Eight members of the Washington National Guard recently visited the Port of Laem Chabang in what has become the longest running exchange in the 22-year relationship between Washington and the Kingdom of Thailand.
From August 16-27, the team took part in a multi-facet subject matter exchange with port personnel. This year’s exchange had a list of goals, to include the introduction and evaluation of cyber threats and security, review incident command synchronization basics, improve first response and medical response during a mass casualty exercise, review and practice decontamination procedures, and setting up a command center during an integrated multi-department response to multiple hazards and casualties.
“The purpose of this exchange was achieved in full,” said Capt. Matthew Carey, a medical officer and lead for the exchange.
The Port of Laem Chabang is a deep-water port located on the Gulf of Thailand. It is critical to trade both in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Northwest. One of the busiest ports in Asia, much of the cargo from the port makes its entrance into the United States through the Port of Tacoma. Since 2005, Guardsmen have traveled from Seattle to Pattaya, Thailand to take part in a multi-day exchange with the port that includes security, Incident Command Systems (ICS), hazardous materials and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear explosive preparation and response, medical, and crisis communication.
“There is significant strategic value to our partner Port’s ability to quickly respond to hazards and accidents, mitigating economic and operational impact. As the only deep water Port in Thailand, there is significant secondary and tertiary effects when operations are interrupted,” said Carey. “This was the first time cyber classes and assessments were provided. There have been recent cyber ransom attacks at the terminals within the Port which emphasized the importance of cyber security.”
With an increase in both criminal and state sponsored cyber threats, it is imperative to the Port operations that potential threats and vulnerabilities are addressed. The Washington National Guard has focused a number of exchanges in the past few years on cyber security.
“Integration of cyber into each subject matter expert exchange moving forward would be helpful. As cyber specific classes do not take up the majority of the class time,” said Carey. “We need to continue identifying cyber integration with effects and expected response for next missions.”
This year’s exchange also focused on continuing to share best practices in preparing for emergency response in a port environment. The exchange was fortunate to have a number of experts that utilized their civilian career backgrounds in fire departments, the 10th Civil Support Team, medical field and incident command.
“The technical nature of the material that is often taught requires deliberate inclusion of subject matter experts,” said Carey.
Carey also believes the value of the exchange can be raised with the inclusion of visits to the Pacific Northwest by Port leadership.
“We should look at the Port leadership coming here and getting a sense of how we do ICS and react to hazards,” said Carey.
