John Brown from Via Satellite trade magazine has just done a piece on satellite use at SAIII entitled "Satellites strong at Strong Angel III". It features interviews with Brian Steckler and Eric Frost. http://www.viasatellite-digital.com/viasatellite/200610/

By Heather Rae Darval, MIcronews
September 1, 2006

People fell under a fearful pandemic last week, with countless dead and more infected daily. Cities worldwide enforced quarantines as governments and relief agencies struggled to manage the damage. In San Diego, cyber-terrorists then played havoc with global and local communications.

Sound too terrible to be true?

Government staffers, nonprofit humanitarian workers and employees from high-tech companies including Microsoft and Google spent last week in an abandoned fire department training facility in San Diego, trying to work through this hellish scenario in case anything like it ever becomes a reality.

People, power emphasized in Strong Angel III exercise

By Paul F. Roberts

August 28, 2006, INFOWORLD

Dr. Eric Rasmussen checks out disasters almost as frequently as the rest of us check out Hollywood blockbusters.

In just the past few years, Rasmussen, who is an active-duty commander in the U.S. Navy and chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Navy Medical Center in Bremerton, Wash., served on the ground in Bosnia, just after the siege of Sarajevo in 1996; as a physician with the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) at a Sudanese refugee camp in Kenya; in Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, then in Baghdad and Basra after the invasion. After coming back home, Rasmussen was deployed with Joint Task Force Katrina in New Orleans.

By JOHN MARKOFF, The New York Times
Published: August 28, 2006

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 26 — It began with a worldwide virus outbreak that had cities under quarantine, emergency workers overwhelmed and government agencies unable to cope. It was compounded by a wave of cyberterror attacks that cut off power, phones and Internet access.

Such was the crisis that teams from the Pentagon, nongovernmental agencies and several dozen technology companies set out to resolve in a five-day simulation meant to showcase and test a new set of digital tools in responding to disaster.

The limitations of even the latest technology were in evidence when an effort to restore communications by setting up ad hoc wireless networks resulted in a three-day data traffic jam.

August 25, 2006 6:05 p.m. EST

Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Staff Writer
San Diego, CA (AHN) - The U.S. government has assembled over 600 military members, Defense Department employees and contractors, first responders, nongovernmental organization representatives and technologists to help evolve the American response to disasters.

According to the Pentagon, "Strong Angel III," the third in a series of disaster response exercises, revolves around the scenario of a worldwide viral pandemic that stretches emergency response efforts toward the breaking point. At the same time, a terrorist network launches a wave of cyber-attacks that disable communications throughout the United States when they're needed most.

August 25, 2006
by Dan Farber, ZD News @ 4:18 pm

Digg This!

Earlier this month I covered the upcoming Strong Angel III, a six-day test and demonstation focused on innovations around disaster response for local and global catastrophes. The event, hosted by San Diego State University, took place this week, and I talked post-event to program director Eric Rasmussen, an MD and Commander in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps. The Strong Angel III test scenario involved a global pandemic in combination with cyber attacks that are disabling communications throughout the United States.

Rasmussen pointed to cooperation among civil and military teams, and among tech industry rivals Google, IBM and Microsoft in the development of Sahana, a free, open source disaster management system. Sahana is a Web-based collaboration tool that manages common coordination problems encountered during disasters, ranging from finding missing persons and managing volunteers to tracking camps. Rasmussen said he received a request to deploy Sahana in Beirut.

Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service
2006-08-25

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 25, 2006 – More than 600 military members, Defense Department employees and contractors, first responders, nongovernmental organization representatives and technologists are here this week exploring better ways to coordinate their disaster response.

Strong Angel III, the third in a series of disaster response exercises, revolves around the scenario of a worldwide viral pandemic that stretches emergency response efforts toward the breaking point. At the same time, a terrorist network launches a wave of cyber-attacks that disable communications throughout the United States when they’re needed most.

By Bruce Lieberman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 23, 2006, San Diego Union-Tribune

In two separate exercises in the county yesterday, emergency crews faced grim and very different crises.

Near Lindbergh Field, a simulated humanitarian crisis was unfolding as a global pandemic was overtaking San Diego and a cyber-attack had knocked out cell phone and Internet communications across the United States.

Two emergencies, different in scope and severity, had created a shortage in one invaluable commodity: information.

But not for long.

New wireless communication technologies and other innovations had people quickly on line – talking with each other, managing the emergencies and caring for patients.

Disaster Readiness Puts Tech Tools To The Test

Can thumb drives, mash-ups, and RSS improve our ability to react in emergencies? The organizers of two disaster simulations hope to find out.

By Larry Greenemeier, InformationWeek
Aug. 21, 2006
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192202134

San Diego this week will be the site of a massive viral outbreak that stretches emergency response efforts to their limits, as a terrorist cell unleashes a wave of cyberattacks to bring down the power grid, Internet access, and landline and cell phone connectivity. Fortunately, it's a mock exercise, a scary what-if scenario of quarantine and confusion. But no one's saying it couldn't really happen.

August 14, 2006

By Dan Farber, ZD Net

Eric Rasmussen, MD, MDM, FACP, Commander, Medical Corps, United States Navy, is leading an effort to innovate disaster response in the wake of catastrophies. He is the Director of Strong Angel III, which this month is field testing ways of delivering life-saving humanitarian relief and rapidly deployable communication systems in response to major disasters.

The scenario for the test and demonstration, which will be hosted by San Diego State University and take place in San Diego August 21-26, involves a global pandemic in combination with cyber attacks that are disabling communications throughout the United States. Below is the full description of the scenario: