The Dark Winter [7] bio-terroism exercise was held at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, DC, on June 22-23, 2001. The exercise portrayed a fictional scenario designed to simulate possible US reaction to the deliberate introduction of smallpox in three states during the winter of 2002. It was supported by the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies together with the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for Prevention Terrorism, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security. [1, 2, 3, 5]
Health and Human Services assistant secretary for preparedness and response, Robert Kadlec, participated in the script writing and came up with the name Dark Winter, a reference to the outcome with a lack of vaccines. [4]
In the scenario, the “participants in Dark Winter, representing the National Security Council, quickly deduce that smallpox has been deliberately introduced and that this is the result of a “bioterrorist attack on the United States.” The assumption is made that the attack is “related to decisions we may make to deploy troops to the Mid-East.” – remember this is prior to 9/11! [6]
As part of the scenario, “mainstream media outlets…were sent anonymous letters that threatened renewed attacks on the U.S., including anthrax attacks, if the U.S. did not withdraw its troops from the Middle East.”
“[T]he operation showed how quickly a public health disaster could lead to widespread chaos and social collapse.”