The Golden Guardian Statewide Exercise Series was first implemented by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, and has become an annual statewide exercise series conducted to coordinate prevention, preparation, response and recovery mechanisms of city, county and state governmental entities, and private sector and volunteer organizations. The goal of the Golden Guardian Exercise Series is to build upon the lessons learned from this and subsequent exercises conducted throughout the nation, as well as real-world events. Golden Guardian is currently the largest statewide exercise program of its kind in the country.

Golden Guardian 2010 will be the sixth Full Scale Exercise (FSE) in the Governor’s Golden Guardian Exercise Series since 2004. The theme of Golden Guardian 2010 is terrorist attacks in multiple ports throughout California. The FSE will be aligned with the National Level Exercise, NLE10 (Improvised Nuclear Device in FEMA Region IX), and will take place over several days in May 2010.