u SIFIED n EGc G ENERGY MEASUREMENTS La• Vegas Area Operations EG G ENERGV MEASUREMENTS INC PO BOX 1912 LAS VEGAS NEVADA 89125 TEL17021 295-0102 14 January 1987 r-· 1 L-80-012 Mr Gylan C Allen Director Nuclear Systems Division Nevada Operations Office U S Department of Energy P 0 Box 14100 las Vegas NV 89114 SUBJECT EG G COMMENTS FOR MIGHTY DERRINGER Dear Mr Allen Attached per your request are three attachments containing EG G corrments and lessons learned from the exerc1se The first two sets of comments concern the overall exercise at both sites The third attachment addresses significant interagency interactions observed by EG G The oyeral EG G early conclusion about_the exerd-se-- is ll ecv _o_csj_t ue- b 1 ' were 9eneraTTTmTnor -·-- - l'rciblems which a a occur- The training for EG G personnel involved was both positive and extensive covering all aspects of a major deployment We appreciate the opportunity to J participate in this major xercise of resources vital to our nation f Very truly yours EG G Energy Measurements Inc ORIGINAL SIGNED BY J DOYLE - -- HAL JFD eai Attachments a s H A Lamonds Manager NV Program I j UNCLASSIFIED - ' - · f ' '' • • • •' ' l' I• 14 January 1987 MIGHTY DERRINGER COMMENTS EG G OCONUS VIEW I Il From the EG G EM perspective the Mighty Oerr1nger ei r 1 wil ' -·· largest and most complex NEST exercise to date Very valuable training occurred for all of our personnel who participated at both exercise sites and in the home support team EG G participants appreciated the opportunity to test and train on a large number of the improvements which have been made in both equipment and procedures since the last major NEST exercise Our overall assessment at this early stage of the exercise review is that the majority of these improvements worked very well Earlier deficiencies in communications and search cORWnand and control have clearly been corrected Nevertheless severa 1 areas for future improvement were observed dur1 ng the exercf se and wi11 be discussed below le have organized our comments by function in order to make it easier to integrate them with comments from the other NEST participants 1 I I I ' l f COMMANDER FOR SUPPORT 1 During the predeployment planning the most difficult single planning task was obtaining and organizing a total roster of personnel and equipment from all organizations Although we had a partial handle on the problem it was greatly complicated by the large-scale dual deployment and the sheer magnitude of the number of players involved Specifically the 1200 baud computer link to the LLNL CATCOMS personnel roster proved to be totally inadequate to move the volume of personnel information that was needed in a short period of time A backup computer in Las J Vegas and the use of word processors solved the immediate problem but a f better long-term solution is required I For a total equipment list it would be extremely helpful if each organization could provide an initial list of major equipment categories and an equivalent number of USAF 463L pallets i e 7X7X7 For example the list might be I Three pallets One pallet Two pa 11 et s One half pallet One pallet - - Corrununications CP Support Search gear Health Physics Photo i i Since the number of pallet spaces available on the various MAC cargo -1 aircraft are fixed this would greatly facilitate determining the number and type of aircraft required at each location It is also extremely important to identify which loads will have hazardous cargo ----· U CLASSIFIED 14 January 1987 2 The use of a larger than usual Advance Party for the OCONUS deployment proved essential for establishing operations and making critical logistics arrangements prior to arrival of the Main Party The delays fn ' le - c M Part_ in-c ountrv were problbly realistic and this further taxed the Advance Party to sustain a lon' le• Liw ' ···- tion until relief arrived 3 Throughout the exercise at the OCONUS site the interface and support from all personnel who filled the role of Director for Administration and Logistics was excellent Since this was the first exercise for most of these personnel and considering the magnitude and complexity of the exercise this was a major accomplishment In spite of being new to NEST it was obvfous that they made good use of their extensive field operations expertise and it was greatly appreciated 4 The exercise freedom to select both the CP and TOC OCONUS was greatly appreciated Although even more space was critically needed for the TOC player control of the location permitted the best communication to date between the two locations CP - More space is required for the intelligence and assessment staff and their large array of equipment Additional space would also be useful for the other CP functions as wel 1 The use of connected rooms seemed to greatly help the noise control and confusion problems that have occurred in the past Meeting