KONFITMA 2023 is set for Nov. 14 and 15 on Saipan.

Bernard Villagomez, Public Information Officer for CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said, "We would just like to urge the public that to not be worried about the increased flow of sirens and emergency response personnel who are reacting to the scenes, and that this is a medium scale exercise that we are conducting so we can identify any gaps within our operations and the local agencies and we want to increase the local capabilities of our local agencies."

The exercise began in 2010 and the last one on Saipan was in 2018. More than a hundred people will train to respond to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and high yield Explosives. 

Sean Cripps, who is an Exercise Planner for the Guam National Guard, explained, "So the KONFITMA  exercise as a joint training exercise. It's designed to create the conditions to exceed the capability and capacity of local resources, which allows the emergency management to call for resources outside of Saipan, in this case, resources from the Guam National Guard, from the Utah National Guard, and also the Texas National Guard. These resources will be here exercising for the next week. So we appreciate your patience in making the emergency response here better."

The exercises will take place in Garapan, Marpi, Susupe, and As Lito. 

Cripps added, "These typically deal with a low probability, high consequence scenario, meaning we're training for a worst-case scenario."

Organizers say signs will be placed nearby to notify residents of active scenes so there will be no cause for alarm. 

CNMI HSEM Special Assistant Franklin R. Babauta said, "You know, it's important that we exercise this and rehearse it. We will never know when things can happen. You know, there are manmade and also natural emergencies that we develop or have to be aware that those two incidents that can happen."