ALBANY, N.Y. ( NEWS10 ) — The U.S. Department of Defense has released the results of the multi-agency nuclear incident training that had been held in the Capital Region in January. The training exercise, called “Prominent Hunt,” took place around Schenectady, Albany and Saratoga counties from Jan. 26 through Jan. 31 .
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January’s Prominent Hunt was initiated by the Defense Department and a team of federal, state and local agencies led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The exercise series reportedly tested the abilities of the ground collection task force who, in the event of a nuclear attack, would be responsible for gathering nuclear ground debris evidence for analysis by the Defense Department.
According to the senior scientific advisor at the Office of Nuclear Matters, Timothy Jacomb-Hood, nuclear forensics is a key tool in determining the origins of an attack that cannot be traced to a launch from another nation — such as an improvised nuclear device used by terrorists or a nuclear attack by a state who plans on denying responsibility.
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In these types of nuclear attacks, the ground collection task force would collect radioactive debris like uranium and plutonium, which comes from a nuclear detonation’s “mushroom cloud.” The “unique signatures” of these debris materials would be analyzed by a laboratory to understand where the nuclear weapon was created. The evidence would also help in determining how the weapon got to its detonation location.
“In those scenarios, you’re less certain, and you need to know with total confidence who was responsible for this attack so that we can inform our senior leaders, and they can determine the appropriate response,” Jacomb-Hood said.
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The Defense Department said that the forensics process also acts as an element of nuclear deterrence. According to Brian Kohler, the director of nuclear forensics, energy and survivability within the Office of Nuclear Matters, it demonstrates to the international community that the United States would be capable of uncovering attacking parties and holding them accountable…