space is essential for decision and option discussions TOC - At least double the space available for the TOC is needed In addition the Commander for Science and the EOD Corrmander need meeting room space The EOD staff requires an administrative area and the various technical groups may require rooms to assemble 1arge maps drawings hardware mock ups etc All of this additional space must be within easy walking distance of the TOC and prob bly requires the same security control for From the Commander Support perspective it seems essential also to have the CP and TOC relatively close Although some separation is desirable the volume of paperwork and the frequent need for short meetings or status briefings involving personnel from both locations warrants serious consideration for a separation of 1000 feet or less rather than miles COMMUN I CAT lONS 5 The major concern i'n the communications support area prior to deployment was the recognition that the communications staffing was inadequate for a single complex deployment The dual deployment stretched the staffing ' I t I I j I 14 --assigned 1 i I January 1987 even further A number of additional personnel were trained and to the communications group similar to reserve search personnel For the most part the communications reserve personnel were a great help The dllllt U 1el i a - J ' n • •nl 0hnn1 system also helped The prohlem of inadequate fully trained staff however uid 1111µact c -- - _ c' Troubleshooting was slow where the full-time communication personnel were not available Setup time for some systems could also have been shortened Finally the lack of enough personnel even with the reserves prevented use of the 0ITS system which would have been helpful to the Hazards and Effects staff There was al so an 11th hour need to get an image from one site to the other that could not be sent by FAX for which OITS would have been the ideal solution · r h 6 The telephones and radios worked very well throughout the exercise The use of four VHF nets at the 0C0NUS site worked very well in separating • the operational and the maintenance traffic In one case a high wind i during the night blew down one of the radio repeater antennas however the unit continued to operate without degradation until discovered the ' fol lowing day 7 All of the crypto equipment saw almost continuous use throughout the exercise The KY71 FAX and the KW-7 teletype were overloaded with traffic An operational review of traffic is needed to see if the volume of this traffic can be reduced Other means could be explored for handling a much larger traffic volume if the requirements are real A 1 quick fix for intennittent overload situations would be for management to · prioritize the traffic The addition of STU III equipment in about one year will alleviate·a portion of this present load 8 • Data communications from the WP to the T0C was not available when needed due to communications personnel being excluded from the WP site to set up and check out the data transmission hardware The telephones and video circuits between the WP and tlie TOC were used extensively A few failures in the micr owave link were attributed to very high level noise bursts This noise-was never located The same data configuration during the JIGSAW experiment worked well except for a modem problem The 1 ack of access to set up and properly adjust the system made it impossible to diagnose the failure PH0T0 VI0E0 9 I ' All of the support elements including Photo Video were poorly utilized Although they supported a heavy workload their full potential was missed since they were only considered as an afterthought The WP access problem severely limited their effectiveness with one or two exceptions '' l ' • -_ • • '-- I u ED ' l ' 14 January 1987 10 A p coo f d I s p I ay coont oc ace a is needed adj •cent to the T0C Ha teci a shot for one request may be important to others as well Since it is not nossible to rapidly produce large volumes of enlargements of every frame td t 111 O j JOvv · - __ 1 rr rn th t illl technical groups could be aware of all imagery available 11 Video personnel and their array of equipment were also badly under utilized Both the photo and video capabilities offer a way to conduct an initial detailed recon of an area and could have provided useful information prior to the assault through the use of long lenses and low-light level equipment They should also be considered for the initial entry party since the quality of their product far exceeded that of anything else we saw at the OC0NUS site For the video link they also offer much higher quality images as well as recording editing and enhancement capability ELECTRO MECHANICAL The el ectro mechani ca 1 support team was better ut fl i zed than in any past ex ere i se Through the recent ARG exerc i s s the E00 __ per _onne l have begun _ to l n how to use these capabilities 12 b 1