A U.S. Coast Guard training exercise set off a security scare in Washington's Potomac River early this morning. Police and federal law enforcement officials said the incident, which prompted reports that shots had been fired at a boat in the river near the Pentagon, was actually a training exercise, said a Reuters report.

There were reports on police scanners that the Coast Guard fired 10 rounds of ammunition. A Department of Homeland Security representative said no shots had been fired, the report said, and the President was back at the White House by the time of the reports of shots being fired.

 

The Reuters report said that federal agency emergency operations centers were not aware of the Coast Guard training exercise and began making contingency plans for a security incident.