The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the successful completion of a nuclear incident training exercise, "Prominent Hunt," conducted in Albany, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties. Held from January 26 to January 31, the exercise aimed to test the abilities of the National Technical Nuclear Forensics Ground Collection Task Force in gathering nuclear ground debris in the event of a nuclear attack.

The exercise involved multiple agencies, including the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Defense (DOD). According to the DOD, the exercise was designed to validate the team's technical skills and reinforce collaboration among federal, state, and local partners. Timothy Jacomb-Hood, senior scientific advisor for the Office of Nuclear Matters, emphasized the importance of nuclear forensics in identifying the origins of an attack that cannot be traced to a launch from another nation.

The training exercise is part of a series of regularly scheduled U.S. government biannual exercises conducted since 2012. The results demonstrated the task force's ability to gather post-detonation debris and perform nuclear forensics analysis, a key element of the U.S. nuclear deterrent strategy. Brian Kohler, director of nuclear forensics, energy, and survivability within the Office of Nuclear Matters, highlighted the exercise's role in demonstrating the U.S. capability to uncover attacking parties and hold them accountable.

The exercise involved participants conducting operations in personal protective equipment to simulate realistic conditions. The Defense Department plans to publish an after-action review of the exercise in the coming weeks and may conduct another iteration of Prominent Hunt in August to ensure readiness and maintain agency partnerships.

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