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CNN Live Today

CNN Looks at Internal Look Exercise

Aired December 09, 2002 - 10:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. military exercise known by Internal Look got under way in Qatar. That country is a tiny peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf, and it's within easy striking distance of Iraq.
CNN military analyst Major General Don Shepperd is in Doha, Qatar, to explain the significance of these war games.

Good to see you again, general.

And we know you've been keeping long hours, so we'll get right to it. With all the activities right now with Internal Look, any way to tell exactly what is going on right now, about what may be 11 hours into it?

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, what we can tell you, Leon, is that this is an important exercise. We're nearing the end of day one. It's not your traditional exercise. There's no sound of airplanes overhead. There's no tanks starting up. There's no troops moving. No ships putting to sea. This is all about electrons and connectivity, the ability to command and control in a seamless fashion, the same way that General Franks would command and control from Tampa it he were there. This is a new deployable headquarters, and it's this first test that's really important, Leon.

HARRIS: Yes, so essentially, then we're just running tests here or running simulated actual war games or battles or whatever in each of these different units over there?

SHEPPERD: Well, a little bit of all of that. We're running various scenarios having to do with the war plans. And I'm sure General Franks is testing out some of the things that he plans to do if he is called upon for military action. They're also testing out their capability to connect with all of the deployed forces in this area, at the other air bases, on the ships at sea, and with the units on the ground, for instance, in areas such as Kuwait, so all of that is going on. Being able to talk, command and control, work your war plan and find the glitches before and if any military action is ordered by the president -- Leon.

HARRIS: With that in mind then, how much of what they're doing right now is specifically designed to look at a battle with Iraq, as I have been hearing reports, the military is not saying that's the only mission here, but it's got to be a big part of it?

SHEPPERD: Well, we're not being told what they're looking at over here. Obviously secrecy surrounding the Al Sayliyah military base and what's going on there. We may get a better look after Wednesday, after the secretary of defense's visit here. On the other hand, clearly General Franks is interested in what would happen if we went to war with Iraq, so I'm sure, without knowing anything, that that's basically what he's concentrating on, testing out the various scenarios and things he's worried about.

HARRIS: The scenarios, just again, just trying to generate some kind of idea of what may be going on behind those closed doors, the scenarios that they may be testing out with these little games that they're playing on the computers in there, do you think they're probably using the same sorts of scenarios that actually came up -- that actually came up back in '91, in that war?

SHEPPERD: I think they probably will do some of those. They'll probably do some of a lot of things. They'll probably test various war plans and various ideas that he has. The thing is, you have your plan when you kick off a war, and then you have to react to what the enemy does. So he will have an enemy force, I'm sure, playing the red force against his forces, and they will be trying to detect surprises. But one of the main things they want to do is, again, to check this connectivity. You want to make sure that you can talk to all the satellites, you can talk to all your units on the ground, so that you don't get surprised when and if action breaks out.

HARRIS: Now, this whole setup there is said to be a portable or deployable -- how deployable is it? If they had to pick all that stuff up and move it to another country, say things did change dramatically in Qatar, and they had to move and go someplace else, how long do you think they would be able to do that?

SHEPPERD: Yes, we weren't provided that information but just based on previous exercises and mobile headquarters that I've seen, my guess is it would take the better part of two to three weeks to actually pack it up, get it moved and get it up and running in another place. I could be off by as much as a month on the short side. But it's a robust facility here, not a small number of buildings, many portable buildings, climate control, living quarters, this type of thing, a small military base that you're actually moving.

HARRIS: Got you. Well, we'll let you pack up and move on then. I know you've given long hours there. Major General Don Shepperd, good to see you again. Take care.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired December 9, 2002 - 10:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. military exercise known by Internal Look got under way in Qatar. That country is a tiny peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf, and it's within easy striking distance of Iraq.
CNN military analyst Major General Don Shepperd is in Doha, Qatar, to explain the significance of these war games.

Good to see you again, general.

And we know you've been keeping long hours, so we'll get right to it. With all the activities right now with Internal Look, any way to tell exactly what is going on right now, about what may be 11 hours into it?

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, what we can tell you, Leon, is that this is an important exercise. We're nearing the end of day one. It's not your traditional exercise. There's no sound of airplanes overhead. There's no tanks starting up. There's no troops moving. No ships putting to sea. This is all about electrons and connectivity, the ability to command and control in a seamless fashion, the same way that General Franks would command and control from Tampa it he were there. This is a new deployable headquarters, and it's this first test that's really important, Leon.

HARRIS: Yes, so essentially, then we're just running tests here or running simulated actual war games or battles or whatever in each of these different units over there?

SHEPPERD: Well, a little bit of all of that. We're running various scenarios having to do with the war plans. And I'm sure General Franks is testing out some of the things that he plans to do if he is called upon for military action. They're also testing out their capability to connect with all of the deployed forces in this area, at the other air bases, on the ships at sea, and with the units on the ground, for instance, in areas such as Kuwait, so all of that is going on. Being able to talk, command and control, work your war plan and find the glitches before and if any military action is ordered by the president -- Leon.

HARRIS: With that in mind then, how much of what they're doing right now is specifically designed to look at a battle with Iraq, as I have been hearing reports, the military is not saying that's the only mission here, but it's got to be a big part of it?

SHEPPERD: Well, we're not being told what they're looking at over here. Obviously secrecy surrounding the Al Sayliyah military base and what's going on there. We may get a better look after Wednesday, after the secretary of defense's visit here. On the other hand, clearly General Franks is interested in what would happen if we went to war with Iraq, so I'm sure, without knowing anything, that that's basically what he's concentrating on, testing out the various scenarios and things he's worried about.

HARRIS: The scenarios, just again, just trying to generate some kind of idea of what may be going on behind those closed doors, the scenarios that they may be testing out with these little games that they're playing on the computers in there, do you think they're probably using the same sorts of scenarios that actually came up -- that actually came up back in '91, in that war?

SHEPPERD: I think they probably will do some of those. They'll probably do some of a lot of things. They'll probably test various war plans and various ideas that he has. The thing is, you have your plan when you kick off a war, and then you have to react to what the enemy does. So he will have an enemy force, I'm sure, playing the red force against his forces, and they will be trying to detect surprises. But one of the main things they want to do is, again, to check this connectivity. You want to make sure that you can talk to all the satellites, you can talk to all your units on the ground, so that you don't get surprised when and if action breaks out.

HARRIS: Now, this whole setup there is said to be a portable or deployable -- how deployable is it? If they had to pick all that stuff up and move it to another country, say things did change dramatically in Qatar, and they had to move and go someplace else, how long do you think they would be able to do that?

SHEPPERD: Yes, we weren't provided that information but just based on previous exercises and mobile headquarters that I've seen, my guess is it would take the better part of two to three weeks to actually pack it up, get it moved and get it up and running in another place. I could be off by as much as a month on the short side. But it's a robust facility here, not a small number of buildings, many portable buildings, climate control, living quarters, this type of thing, a small military base that you're actually moving.

HARRIS: Got you. Well, we'll let you pack up and move on then. I know you've given long hours there. Major General Don Shepperd, good to see you again. Take care.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com