Good Military blog...... Talks about NORTHCOM.....

[Joanne98]

August 08, 2005
Homeland Insecurity
I'm not sure what to make of this Washington Post article. It seems to suggest that DOD is developing "quick reaction forces" that could be up to 3,000 people for responding to multiple, large-scale terrorist strikes within the United States.

The possible scenarios range from "low end," relatively modest crowd-control missions to "high-end," full-scale disaster management after catastrophic attacks such as the release of a deadly biological agent or the explosion of a radiological device, several officers said.

Some of the worst-case scenarios involve three attacks at the same time, in keeping with a Pentagon directive earlier this year ordering Northcom, as the command is called, to plan for multiple simultaneous attacks.

The war plans represent a historic shift for the Pentagon, which has been reluctant to become involved in domestic operations and is legally constrained from engaging in law enforcement. Indeed, defense officials continue to stress that they intend for the troops to play largely a supporting role in homeland emergencies, bolstering police, firefighters and other civilian response groups.

But the new plans provide for what several senior officers acknowledged is the likelihood that the military will have to take charge in some situations, especially when dealing with mass-casualty attacks that could quickly overwhelm civilian resources.

"In my estimation, a biological, a chemical or nuclear attack in any of the 50 states, the Department of Defense is best positioned -- of the various eight federal agencies that would be involved -- to take the lead," said Adm. Timothy J. Keating, the head of Northcom, which coordinates military involvement in homeland security operations.

Now last month, DOD published its Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support. Reading the document, I assumed it was focused on external threats to the country, hardening the defense and civil critical infrastructure, and supporting state/local emergency responders (in that order). Now I'm not so sure. A while ago, I read in InsideDefense that one of those 15 scenarios was responding to a group of 100-200 terrorists that took over a nuclear or chemical plant, and the locals couldn't respond in force. I thought that was so crazy that I just disregarded the story. Now I wonder if some crazy lunatic in NORTHCOM is planning up response plans that resemble the Illinois National Guard's pursing the Blues Brothers into the Chicago city hall.

I will take exception to Keating's suggestion that DOD is the best federal agency to respond to a terrorist CBRN incident. My view of the world, taking into account past histories and future possibilities, is that terrorist CBRN incidents will most likely be small-scale, single in nature and not mass casualty events endangering whole metropolitan cities. And since DHS, DHHS, and EPA have dibs on any terrorist CBRN incident, by the National Response Plan's view at least, it's hard to see where Keating is justified in his statement. Will DOD assist in any response to a terrorist CBRN incident? Yes, of course. But they won't be the lead, and they won't get there first. I think NORTHCOM needs a serious slap on the side of the head. They're writing checks that DOD can't cash.

August 08, 2005 in Military | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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[kitkat65]

1. One wonders how well the national guard could control any situation

since we've sent many of them over to Iraq.

[wli]

2. it's not as if Posse Comitatus is being respected anyway

Would we really expect anything less?

The 100-200 "terrorists" they're going on about are probably peaceful demonstrators that wouldn't fight back if a group of under 10 local cops hauled them off one by one.

[tocqueville]

4. if you want to blow up a facility the least you want is 200 people

[tocqueville]

3. I posted about that before

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4287587&mesg_id=4287587

here is the original link making the headline on WPs website

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/07/AR2005080700843.html

it means first boom = then martial law, curfew, shoot at sight

and I bet that at least 13 of the 15 scenarios are as stupid as the one you name. Those guys should be working in Hollywood.

it's only a pretext

[Beam Me Up]

5. kik

[kysrsoze]

6. The fact that they're just doing this now makes me think

Strange they didn't do this immediately after 9-11. I keep seeing more stuff about ships leaving early, WMD response drills, etc. Coincidence?