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Community of Nations Discusses Military Homeland Defense Role
American Forces Press Service ^ | Joe Ferrare

Posted on 05/26/2006 6:37:23 PM PDT by SandRat

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, May 26, 2006 – Twenty-nine nations of the trans-Atlantic community took a first step toward hammering out an understanding of when and how to use military forces to secure the homeland during a conference held here May 22-24.

More than 100 national representatives, speakers, observers and organizers met near the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies for the Euro-Atlantic Perspectives on the Role of Military Forces in Homeland Security conference. The event was organized by the Marshall Center in cooperation with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College.

The common understanding participants strove for is the first step toward making all nations safer, said conference moderator Jack Clarke.

"We're trying to build a trans-Atlantic community of expertise in homeland defense, and this is a start," Clarke said. "We're trying to understand how different countries employ military forces in dealing with domestic emergencies and domestic contingencies. This is an opportunity for both sides of the Atlantic to learn from one another."

To that end, participants heard speakers and panel members explore the European and U.S. traditions, as well as those of the former Soviet states in attendance. Understanding those diverse backgrounds is important because a unified community of nations is something terrorists and others actively target, Clarke said.

"All of us have come to realize that security is all too divisible in the world we live in today," he said. "By that I mean terrorists and others understand that they can make people think they can be more secure when they do not join in alliances. We want to ensure that security remains indivisible, and therefore we work together for the same kinds of cooperative security goals."

Even discussing the same subject with participants from countries ranging from the United States to Estonia and Georgia brings is a challenge, Clarke said.

"Sure, 30 different nations can be a management challenge, but I think this has worked really, really well, because ... regardless of where they're from, they're all in the same business.

"Granted, not all of them get a chance to talk and tell us how they do it in their country, but that's not really the goal. The goal is that you get exposed to different ideas and you take them back, and you try to integrate them as appropriate to your planning process, or your strategic concept," he said.

Different ideas were not in short supply, Clarke added.

"I would say that one of the biggest differences is that some countries in Europe have specialized forces to deal with a lot of these kinds of issues, and others don't. Countries like France and Italy and Spain have what we call paramilitary police forces, like the gendarmerie. They're particularly well-suited to dealing with a broad range of homeland security and homeland defense tasks.

"In the United States, we have the National Guard," he continued. "That's a completely different kind of organization that doesn't exist anywhere in Europe, where the state governor has control of his own military forces."

With all those differences in mind, conference organizers and speakers asked participants to look to the future and contemplate homeland security challenges their nations might face.

"We've looked at things like, what's the role of the military in managing bird flu?" Clarke said. "How would the military respond to a dirty bomb attack? We've also looked at the different kinds of ... strategic approaches. We heard from the British about their resiliency strategy, and then we compared that to the homeland security strategy of the United States and found a lot of areas of commonality, but found some important differences."

Studying the different approaches is important because the threats nations face have become global, said Peter F. Verga, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense.

"Transnational flows aid the acceleration of disease transmission, terrorism, proliferation of advanced weapons and weapons of mass destruction materials and extremist ideologies," Verga said.

"All free nations - including their citizens, territory and infrastructure - are vulnerable to these threats. These challenges, in both the security environment and the diluted concept of sovereignty, argue for identifying new ways of cooperating with our allies and partners," he said.

Participants found those new ways by sharing examples and ideas, bringing forth a new understanding, Clarke said.

"Definitions are clearly important, but a conference like this makes it clear to the participants that, regardless of what definitions you use, we're doing the same kinds of things. And that's a particularly important aspect of the conference, is that at the end of the day people can say, 'Hey, they may call it homeland security and we may call it internal security, but ... it's the same thing,'" Clarke explained.

Bill Bann, another representative from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, told participants that reaching the state of a common understanding is the beginning of greater security for all.

"I would recommend to you that you build on the knowledge that you gained here, maintain the contacts that we've made ... so that we don't just leave this here, that we build upon this," he said. "I think it makes us stronger as a nation, and as an international community, to face these very difficult and tough challenges that are before us."

(Joe Ferrare works at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.)


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Germany; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: community; defense; discusses; homeland; homelandsecurity; military; nations; roles
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1 posted on 05/26/2006 6:37:25 PM PDT by SandRat
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To: 91B; HiJinx; Spiff; MJY1288; xzins; Calpernia; clintonh8r; TEXOKIE; windchime; Grampa Dave; ...

ping???


2 posted on 05/26/2006 6:37:51 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat

I say we defend America any way we damned well please no matter who likes it.


3 posted on 05/26/2006 6:43:53 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Never a minigun handy when you need one.)
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To: SandRat

Naturally no mention of the "American Milita".


4 posted on 05/26/2006 7:06:36 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: SandRat
These challenges, in both the security environment and the diluted concept of sovereignty, argue for identifying new ways of cooperating with our allies and partners," he said.

Things that make me go hmmm.

5 posted on 05/26/2006 7:16:01 PM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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To: DumpsterDiver; hedgetrimmer; calcowgirl; nicmarlo; Quix

"the diluted concept of sovereignty..."

Ditto to your "hmmm".

