Public Information

The Golden Guardian Statewide Exercise Series is the nation's largest state-sponsored emergency preparedness exercise endeavor. Golden Guardian is an ongoing annual event, comprised of a series of seminars, discussion based tabletop exercise and drills, culminating in a full scale exercise designed to test the emergency capabilities of the State of California to deter, prevent, respond and recover from a potential terrorist attack or catastrophic natural disaster.

Begun in 2004 as a federal/state and local exercise which activated State emergency resources, the Golden Guardian Exercise Series is mandated and funded under federal Department of Homeland Security guidelines requiring exercise and subsequent evaluation and improvement activities. Gov. Schwarzenegger and his senior staff have participated in each Golden Guardian exercise.

• Golden Guardian 2008 focuses on a simulated catastrophic 7.8 magnitude earthquake on the southern portion of the San Andreas Fault, ranging from the Salton Sea in Riverside County to Northern Los Angeles County. Seven southern California counties are participating in this main event, as well the State Operations Center in Sacramento. A catastrophic natural disaster exercise involving the multi-state Lake Tahoe region is also planned. Thousands of participants representing dozens of local, state and federal agencies including the U.S. Military are participating in GG08.
• Golden Guardian 2007 encompassed all three emergency response regions of the state; focused on terrorist attacks against mass transportation systems as well as large stadiums and gathering places. The details of the scenario were kept confidential by exercise planners until game day to allow participants to react without prior knowledge, as in a real emergency. More than 3,000 participants representing 45 local, State and federal response agencies participated in Golden Guardian 2007 in Sacramento, Fresno, Stockton, Anaheim and San Jose.
• Golden Guardian 2006 featured a mock terrorist attack on a large public concert venue in the San Bernardino County and a repeat of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 affecting ten counties in the Bay Area. The State’s inland region (Fresno) supported the response to the earthquake scenario by hosting large numbers of evacuees and deploying the nation’s Strategic National Stockpile of emergency medical supplies. More than 1,500 participants were involved in the three day exercise.
• Golden Guardian 2005 included simulated terrorist attacks in separate regions of the state simultaneously, stretching state and local resources to their fullest. More than 2,500 first responders and emergency managers participated in GG05.
• Golden Guardian 2004 exercise revolved around a simulated dirty bomb attack at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, a train derailment and toxic spill in Ventura County and a hijacking scenario at Bay Area airports. GG04 took place while the nation was in an elevated “Orange Level” alert status.

The Golden Guardian exercise series is designed and facilitated in cooperation with local participants by the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security Training and Exercise Branch.