‘Gotham Shield’: NYC Nuclear Bomb Drill Sparks Worst Case Conspiracy Theories

(ANTIMEDIA) Amid heightening tensions over the prospect of a third world war, the United States government will simulate a nuclear blast over Manhattan and New Jersey. The disaster preparedness drill, codenamed Gotham Shield, commenced yesterday and will continue through April 26th.
The simulation is being coordinated by multiple agencies, including FEMA, Department of Defense (DOD), FBI, and Department of Homeland Security. Unsurprisingly, Gotham Shield has generated a tremendous amount of attention online among conspiracy theorists, many of whom believe the drill could provide the logistical framework for a ‘false flag’ terrorist attack.
On Tuesday, Gotham Shield will simulate a large-scale terrorist attack at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The premise of the drill is the detonation of a 10,000-ton nuclear weapon over New Jersey and the subsequent electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that would shred the electrical and communication grid within a 20-kilometer radius.
The objective of the drill is “to expand the ability at local and national levels to coordinate an effect a large-scale response and recovery to an event like this,” said FEMA spokeswoman Lauren Lefebvre.
While the size and scope of Gotham Shield are precedented, it comes during a time in which anxiety over military provocation and escalation is at an all-time high. It also takes places during a time in which more Americans than ever are exploring the concept of false flag operations. Google searches for ‘false flag attack’ have grown exponentially in the last few years.
The hysteria over Gotham Shield is reminiscent of 2015’s Jade Helm training exercise, which is causing many to dismiss the conspiratorial angle. Snopes, for instance, notes that the drill has been planned for a year, well before the latest North Korea provocations.
The main reason conspiracy theorists are having a field day with Gotham Shield is the apparent phenomenon of terrorist attacks or mass murders coinciding with military, police, or training drills and, in some instances, occurring at the same time. This phenomenon includes the 9/11 attacks, the 7/7 London bombings, the Aurora movie theater shooting, the Madrid bombings, Sandy Hook, the Virginia Tech shooting, and the Boston marathon bombings.
The Gotham Shield drill also happens to coincide with all 100 senators visiting the White House for an emergency meeting on North Korea. Some analysts believe North Korea may be only years away from being technologically capable of attaching a nuclear warhead to an ICBM and striking the U.S. mainland. But is there any substantial evidence that they would do that? Or is the danger North Korea represents being largely manufactured by State Department propaganda?
The ideological opportunism of fear mongering is playing at all levels right now — from the daily headlines of the State Department parroted across the mainstream media to conspiracy theorists in online forums. Gotham Shield may be just a drill, but it’s functioning as a generator of fear. A scared population is a controlled population, and right now the world is in lock-step, beholden to governments who seem determined to keep their defense contractors and militaries in business forever.
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