Training For Prevention

by Pete Eliadis
Created:

Red versus blue or good versus bad; it does not matter what terms we use but the methodology of identifying potential weaknesses and their corrections.


My experiences with this exercise have proven that the Red Cell team achieves its mission the majority of the time. The Red Cell success outlines a clear road map of ways to improve community safety. It will outline a clear needs assessment with adequate justification. This justification is articulated from the experts within the department and the community. The flaws identified in the Red Cell exercise give overwhelming creditability to the needs assessment, regardless if it is equipment or human resources. The Red Cell exercise will foster a different mindset for the hosting agency, as well as, create procedural and operational improvements. Red Cell exercises, if moderated correctly, can be a reflection of real world scenarios. The key is allowing the Red Cell to explore and implement nontraditional infiltration avenues. Red Cell participants must be composed of diversified fields of expertise in order to exploit weakness of the Blue Cell. This preplanning will greatly reduce vulnerabilities of any Blue Cell.

Fleet Problem 13 is a notable operational Red Cell exercise that was conducted by United States Navy Rear Admiral Harry Yarnell. Rear Admiral Yarnell demonstrated the effectiveness of an air strike on Pearl Harbor. He demonstrated that an aerial attack could destroy Army air strips, thus preventing the launch of military planes. This would render the Navy fleet helpless and exposed to an aerial slaughter. The Navy moderator noted that Rear Admiral Harry Yarnell's Red Cell was a complete success in destroying the Navy fleet at Pearl Harbor. Rear Admiral Harry Yarnell conducted this Red Cell in 1932, nine years prior to the actual attack on Pearl Harbor.

This is one example of how a Red Cell exercise mirrored a real life scenario. Red Cell table top exercises are relatively inexpensive, however, there outcomes can offer invaluable community safety. Perhaps one reason of my partisan to the Red Cell exercises is that it allows a mechanism to predict an incident and if an incident can be predicted it can be prevented.