The trans Atlantic community. Just the other day, I ran across Barry Goldwater's 1964 acceptance speech.

Goldwater's 1964 Acceptance Speech

The following is the text of Barry Goldwater's 1964 speech at the 28th Republican National Convention, accepting the nomination for president. Provided by the Arizona Historical Foundation

Excerpt*****

I can see and I suggest that all thoughtful men must contemplate the flowering of an Atlantic civilization, the whole world of Europe unified and free, trading openly across its borders, communicating openly across the world. This is a goal far, far more meaningful than a moon shot.

It's a truly inspiring goal for all free men to set for themselves during the latter half of the twentieth century. I can also see - and all free men must thrill to - the events of this Atlantic civilization joined by its great ocean highway to the United States. What a destiny, what a destiny can be ours to stand as a great central pillar linking Europe, the Americans and the venerable and vital peoples and cultures of the Pacific. I can see a day when all the Americas, North and South, will be linked in a mighty system, a system in which the errors and misunderstandings of the past will be submerged one by one in a rising tide of prosperity and interdependence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwaterspeech.htm

The NWO is becoming a reality.


6 posted on 05/26/2006 7:51:55 PM PDT by texastoo ("trash the treaties")
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To: texastoo

Thanks.

Plenty sobering, for sure.

Traitorous idiots.


7 posted on 05/26/2006 9:47:12 PM PDT by Quix (PRAY AND WORK WHILE THERE'S DAY! Many very dark nights are looming. Thankfully, God is still God!)
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To: texastoo
I can see a day when all the Americas, North and South, will be linked in a mighty system, a system in which the errors and misunderstandings of the past will be submerged one by one in a rising tide of prosperity and interdependence.

That sounds like the words of some adolescent's pipe dream rather than Goldwater. Weird.

The NWO is becoming a reality.

It does look like more and more of it is coming together.

8 posted on 05/27/2006 2:47:39 AM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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To: DumpsterDiver; hedgetrimmer; calcowgirl; Quix; Czar; Borax Queen; JustPiper; devolve; potlatch; ...
Twenty-nine nations of the trans-Atlantic community took a first step toward hammering out an understanding of when and how to use military forces to secure the homeland....

...These challenges, in both the security environment and the diluted concept of sovereignty, argue for identifying new ways of cooperating with our allies and partners..."

...."We're trying to build a trans-Atlantic community of expertise in homeland defense, and this is a start," Clarke said. "We're trying to understand how different countries employ military forces in dealing with domestic emergencies and domestic contingencies.....

Northcom: War Plans Drafted To Counter Terror Attacks in
U.S. Domestic Effort Is Big Shift for Military

BRADLEY GRAHAM / Washington Post 8aug2005

The classified plans, developed here at Northern Command headquarters, outline a variety of possible roles for quick-reaction forces estimated at as many as 3,000 ground troops per attack, a number that could easily grow depending on the extent of the damage and the abilities of civilian response teams.

The possible scenarios range from "low end," relatively modest crowd-control missions to "high-end," full-scale disaster management after catastrophic attacks...

GAO report number GAO-03-670 entitled 'Homeland Defense: DOD Needs to Assess the Structure of U.S. Forces for Domestic Military Missions'

* U.S. Northern Command has only recently completed its campaign plan for domestic military missions, and therefore the services have had little time to determine what adjustments to training or equipment are required for these missions.

The US military: A creeping civilian mission

Police State

There can no longer be any doubt. America is transforming into a police state. Local and state governments, megaglobal corporations and even communist dictatorships are being merged globally into a colossal world government.

This world government is hell-bent on consolidating the resources of individuals, governments, sole-proprietorships, churches, charities, political parties, and armies under its unaccountable, unelected quasi-governmental bureaucracies, like the WTO, IMF, World Bank, Central Banks,i.e. US Regional Governorship (Federal Reserve).

As individual as well as institutional resistance mounts to this modern megalomaniacal takeover, the control-freak psychotics of the CFR, Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg Group are using all of their considerable influence to create a perceived enemy threat to the expanding paramilitary forces bristling at every layer of government.

In January 2006, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root a $385 million contract to construct detention centers somewhere in the United States, to deal with "an emergency influx of immigrants into the US, or to support the rapid development of new programs," KBR said. [Market Watch, Jan. 26, 2006]

On February 3, 2006, this information was updated: "KBR would build the centers for the Homeland Security Department for an unexpected influx of immigrants, to house people in the event of a natural disaster or for new programs that require additional detention space... [The New York Times, Feb. 4, 2006]

9 posted on 05/27/2006 6:10:20 AM PDT by nicmarlo (Bush is the Best President Ever. Rah. Rah.)
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To: nicmarlo
I haven't looked these up yet at THOMAS, but I thought they looked interesting.

North American Cooperative Security Act (Introduced in Senate) [S.853.IS]

North American Cooperative Security Act (Introduced in House) [H.R.2672.IH]

10 posted on 05/27/2006 7:33:08 AM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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To: nicmarlo; ntnychik
(ntnychik, I'm pinging you because I'm quoting from one of your posts.)

nicmarlo, here is another bit of information that may interest you.

