Team’s New Jersey base. The exercise simulated an anthrax spore release to run through an entire bioagent incident response decision making process and subsequent mitigation activities. An AnCOR decontamination process includes devising a sample collection plan, deciding on decontamination methods, and managing proper waste disposal. This exercise was the last of three planned tabletop exercises; the previous two took place at the Pacific and Gulf Strike Teams’ bases.
USCG participants used the EPA-developed Readiness and Emergency Strategy Planning On-Demand (RESPOND) software tool and its three modules – sampling, decontamination and waste management – during the exercise. To emphasize the realistic nature of the test scenarios, different ‘curveball’ complications were injected, and participants received hands-on experience with devising alternate sample collection plans and revising decontamination strategies. The training received extremely positive feedback from attendees at all three National Strike teams, and the EPA will now use USCG participants’ feedback to enhance RESPOND.
S&T will soon deliver comprehensive AnCOR guidance documents describing each phase of bio-response consequence management as well as maintenance procedure cards, which USCG personnel can use when responding to a biological incident to quickly return their assets to operational status.
S&T has made significant strides during these seven years in collaboration with the EPA. Through AnCOR, we have not only helped the USCG prepare for real-world emergencies, but also amassed a wealth of knowledge that can be applied beyond maritime environments to clean up wide areas, including terrestrial and urban environments. Federal, state, and local government agencies, the first responder community, as well as Department of Homeland Security Components like U.S. Customs and Border Control, U.S. Secret Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, could all benefit from AnCOR’s tools and approach.
AnCOR will officially conclude at the end of September, at which point the USCG will retain access to all project reports, guidance documents, procedure cards, and the RESPOND tool. We look forward to delivering these critical biological decontamination resources to our colleagues protecting U.S. waterways.
For an additional look back at AnCOR, listen to S&T’s Technologically Speaking Podcast’s Season One episode, Speed Up the Cleanup.