From 2007 through 2011, CAW developed and conducted a series of training and exercise events under a Congressional program, in partnership with the Maine Emergency Management Agency and the Commonwealth of Virginia, Office of Commonwealth Preparedness. The East Coast Initiative (ECI) was designed to enhance the capabilities to coordinate an integrated regional response to a maritime terrorist attack involving the use of weapons of mass destruction, for the States of Maine and Virginia.
In May of 2011, CAW conducted the Hampton Roads Full-Scale Exercise, which represented the culmination of the East Coast Initiative in the exercise of emergency management plans, systems, and response capabilities of local,state, and regional agencies in the maritime domain. This three-day full-scale exercise was designed to demonstrate and improve communication and coordination between Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Virginia State, and local law enforcement and first response agencies following a series of coordinated attacks against the nation's critical defense and industrial infrastructure in the Hampton Roads area.