The Navy will commence its largest annual force protection exercise next week at installations throughout the United States.

Exercise Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain 2019, which is scheduled to take place Feb. 4-15, is an annual two-week force protection and anti-terrorism exercise conducted by Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) and Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFFC) on all Navy installations in the continental United States.

The exercises are designed to enhance the readiness of Navy first responders and ensure seamless interoperability among Navy commands, other services and agency partners. Citadel Shield is the field training exercise led by CNIC, and Solid Curtain is a command post exercise co-led by USFFC and CNIC.

"Anti-terrorism force protection is one of my top priorities; this annual exercise builds readiness by enhancing awareness and increasing lethality across the fleet," said Adm. Christopher Grady, commander of USFFC. "We train as a team with local authorities to rapidly identify and respond to existing and emerging threats to our Navy installations, units, Sailors, our civilian shipmates, and families."

These exercises use realistic scenarios to ensure U.S. Navy security forces maintain a high level of readiness to respond to changing and dynamic threats. The exercise is not in response to any specific threat.

“Our Navy installations are key enablers that directly support warfighting capabilities and readiness,” said Tim Alexander, director of operations for CNIC. “Exercises such as Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain allow our regions, bases and tenant commands to hone our force protection skills.”

Measures have been taken to minimize disruptions within local communities and to normal base operations, but there may be times when the exercise causes increased traffic around bases or delays in base access. Area residents may also see or hear security activities associated with the exercise. Advanced coordination has taken place with local law enforcement and first responders.

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