I wouldn't read too much into large scale exercises nine days ago. These things do happen routinely. Further, it's a very common practice among US government de

I wouldn't read too much into large scale exercises nine days ago. These things do happen routinely. Further, it's a very common practice among US government departments to burn off their remaining budgets at the end of the federal fiscal year on September 30th. Large scale exercises are a good way for the DOD to get rid of money it doesn't want. It's not cause for concern unless unusually high levels of activity continue into October--and even in that case the general purpose will be deterrence rather than fear over any real threat.