We nuked another American city last month. April 23rd, to be exact. A fake terrorist group was accused of the crime, but make no mistake about it, we did it, so addicted are we to both the rush of the endorphins and our fascination with the end of times.

It was just a military exercise, but its implication is clear: After 14 years, after the supposed decimation of al Qaeda, after billions have been spent on TSA and immigration control and homeland security, after the FBI has enlisted all of policedom in its intelligence-led regimentation, after every fricking speck and shred that can be found has been collected and analyzed by NSA and its friends, we’ve made no progress in the war against the terror phantom. The very scenario imagined by a terrified Bush administration the day after 9/11 still holds sway.

Weapons of mass destruction are just that powerful. They make us stupid with genuflection. WMD pushed us into war with Iraq as much as any Bush or journalist; they are responsible for the Katrina disaster nearly ten years ago, when the government dropped so many balls by focusing on the big-boy game of terror. They still claim center stage.

In the minds of war planners (the only thing that the federal government has that is even close to strategists who influence future capabilities), not only is a terrorist nuclear attack still considered plausible, it’s their ultimate agenda, the scenario that trumps all others. The big one is so big that despite the agenda that everyone agrees upon – getting our shit together just in the areas of shoring up defenses and strengthening our infrastructure (read: Amtrak) – nothing else can get any traction or real money. We remain hostage to endless warring in order to forestall the implausible, but also throw up our hands and constantly surrender to putting the military in charge.

This time, the Hiroshima-sized bomb went off at the corner of 13th and Central Street in Kansas City, Missouri. By 6 a.m. the next morning there were 60,000 estimated fatalities and another 135,000 were missing or unaccounted for. The mock nuclear attack is part of a large-scale military exercise called Vibrant Response, an annual drill that began with the activation of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) after 9/11. The “play” took place at the Indiana-based Joint Maneuver Training Center from April 23-May 8.

According to the PR fluff, Vibrant Response tests the “ability to respond on short notice to a natural or man-made disaster.” This year’s exercise tested 119 different units and over 600 people “working together to save lives, mitigate suffering, and restore a city to normality after a simulated catastrophic incident.” It’s what the military (and now the rest of the federal government) refers to as “consequence management.” In other words, dealing with the consequences of certain failure and disaster and not its prevention.

In this fake world of “preparedness,” El Zahir, which sounds like a cross between al Qaeda and a mariachi band, are named as the bad guys.

According to the fake Operations Order (OPORD) for Task Force 38 [OPORD 15-025 (CYCLONE RESPONSE 15)]:

“El Zahir, an international terrorist organization, plans to conduct a nuclear attack(s) on unspecified major cities in the United States. The current investigation focus is on prevention of the attack. The purpose of the attack is assessed to conflict [sic] mass casualties. Law enforcement authorities are interviewing all known or suspected El Zahir members or associates. FBI and DHS are encouraging recipients to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to a law enforcement agency.”

Some amount of energy went into the fabrication of El Zahir and its back story – we are instructed to believe that an international terrorist group can secretly still obtain the nuclear materials, make a nuclear device, smuggle it into the heartland of America and detonate it. It sounds like a pretty scary scenario to be playing out in 2015, but Vibrant Response hardly received any press coverage, and only the local Anniston (Alabama) Star, reporting on the Guardsmen and women participating, even mentioned Kansas City as the venue for the nuclear attack, and no one until now has reported on the dastardly El Zahir.

I’ve heard all of the arguments over the years as to why these exercises are important: the military should prepare for the worst, that by practicing military-civil relations this is the way to preserve civilian control, and, most perniciously, that there is no harm.

But ten years ago Hurricane Katrina exposed the real life danger of a government focused on the extreme at the expense of the expected. FEMA was shown to be a patronage-led amateur hour and the Department of Homeland Security was out to lunch on a terrorist watch that was redundant with everything the intelligence community and FBI was already doing.

After Katrina, changes were made, or would have to be made everyone said, in order to beef up civil response. Terrorism, let alone nuclear terrorism, wasn’t the disaster that we really needed to prepare for.

And yet here we are. Still. Again. Much has changed in defining the dividing line between what is the responsibility of the States, what is the role of the National Guard, and the need for competent and ready first responders. But this whole generation of “defense support of civil authorities” exercises, meant to shore up civilian authorities and military subordination, really serve to limit any other effective options. When you fantasize about a nuke causing a couple of hundred thousand casualties and billions in damage, of course the military is the only institution with the means. We’ve ensured there are no other alternatives.

You can contact me at william.arkin@gawker.com, and follow us at @gawkerphasezero. If you are into the theater of being underground, you can anonymously deliver tips through theGawker Media SecureDrop. I’m open to your input and your questions, tough questions.

[Photos by AP. Screenshots of documents obtained by Phase Zero.]