Copyright 2005 Boston Herald Inc.
By KEVIN ROTHSTEIN
Boston Herald
Four years after 9/11 exposed serious flaws in how Americans respond to terrorist attacks, simulated hijackings in Boston revealed our first responders are still struggling with communications snafus, chain of command confusion and red tape, recently released records show.
The “After Action Report’’ analyzed the performance during Operation Atlas, a series of table top drills that culminated with a June 4 simulated airline hijacking at Logan Airport, where two of the four hijacked planes departed on Sept. 11, 2001.
Some of its findings include:
- “Delays, redundancies and reluctance’’ slowed intelligence sharing among agencies.
- Tight security around Logan delayed private ambulances’ access to the hijacking scene.
- Confusion over who was in charge at the hijacking scene.
- Poor communication between Boston and state police kept real-time information from Hub cops.
- Mismatched computer programs further hampered communication between Boston and state police.
- Responders preoccupied with the hijacking neglected to keep the press and public informed, a task key to preventing panic.
Boston Homeland Security czar Carlo Boccia defended the performance, saying it wasn’t perfect but wasn’t comparable to 9/11, when New York police and fire department had difficulty speaking to one another on their radios.
“The philosophy of the exercise was in fact an exercise. We encouraged the participating agencies, over 50, to address their mistakes. That’s the reason for a drill, and we don’t want to disguise any of those mistakes and we didn’t,’' Boccia said.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s press secretary, Seth Gitell, gave the Herald the 39-page report, marked “sensitive but unclassified,’' on Friday afternoon - the day before Christmas Eve - in response to a Nov. 17 public records request. The report indicates it was completed last month.
The simulated hijacking last summer was a widely publicized affair that kicked off with a press conference the day before replete with staged fire trucks and police cars surrounding a stage where Menino spoke about the drill.
The next day, the simulation began over Hub skies with a United Airlines flight from Paris to Chicago. Scrambled fighter jets escorted the hijacked craft to Logan. Once on the ground, the body of a small girl was tossed to the tarmac, prompting law enforcement to storm the plane.
Boccia told reporters later that day that he was “very satisfied,’' but added he found “some areas that need to be fine-tuned.’'
But the drill revealed shortcomings in the region’s response, problems that would become worse during emergencies, the report says. The problem becomes even worse when different levels of government are involved because state police and federal agencies operate their radios on a different band than most local first responders in the metro Boston area.
“This limitation ultimately reduced Boston Police Department’s access to real-time information from agencies participating in the response at the incident site,’' the report says.
Boccia said the region was “way ahead of the curve’’ in terms of radio interoperability, especially with the purchase of over 2,000 pieces of new radio equipment. But he acknowledged there were still agencies now that couldn’t communicate fully with each other.
“We’re much further ahead than when the drill was conducted,’' he said. “That’s as far as I would go. We’ve made great progress, but we’re still working on it.’'
Boccia said other improvements have been made since Operation Atlas.
Training given to nearly 6,000 first responders addresses chain of command problems. The Internet-based emergency response programs that Boston and state police use have been synchronized and plans have been laid to better deliver information to the press and public.
The Massachusetts Port Authority is charged with making sure private ambulances are no longer delayed on their way to the tarmac in case of mass casualties.
“Progress has been made in that,’' Boccia said.
Homeland Security is a sensitive issue in Boston. Menino’s evacuation plan was panned by security experts and scoffed at by his political rival in last month’s election. Last month the mayor personally unveiled sweeping changes to the city’s evacuation plan.