National special security event response

Story by Sgt. James D. Sims, 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

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SPRINGFIELD, IL (08/28/2014)(readMedia)-- CHICAGO – More than 270 Soldiers and Airmen from the Illinois National Guard provided support and security to the 136th National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) Conference held at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, Aug. 22-25.

"This conference has given the Illinois National Guard a unique opportunity to conduct a National Special Security Event (NSSE) exercise similar to events which Illinois has been called upon in the past to participate, the most recent one being the NATO summit," said Maj. Troy Scott of Springfield, Illinois, the deputy director of homeland security for Joint Force Headquarters.

The goal of the exercise was to test the Illinois National Guard's ability to provide support to United States government departments and agencies, the State of Illinois and the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area during a large-scale NSSE.

According to the U.S. Secret Service website, when an event is designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security as a NSSE, the Secret Service assumes its mandated role as the lead agency for the design and implementation of the operational security plan. The Secret Service has developed a core strategy to carry out its security operations, which relies heavily on its established partnerships with law enforcement and public safety officials at the local, state and federal levels.

"The mission was an unequivocal success. We can measure this in two ways," said Scott. "(1) We conducted an extensive evaluation using subject matter experts in all functional areas to evaluate the adjutant-general-directed mission essential and supporting collective tasks. The evaluation results are not yet complete; however, initial indications show a high-level of competence and aptitude within the ad-hoc (specific for this mission) Joint Task Force; and (2) the proof of success is in the outcome, meaning how were NGAUS events, as the simulated NSSE, perceived. By the NGAUS Executive Committee account and the solicited assessments of attendees, these events were overwhelmingly successful."

One of the areas the Illinois National Guard supported was the information technology aspect of the conference.

"There were very little challenges for the Information Technology (IT) committee. This was because we planned well in advance for this event," said Col. Alexander Lawson of Springfield, Illinois, the Illinois National Guard director of information management. "The only real issues were those that were 'outside the box'."

One particular issue that stressed the IT skills was the ability to stream a live video feed from the main auditorium to four different rooms. Even though it was not one of the initial tasking requirements, the team assisted the production crew with their technical IT problems.

"We had to coordinate between the production crew, the venue IT personnel and the sponsor's equipment. The Illinois National Guard team identified a number of issues and was able to resolve all of them," said Lawson, who led the team of 22 IT Soldiers and Airmen supporting the event.

Another area supported by the National Guard was transportation. With venues spread throughout Chicago, it was necessary to coordinate transportation. This task fell on the director of commercial transportation, Illinois Air National Guard, Maj. Charles Shaw of Petersburg, Illinois.

"The largest obstacle for the transportation team was that of unforeseen road closures. We also tried to minimize the last minute situations where someone may have failed to schedule transportation," said Shaw. "We were able to keep that to a minimum, which is not always an easy task."

"We achieved our goal and have a better understanding of how well the organization is trained in Defense Support to Civil Authorities and our abilities to command, control and coordinate forces during large-scale NSSE missions," said Scott.

Master Sgt. Jason Bennett of Chicago, a security forces craftsman with the 183rd Fighter Wing in Springfield, Illinois, briefs a group of Illinois National Guard military police and security forces members before the Governor's Reception at the National Guard Association of the United States Conference in Chicago, Aug. 24. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kassidy L. Snyder, Illinois National Guard)