By BOB MACKIN; June 10, 2009 – 24 HOURS

July 27-31 is the next big pre-Olympic military exercise. But it may not be anywhere near the Olympic city. That’s when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is hosting National Level Exercise 2009. The full-scale exercise “will be the first major exercise conducted by the U.S. government that will focus exclusively on terrorism prevention and protection, as opposed to incident response and recovery,” according to a news release on the Federal Emergency Management Administration website.

The exercise will take place in Washington, D.C. and at government, private sector and aboriginal facilities in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Foreign personnel from Canada, Mexico, Australia and the United Kingdom will join their U.S. hosts.

A 2007 DHS calendar pinpointed July 2009 for the terrorism-themed TOPOFF 5 full-scale exercise and listed: “Pinnacle, Chairman’s Exercise, Ardent Sentry, Able Warrior, Ultimate Caduceus (Olympics Prep).”