This week, the military will conduct a “large-scale” nuclear training exercise in Houston, simulating an unthinkable scenario, while the FBI has alerted residents of Harris County and southeast Houston about the “multi-agency” drills taking place from Monday to Friday, to prepare for a nuclear attack.
The FBI has assured the public that the presence of “military personnel and aircraft, and people in protective equipment” is part of the exercise and should not cause alarm, the UK’s Daily Mail has reported.
The drill takes place against a backdrop of escalating threats from North Korea and Russia. According to analysis, if a missile launched from Pyongyang were to strike Houston, approximately 130,000 people could lose their lives.
In 2017, North Korea tested a missile that, if deployed, would generate lethal radioactive fallout covering an area of around 3 square kilometers. This fallout would encompass well-known sites in Houston such as the Downtown Aquarium and the George H. W. Bush Monument, as illustrated by NukeMap, an app created by nuclear weapons historian Alex Wellerstein.