Illinois Conducts Drill for a Weapon of Mass Destruction

How would you respond if you were at a large-scale event that suddenly faced an attack from a weapon of mass destruction? That is the question that first responders in Illinois just tried to answer as they completed a drill to simulate what they would do if everyone's worst nightmares came true.

If you saw a lot of unexpected activity at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield on October 7, this is an explanation of that. The Illinois State Police said in a press release that this was a drill that involved many different agencies. The Illinois State Police Special Operations Command Statewide Weapons of Mass Destruction team held this simulation to prepare for an attack at a major event "that escalated into a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) threat."

This emergency response simulation included Illinois Secretary of State Police, Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security, Springfield Fire Department, Illinois National Guard – 5th Civil Support Team, Federal Bureau of Investigation Springfield Field Office, Illinois Medical Emergency Response Team, and the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

“The goal of this full-scale exercise was to test and evaluate the ability of law enforcement, fire services, and other partnering agencies to respond as a unified group during emergency situations,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly. “These preparedness exercises provide a no-fault learning environment to ensured we’re ready when a real-world crisis strikes.”

This reminds me of the recent Netflix show "A House of Dynamite" which shows how the federal government might respond if a potential nuclear missile were launched at Chicago. You hope that situations like this remain in realm of fiction and never reality. However, considering how crazy this world is that we live in, best to be prepared just in case.