Things are getting bad where you live when your military and police
begin training for how to deal with zombies.

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http://www.federalnewsradio.com/407/...mbie-invasion-

Marines, police prep for mock zombie invasion

Saturday - 10/27/2012, 5:25pm EDT
By JULIE WATSON
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Move over vampires, goblins and haunted houses, this
kind of Halloween terror aims to shake up even the toughest warriors: An
untold number of so-called zombies are coming to a counterterrorism
summit attended by hundreds of Marines, Navy special ops, soldiers,
police, firefighters and others to prepare them for their worst
nightmares.

"This is a very real exercise, this is not some type of big costume
party," said Brad Barker, president of Halo Corp, a security firm
hosting the Oct. 31 training demonstration during the summit at a
44-acre Paradise Point Resort island on a San Diego bay. "Everything
that will be simulated at this event has already happened, it just
hasn't happened all at once on the same night. But the training is very
real, it just happens to be the bad guys we're having a little fun
with."

Hundreds of military, law enforcement and medical personnel will observe
the Hollywood-style production of a zombie attack as part of their
emergency response training.

In the scenario, a VIP and his personal detail are trapped in a village,
surrounded by zombies when a bomb explodes. The VIP is wounded and his
team must move through the town while dodging bullets and shooting back
at the invading zombies. At one point, some members of the team are bit
by zombies and must be taken to a field medical facility for
decontamination and treatment.

"No one knows what the zombies will do in our scenario, but quite
frankly no one knows what a terrorist will do," Barker said. "If a law
enforcement officer sees a zombie and says, `Freeze, get your hands in
the air!' What's the zombie going to do? He's going to moan at you. If
someone on PCP or some other psychotic drug is told that, the truth is
he's not going to react to you."

The keynote speaker beforehand will be a retired top spook _ former CIA
Director Michael Hayden.

"No doubt when a zombie apocalypse occurs, it's going to be a federal
incident, so we're making it happen," Barker said. Since word got out
about the exercise, they've had calls from "every whack job in the
world" about whether the U.S. government is really preparing for a
zombie event.

Called "Zombie Apocalypse," the exercise follows the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's campaign launched last year that urged
Americans to get ready for a zombie apocalypse, as part of a catchy,
public health message about the importance of emergency preparedness.

The Homeland Security Department jumped on board last month, telling
citizens if they're prepared for a zombie attack, they'll be ready for
real-life disasters like a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake or terrorist
attack. A few suggestions were similar to a few of the 33 rules for
dealing with zombies popularized in the 2009 movie "Zombieland," which
included "always carry a change of underwear" and "when in doubt, know
your way out."

San Diego-based Halo Corp. founded by former military special ops and
intelligence personnel has been hosting the annual counterterrorism
summit since 2006.

The five-day Halo counterterrorism summit is an approved training event
by the Homeland Security Grant Program and the Urban Areas Security
Initiative, which provide funds to pay for the coursework on everything
from the battleground tactics to combat wounds to cybersecurity. The
summit has a $1,000 registration fee and runs Oct. 29-Nov 2.

Conferences attended by government officials have come under heightened
scrutiny following an inspector general's report on waste and abuse at a
lavish 2010 Las Vegas conference that led to the resignation of General
Services Administrator Martha Johnson. The Las Vegas conference featured
a clown, a mind-reader and a rap video by an employee who made fun of
the spending.

Joe Newman, spokesman of the watchdog organization Project on Government
Oversight, said he does not see the zombie exercise as frivolous.

"We obviously are concerned about any expenditure that might seem
frivolous or a waste of money but if they tie things together, there is
a lesson there," Newman said. "Obviously we're not expecting a zombie
apocalypse in the near future (maybe the medium or long-term then?) but
the effects of what might happen in a zombie apocalypse are probably
similar to the type of things that happen in natural disasters and
manmade disasters. They're just having fun with it. We don't have any
problems with it as a teaching point."

Defense analyst Loren Thompson agreed.

"The defining characteristics of zombies are that they're unpredictable
and resilient. That may be a good way to prepare for what the Pentagon
calls asymmetric warfare," Thompson said.

Organizers can also avoid the pitfalls of using a mock enemy who could
be identified by nationality, race or culture _ something that could
potentially be seen as offensive.

"I can think of a couple of countries where the local leaders are
somewhat zombie-like," he joked. "But nobody is going to take this
personally."