Naval District Washington (NDW) concluded its participation in exercise Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain (CS-SC) 2019, Feb. 15.

CS-SC is a two-week anti-terrorism and force protection (ATFP) exercise conducted by Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) and U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF) on all Navy installations in the continental United States.

During the first week of the exercise, Citadel Shield, the six NDW installations - Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Naval Support Activities Annapolis, Bethesda, South Potomac and Washington - took part in active shooter, bomb threat, hostage barricade, entry control point penetration, mass casualty and surveillance scenarios.

“NDW conducted another successful CS-SC exercise throughout the region,” said Matt Brown, NDW training and exercise director. “These two weeks allowed for both NDW region headquarters and our installations to push their forces to their limits from an ATFP perspective.”

During the second week of the exercise, Solid Curtain, the major training scenario involved Navy Operational Support Center (NOSC) Baltimore, which was a new challenge for the region.

"For us within NDW, the Solid Curtain exercise appeared to concentrate predominantly on off-installation activities,” said Jeff Sanford, NDW emergency management program director. “I think you can trace much of the angst back to the Chattanooga incident a few years back, where recruiters were engaged and then later a NOSC was attacked. As far as installations scenarios go, we’ve been practicing those for quite a while now. Within the region, we work closely with our off-installation activities and civilian partners, and including them in this year's exercise was a win-win for everyone.”

“I believe we performed very well, but I think there is always opportunities for improvement. It’s far better to learn these lessons when the scenario isn't real, than to learn them when the threat is real.”

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