Cobalt Magnet exercise will bring numerous agencies together to ensure preparedness

WASHINGTON – More than 30 local, state, and federal agencies will hold a major radiological incident exercise in Austin, Texas, during the week of May 16-20. The Cobalt Magnet 22 exercise, which is led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, brings numerous agencies together to ensure preparedness against radiological threats.

Cobalt Magnet 22 is the culmination of 18 months of planning by local, state, and federal responders. Taking place at various locations around the city, the exercise will simulate a radiological attack, enabling response personnel to practice protecting public health and safety, providing emergency relief to affected populations, and restoring essential services.

During the week, members of the public may see field teams in protective clothing using radiological monitoring and detection equipment, low-flying aircraft conducting data-gathering overflights, and groups of first responders and others staged at various locations. The exercise is part of a regular program of training, exercises and planning by which NNSA and federal, state and local partners prepare to protect public health and safety.

“The men and women of the Nuclear Emergency Support Team – or NEST – are trained to provide decision-makers with timely, actionable scientific advice during fearful events,” said Jay Tilden, DOE’s Deputy Under Secretary for Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation. “Saving lives and reducing the impact of a nuclear incident requires a full understanding of what happened, who will be affected, and what the optimal response should be. NEST’s bread and butter is providing that information to local, state, and federal leaders as rapidly as possible.”

NEST is NNSA’s multi-mission nuclear emergency response capability, providing highly trained and equipped scientists and technical experts to contend with any conceivable nuclear or radiological challenge. During Cobalt Magnet, NEST will provide radiological monitoring and assessment assistance to state and local leaders to make informed public health and safety decisions. NEST will also work with local, state, and federal law enforcement to conduct radiological search operations and identify potential threat devices.

https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/articles/nnsa-working-federal-state-and-local-partners-hold-major-radiological-incident

>>16299179

Military exercise to be held off Delaware and Maryland coast on Tuesday

May 16, 2022

BALTIMORE, Md. – The U.S. Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force, and the Marines will conduct a routine search and rescue exercise off the coasts of Delaware and Maryland on Tuesday.

The exercise is held to further interoperability and the ability to communicate quickly, coordinate resources, and collaborate to respond to emergencies, in addition to testing and providing feedback on existing policies, plans, procedures, and agreements with the Coast Guard and partner Department of Defense units within the U.S. Coast Guard Fifth District’s area of responsibility.

https://www.wmdt.com/2022/05/military-exercise-to-be-held-off-delaware-and-maryland-coast-on-tuesday/

>>16299259

Sweden announces it WILL follow Helsinki and apply to join NATO as furious Putin warns of a 'response' and 'moves nuclear-capable missiles to Finland’s border'

Sweden has formally announced it will join Finland in bidding to be part of NATO

Prime Minister said it marks an 'historic change' away from decades of neutrality

Putin warned of 'response' if NATO 'infrastructure' moves closer to his border

Video showed nuclear-capable Russian missiles moving to border with Finland

Sweden has said it will join Finland in bidding for membership of NATO, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted an 'historic' shift away from decades of neutrality.

Magdalena Andersson, the Swedish prime minister, announced the move on Monday - just a day after Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin tabled her own bid.

Andersson said the move was being made in conjunction with Helsinki and marks 'a historic change in our country's security policy' which has relied on a pledge of neutrality to deter attacks since the Napoleonic era.

Russia also reacted to the news on Monday, as video showed a battery of Iskander ballistic missile launchers - which can carry nukes - moving towards the border.

Footage posted on Russian social media claimed the rockets were heading towards Vyborg - a city located just 30 miles from Finland and 135 miles from Helsinki, putting the capital within easy range.

Meanwhile Vladimir Putin - chairing a meeting of ex-Soviet heads of state in Moscow today - warned of a 'response' if NATO 'infrastructure' expands into either country.

The Russian president insisted he has 'no problem' with either Sweden or Finland joining the NATO alliance.

But, he added, 'the expansion of military infrastructure on to this territory will certainly trigger a response.'

Finland and Sweden have been bound to codes of neutrality since at least the Second World War, in return for security guarantees from Moscow that it will not attack them.

However, the Ukraine invasion has triggered a wholesale re-think and dramatic swing in public opinion which is now in favour of membership.

Joining the alliance could take months, since all 30 current members have to ratify Sweden and Finland so they can join. But there is little doubt they will be allowed in, despite grumbling from member-state Turkey.

In the meantime, both nations have been granted security guarantees from the UK and US to come to their defence if they are attacked.

As the political row intensified, NATO began hosting a huge war games in Estonia - within sight of Helsinki across the Gulf of Finland - to rehearse their response to a hypothetical Russian attack.

Some 15,000 troops from 10 different countries - including Finland, Sweden and a small detachment from Ukraine - will participate in the exercise dubbed 'Siil' or 'Hedgehog' which will take place just 40 miles from the nearest Russian military base.

The drill is one of the largest exercises based out of the country since the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 - bolstered by an additional 900 British troops deployed to Tallin in February before the war in Ukraine broke out.

Sanna Marin, the 36-year-old prime minister of Finland, was pictured leading a session of parliament Monday just a day after announcing her intention to apply for NATO membership.

She spoke as Magdalena Andersson, Marin's Swedish counterpart, held a similar session in Stockholm.

Russia's deployment of Iskander missiles comes after state media threatened to deploy additional nuclear weapons to the Baltics.

Iskanders are the workhorse of Russia's missile forces and can perform a wide variety of roles depending on the warhead they are fitted with.

Charges include lung-crushing thermobarics, banned cluster munitions, tank-killing armour piercingrounds , bunker-busters, and electromagnetic for taking out radar.

But the most eye-catching of the Iskander's warheads is a nuclear charge, thought to be around four times as powerful as the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

The missiles have a range of up to 300 miles and are most-commonly carried by road-mobile launch vehicles, which makes the missiles harder to find and destroy.

Iskander missiles are known to be stationed in Kaliningrad - Russia's central European enclave - and, since the start of the war in Ukraine, in Belarus.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10820211/NATO-Hedgehog-drill-takes-place-Baltics-amid-tensions-Russia.html

>>16299459

HAVEN'T WE SEEN THIS VIDEO BEFORE?

https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/preview/mol/2022/05/16/5693714983529365909/636x382_MP4_5693714983529365909.mp4

>>16299175

What's happening in London and when?

>>16299466

No doubt.