Posted on 06/04/2007 7:50:36 PM PDT by blam
National Guard study issued
WASHINGTON, June 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army should create 10 National Guard task forces to respond quickly to domestic emergencies, a RAND Corp. report recommended Monday.
"We believe the best way to improve the Army's response to domestic disasters is to empower the National Guard for a regional focus," said Lynn Davis, lead author of the report from RAND, a non-profit research group. "The experience of Hurricane Katrina also demonstrates that new strategies are needed to prepare Army forces for all types for domestic emergencies."
As envisioned by the RAND report, each 900-member task force would be able to reach a disaster site in its multi-state region within 18 hours.
"There was plenty of warning before Katrina and the nation's response fell short for those stranded in the New Orleans Superdome and convention center, and in homes across Mississippi and Louisiana," Davis said. "There may be no warning before future domestic emergencies, particularly those that may be caused by terrorists."
The report also recommends giving the National Guard the federal mission of conducting homeland security activities.
The report was prepared for the Army.
900 bubbas = 1 Battalion task force. While a step in the right direction, the real question is how to solve the command and control issues associated with a Corps sized deployment like Katrina (~50,000 title 32 and 20,000 title 10).
Uhm, this is actually already in the works via the National Guard and USAR providing regional disaster response forces and operating under the authority of 5th U.S. Army and NORTHCOM during domestic emergencies. In addition the National Guard has already manned and organized WMD disaster response teams. That initiative began in the late 90s.
I just don’t see all problems as needing a federal solution.
The Guard is the militia, just the same folks that are there anyways. If they are close enough to respond, then they are already there.
Better to have people prepare themselves, with supplies, arms, training. better to not have to pay for the same supplies, arms and training, but with whatever it is that the Federal Government skims off the top.
The sole legal way currently to work around this issue is to place the JTF commander in a dual status (”dual hatted” T10/T32). It is not a great solution, but beats stove piped chain of commands like during katrina.
Agreed. A tough nut to crack, especially with State authorities and their jealously guarded rice bowls. Still the NGB and CAR signed on to the mission and share in the responsibility of not only supporting AC/RC command relationships but resourcing the effort.
The fact is, the Federal government already pays the lion's share of National Guard funding. If anything, it's the individual state authorities who do the skimming in a variety of creative ways.
Sure the Fed pays, with money stolen from the People.
The fed skims like crazy. Only 4 percent of the federal budget goes to defense, of which only a vanishingly small percentage would go to emergency preparation.
You can be pretty inefficient at preparing for your emergency and still beat that with a stick.
It is also a good thing that people who prepare don’t do it visibly, so there is no visible safety net that encourages the lazy to not prepare. People have feedback loops. A kid who wears a helmet will ride his bike or skateboard faster. After all, he has a helmet to keep him safe, right?
The last thing we need is more programs that provide insurance/incentive for people to be irresponsible.
LOL! Well you have a point there, and it's hardly efficient, is it? Be that as it may, each state gets a piece of that measly 4% DoD pie to fund domestic emergency response programs. Is it enough? No, it never is. Are the funds spent wisely by state Governors and their TAGs in all cases? No.
I wonder why it's in the news today? If this is SOP, why is there even a story?
I believe that the 4% figure refers to the % of the GDP spent on defense, not the federal budget.
That said, it is still a serious issue. In the early 60’s, the percentage was ~9%.
I think we have to be careful about what nuts we chose to crack. The founding fathers seperated powers for very good reason. We should not let one poorly sited city and one inept governor induce us to alter their wisdom.
Personally, I consider the key factor with reacting to Katrina a matter of "who is the governor of Mississippi vs who is the governor of Louisiana". Haley Barbour made it happen. Blanco let it happen. Big difference in approach based on conservative leadership in the face of disaster vs. liberal expectations of entitlement after failing miserably to prepare and act. Two very different, yet predictable outcomes emerged.
It is also interesting to compare the actions of the two states’ TAGS.
The Mississippi TAG AAR is a superb example of how to plan and execute (call up and prepo available forces, alert neighboring states to send reserves under EMAC, conduct personal recon, execute prepared plan, brief boss(Governor) on current and future actions, and get back to work.
On the other hand, you could be in the dark wondering why the generator was located in the basement of abuilding in flood zone
Okay. Thanks for the informed reply.
If I can put my tin foil hat on here...
>>> particularly those that may be caused by terrorists.”
The report also recommends giving the National Guard the federal mission of conducting homeland security activities. <<<
See how Easily you to can become a terrorist.
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Good Catch! That is right, 4 percent is as a share of GDP. As as share of Federal Budget it is around 20 -22 percent.
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