Chinese Fire Drill 13-14 November

For the first time in history the U.S. Army will host the Communist Peoples Republic of China’s Army on American soil Nov. 12-14, 2013. But don’t worry while Chinese soldiers will have boots on the ground in Hawaii, they are only really simulating humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to a fictional third country.

You can’t make this stuff up when GridEx 2 is doing it for you.

GridEx 2 is scheduled for 13-14 November. There was also a GridEx 1 in November of 2011. GridEx2 is a massive emergency drill planned to take place across the whole of North America with thousands of utility workers, business executives, National Guard officers, FBI antiterrorism experts and officials from government agencies, in the United States, Canada and Mexico who are preparing for an emergency drill that will simulate physical attacks and cyber attacks that could take down large sections of the power grid. The exercise is touted as a unified move to test the resiliency of the U.S. power grid to withstand major damage causes by a natural disaster or deliberate attack.

A PLA soldier trains with the U.S. Marines

Fears about the possible detonation of a nuclear warhead in the skies about the United States, for the purposes of creating an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) bomb aimed at sizzling electronics on the ground, have led a number of public figures to call for significant steps to strengthen the power grid.  Ex-CIA head R. James Woolsey is planning a campaign to convince state governments to pass laws requiring utilities to harden their electronics against potential EMP attacks.

A key objective of GridEx 2 is to learn how governments would handle a loss of electrical power that is large enough to drastically affect the delivery of common and essential goods and services.

Previous reporting on the GridEx 2 never mentioned the participation of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA).

China’s Xinhua Agency reported on November 6 reporting that American and Chinese soldiers will train together in the November exercise.

The US military Pacific Commander, Samuel Locklear, said here Tuesday that a joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise to be held this month helps improve the relationship between the United States and China.

Locklear told a news briefing that the Pacific Command’s Army component commander in Hawaii has been looking forward to the Nov. 12-14 exercises for some time, as the Army will host PLA soldiers to train together in a field environment, simulating humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to a fictional third country.

Summing up his expectations for the joint exercise, Locklear said both militaries can learn something in disaster management and better prepare tomorrow than yesterday. In relation to our ability to do this with our Chinese counterparts”, he said, “this kind of exercise gives us a place to start, and get into the rhythm of understanding and trusting each other. Personally, I do not trust Godless communists who possess no ethical or moral values.

The joint exercise was announced during an August visit to Washington by Chinese Minister of National Defense Chang Wanquan, as China and the United States expand their military-to-military relationship and explore cooperation opportunities in non-traditional security areas. On August 19, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel escorted China Minister of National Defense Gen. Wanquan during an honor cordon at the Pentagon.

In a same day press conference, Gen. Wanquan said China’s military has never supported any hacker actions, expressing at the joint press conference that the cyber space is a new field and cyberspace security threats have become a world wide problem. “China is one of the major victims of hacker attacks, suffering serious threats from network attacks,” he said. 

Meanwhile, let’s pray our lights do not go out during GridEx 2.