To buttress suggestions for simulating the OKC bombing, here's an SAIC press release of August 1997 on a training program for disaster handling: SAIC AND TEEX TO PROVIDE ANTI-TERRORISM TRAINING TO FIRST RESPONDERS (MCLEAN, VA) Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has signed an agreement with the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) to prepare civilian emergency responders for possible terrorist events. Under the agreement, SAIC and its teaming partners will provide training to firefighters and other first response personnel in the latest technologies for addressing chemical and biological terrorism. As the leader of the team, TEEX will hold training classes at Texas A&M University's Emergency Response Training Field at College Station, Texas, where firefighters and rescue workers will train in virtual reality simulators on the effects of chemical and biological weapons. TEEX, which is a member of the Texas A&M University System, annually provides training to 129,000 individuals and last year provided fire, rescue and hazardous materials training nationally and internationally to more than 28,000 responders. "The United States has been fortunate in that it has not had a successful terrorist attack perpetrated against it using biological or chemical agents," said G. Kemble Bennett, TEEX's CEO who oversees the 120-acre Brayton Fire Training Field. "However, experts agree that it is only a matter of time." "As a leader in chemical and biological warfare agent accident, response and assistance training for military and civilian emergency response agencies, SAIC can offer expert guidance to responders," said William L. Chadsey, senior vice president at SAIC. "Our company has provided emergency planning and consultative services to personnel and public service organizations worldwide." In September, U.S. Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) is expected to introduce a bill in Congress to designate the training field at Texas A&M and its facilities as The National Training Center for Urban Search and Rescue. The new center is expected to feature building collapse simulators and a facility dubbed "Disaster City" to prepare responders to handle earthquakes and bombings in addition to chemical and biological agents. If approved, Rep. Weldon¹s bill also is likely to facilitate the release of information from Bechtel Nevada at the Nevada Test Site about the handling of nuclear materials. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Fire Chief Gary Marrs of Oklahoma City, Okla., said, "The first responders in our communities, and specifically our firefighters, are tasked to respond and make a difference when disasters occur. Until the training and equipment, utilizing the latest in technology, get down to the street level, we put our responders at an extreme disadvantage and endanger their lives. I am encouraged to see these types of cooperative efforts make this training and technology available to the men and women of the fire service who protect our cities daily." Marrs, who managed the fire and rescue mission at the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, chairs the Urban Search and Rescue Committee for the International Association of Fire Chiefs located in Fairfax, Va. http://www.saic.com/publications/news/aug97/news08-06-97.html