Beginning at 10:00 a.m. and continuing through 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4 in the waters south of the Verrazano Bridge, the NYPD and US Coast Guard, along with other agencies, will conduct an exercise in which maritime vessels will be monitored for radioactive material.

Some vessels will be stopped and boarded as part of the exercise.

This exercise, involving some 17 vessels from New York and New Jersey agencies, is part of the NYPD-led Securing the Cities (STC) initiative, a US Department of Homeland Security-funded program to devise and perfect ways of guarding against the infiltration of a dirty bomb or nuclear device into New York City and environs.

The exercise is NOT as the result of a specific threat against the city.

The goal of the STC Initiative is to create a foundation; a ringed architecture, in and around New York City, extending as far as 100 miles, to detect and interdict a radiological dispersion device (dirty bomb) and/or an improvised nuclear device. The NYPD has negotiated memoranda of understanding with 12 principal partners, which represent three states – New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – 60 counties , and over 150 law enforcement agencies. STC detection efforts include land, rail, and maritime environments.

Tuesday’s exercise will test the multi-agency partners’ ability to maintain a choke point on the water and identify and intercept nondescript vessels emitting various radiological signatures as they enter New York Harbor.

(Source: WABC)