Feds Curtail Major Counterterror Exercise in Washington

The White House sharply curbed a major counterterrorism drill scheduled for Tuesday in Washington that was designed to test the federal government response to threats of car bombs attacks and a chemical weapons strike on the Metro subway system.

The exercise, code named Eagle Horizon 2014, was cut back instead to small-scale communications checks within federal agencies.

The transfer of government functions through groups of emergency personnel located at remote secure locations as part of so-called “continuity of government” operations was scrapped, according to Obama administration security officials.

Disclosure of the curtailed exercise comes as al Qaeda recently issued new threats to conduct car bomb attacks in Washington. Details of the car bombing campaign were contained in the latest issue of the English-language magazine “Inspire,” published by the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The magazine urged Muslim youth to attack Americans with car bombs and provided detailed instructions for making the devices from easily available components, such as groups of small propane tanks used in cooking grills.

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