SECRET
/
21 December 1993
RECE
Government Secretariat
JM Shannon Esq
Security Branch
Government House
Lower Albert Road
Hong Kong
BY FAX
Zen " Shanm
EXERCISE VULGATE
051/2
2 DEC 1993
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OISTRY tion Token
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Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SW1A 2AH
270 2582
M. Gayrett
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1. Please refer to your fax letter of 9 December. We have received the report from our observer, Deputy Assistant Commissioner (DAC) Roy Ramm. I enclose a copy for you on a personal basis.
2. DAC Ramm was clearly impressed with the organisation and handling of the exercise. He has made a number of comments and observations which I hope you will find helpful in any debriefing meeting or report you might be considering. If a report is prepared we would find it useful to have a copy.
3. I should like to take this opportunity to thank you for agreeing to our sending an observer. As with other exercises of this nature we often find, as DAC Ramm's report comments, that useful lessons can be learned by all involved. These can be put to good use in a real incident.
4. Once again our thanks.
JP G Freeman
sing,
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Security Coordination Dept.
cc (with enclosures)
Mr Peirce, Political Adviser, Hong Kong Mr Ricketts, Hong Kong Dept, FCO
hongkong
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Date:
20 December, 1993
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Mr Shannon, Govt Seet, HKG
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London
SW1
Jeh Barcher
21112
METROPOLITAN POLICE
METROPOLITAN POLICE SERVICE Commander
Crime Operations Branches
New Scotland Yard Broadway
London SW1H OBG Telephone 071-230 2061
Direct line 071-230 3146.
Dear
Jühn,
RE: EXERCISE VULGATE
As requested I visited Hong Kong on behalf of FCO between Tuesday, 23 November and Saturday, 27 November 1993 with the remit to observe the exercise as a whole but in particular to observe the conduct of negotiators and the role of the US agencies also involved in the exercise.
From the outset I was received with great warmth and hospitality by the RHKP. There was obviously some surprise at my arrival at short notice but on a police to police basis this did not encumber me whatsoever. I was particularly fortunate in that a good personal friend, A/Assistant Commissioner Dennis L Shackleton was the exercise planner and director. I have of course written to those concerned and expressed my personal thanks but it ought also to be a matter of record that I was very well received.
The scenario
To say the least of it the scenario was not easy! A précis of the exercise barely begins to cover its complexity. A group of Iraqi terrorists seize a HK registered 747 cargo jet in Bangkok. At the same time they seize a number of passengers from a bus moving across Bangkok Airport from a HK passenger flight. The terrorists force the pilot and crew to fly the aircraft with its group of hostages (circa 40) to Hong Kong. In HK the terrorists demand fuel but do not demand an immediate take off. Meanwhile, a second group of terrorists have seized an American registered owned and crewed cargo vessel, the 'Sealand Developer'. The vessel has 21 crew and 1,400, 40 foot containers on board: this is a huge vessel. Apparently the terrorists
2
were attempting to obtain a North Korean missile system called 'RODON 1'. This is a highly effective system which is of great interest to the USA. The terrorists have become concerned that their original plan which was to ship the cargo via Vladivostock to Iraq might be disrupted by US interdiction on the high seas. They decide to seize the 'Sealand Developer' and force the captain to take her into HK to off-load the illicit cargo of 'machine parts' which they plan to transfer it to the waiting 747 and fly it to Iraq.
Threats and demands are made both of the authorities at Kai Tak airport and at Hong Kong harbour. Some hostages are killed.
The exercise was structured in such a way that the well rehearsed terrorist group had a great deal of 'free play' and could 'decide' the end game without much direction from exercise control. In all there were more than nine possible combinations of ending to the exercise.
Exercise Structure and Preparation
The exercise was very well planned. It involved the RHKP in a mammoth response and tested almost all aspects of the organisation. Every eventuality had been considered by the planning team which had made strenuous and largely successful efforts to keep the scenarios secret. Documentation was well prepared and circulation carefully controlled.
Role players had been extensively briefed and given imaginative and challenging roles. They behaved impeccably and contrived to produce an atmosphere of reality which certainly stretched many of the participants.
The exercise depended -as so many do- on the co-operation of private organisations like Hong Kong Air, Sealand and others. This imposed some artificial constraints on the exercise controllers - like the airline seeking the return of their aircraft earlier than agreed - which were in the main unforeseeable. The exercise was ambitious, and despite the odd hiccup, worked very well. That says much about the regard with which the RHKP is held locally.
The Airport
The response at the airport was swift and effective. Senior management at the airport were efficient and effective. In particular the local commander impressed as a highly proficient and effective officer with the ability to get things done.
At the outset as the incident unfolded, it became clear that the Air Traffic Controller had a pivotal role whilst the aircraft was on its final approach to Hong Kong. Not only was she performing her routine assigned duty of controlling the aircraft but she was also in effect 'negotiating' with the hijacked pilot. She remained unsupported for far too long. She obviously knew it was an exercise: she had to for safety's sake. Even so, at one stage she put down her hand phones and said, "I don't know what to say to them!" At the end of the spell she had a headache.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.