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Review finds Sept. 11 Potomac exercise was a bad idea

By Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press October 27, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Coast Guard says holding a training exercise near the Pentagon on Sept. 11 this year was ill-advised, but didn't violate agency policies.

The conclusions, obtained by The Associated Press, are from an internal Coast Guard review of the events and actions that led to false news reports of gunfire on the Potomac River on the anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks.

The Coast Guard unit that conducted the training exercise was not aware President Barack Obama would be traveling to and from a memorial service nearby. The agency concludes that if the unit knew where the president would be that day, it would have rescheduled the exercise.

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The incident spooked the capital, sent FBI agents to the scene and grounded some flights from Reagan National Airport.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

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  • Tom, how right you are! DHS was created to improve communication among civilian agencies having security responsibilities for our home territory, thus the name Homeland Security. Yet two of the department's more significant civilian agencies (the Secret Service and the Coast Guard) don't even talk to one another. Credit the Secret Service for that Pentagon/river training blunder as the Potomac has had Coast Guard activity on it long before the Pentagon was even built. We were probably better off when both agencies were in the Department in which they were placed when they were first created -- Treasury. Treasury at least had some respect for the Coast Guard -- DHS hasn't shown me much in that regard. The President's visit/river training incident is anecdotal evidence that DHS is dysfunctional and cannot even accomplish the basic purpose for which it was created. There was no valid reason to create it and, likewise, there is no reason whatsoever to keep it. Oops, let me correct that. There is one reason for keeping it -- i.e., to give purpose to the buildings at St. E's. Potato Man Posted October 28, 2009 12:34 PM
  • There had to be an "internal" review to come to this conclusion? Two guys sitting at a bar that night commented on how stupid it was, review complete. Tom Posted October 28, 2009 10:27 AM
  • Please tell me it didn't really take an official review to determine that this was a BAD idea. This is truely sad. C Posted October 28, 2009 9:53 AM
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