From Post 152 at this thread

My eyes were opened last year from what my daughter was learning in her Political Science class. Her texts were Globalism by Manfred Steger, and International Politics on the World Stage by John Rourke. Here's a statement in the epilogue of the latter:

"There are few anymore who really try to defend the system of assertive sovereignty as adequate for the future. Clearly, it is not. What is less certain is what to do next and how to do it.

Cooperation, humanitarianism, enlightenment, and other such words provide easy answers, but they are vague goals. Real answers are difficult to come by. They may involve tough choices; we may be asked to give up some things now so that they will not be taken later, to curb our lifestyle, to risk arms control in the hope of avoiding nuclear war, and to think of the world in terms of 'we.'"

Students were also provided with a copy of "The Earth Charter," the brainchild of Mikhail Gorbachev. At the link, click on Read the Earth Charter. It seems fairly benign at the beginning, but becomes alarming by the end. Read it carefully. You will also learn much by Googling the Earth Charter. The plan is for these ideals to be inculcated through the schools AND the churches.
http://www.earthcharterusa.org/earth_charter.html

Here's another good link that lays everything out. Everything in the essay is consistent with what my daughter was taught in her college class. http://www.newswithviews.com/Spingola/deanna6.htm

Also Google "United Religions Initiative" and "Green Cross," founded by Gorbachev. I also found useful information by googling "universal religion".


11 posted on 05/27/2006 8:14:04 AM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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To: DumpsterDiver

There's some info here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1562847/posts
North American Cooperative Security Act
Posted on 01/22/2006 12:16:42 PM PST by savedbygrace


http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.00853:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR02672:


12 posted on 05/27/2006 9:31:26 AM PDT by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: DumpsterDiver

There's some info here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1562847/posts
North American Cooperative Security Act
Posted on 01/22/2006 12:16:42 PM PST by savedbygrace


http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.00853:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR02672:


13 posted on 05/27/2006 9:34:29 AM PDT by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: nicmarlo; potlatch; ntnychik; PhilDragoo; devolve; OXENinFLA; bitt; La Enchiladita; JustPiper; ...
 

POLICE STATE

 

"There can no longer be any doubt.  America is transforming into a police state.  Local and state governments, megaglobal corporations and even communist dictatorships are being merged globally into a colossal world government.

This world government is hell-bent on consolidating the resources of individuals, governments, sole-proprietorships, churches, charities, political parties, and armies under its unaccountable, unelected quasi-governmental bureaucracies, like the WTO, IMF, World Bank, Central Banks,i.e. US Regional Governorship (Federal Reserve).

As individual as well as institutional resistance mounts to this modern megalomaniacal takeover, the control-freak psychotics of the CFR, Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg Group are using all of their considerable influence to create a perceived enemy threat to the expanding paramilitary forces bristling at every layer of government.

The new enemy, the new threat is, in reality, the lone individual simply trying to live his or her life who wishes to control their own destiny.  Make no mistake, you are slated for dehumanization.

To you I ask the question: If we have gone along quietly with all of the overt despotic outrages, like land grabbing, gun grabbing, the attacks on national sovereignty, deindustrialization, out-of-control regulation and an endless list of other horrors without becoming violent, what is it that the establishment has planned, using its occupational government, that is so bad that its social engineers know that we will revolt in mass?

The preparations for mass oppression have been underway for decades. Remember this, we are 280 million Americans. We outnumber the dehumanizers and their power-mad minions conservatively 500 to 1.

Be aggressive, be bold, spread the word from coast to coast, never turn in your guns, mobilize, use our most powerful weapon -- the truth about the wickedness of a one world government, the enemy's own publications, to discredit them with their own words."

"Never surrender."

Alex Jones

 


14 posted on 05/27/2006 11:26:07 AM PDT by Smartass (Vaya con Dios - And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets)
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To: DumpsterDiver

Thanks DD, I just got home from work. I'll go look those cites up now.


15 posted on 05/27/2006 1:54:54 PM PDT by nicmarlo (Bush is the Best President Ever. Rah. Rah.)
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To: DumpsterDiver; ntnychik
"There are few anymore who really try to defend the system of assertive sovereignty as adequate for the future.

bumping your post. I'm just NOT liking what I'm reading on your post #11....can only imagine when I start reading the documents.

16 posted on 05/27/2006 2:01:01 PM PDT by nicmarlo (Bush is the Best President Ever. Rah. Rah.)
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To: Smartass; nicmarlo

Thank you both for pings... will get back to this later.


17 posted on 05/27/2006 2:02:15 PM PDT by La Enchiladita (God Bless Our Troops...including U.S. Border Patrol, America's First Line of Defense)
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To: DumpsterDiver; nicmarlo

NO WAY!


18 posted on 05/27/2006 2:03:16 PM PDT by La Enchiladita (God Bless Our Troops...including U.S. Border Patrol, America's First Line of Defense)
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To: La Enchiladita; DumpsterDiver

Way!


19 posted on 05/27/2006 2:16:53 PM PDT by nicmarlo (Bush is the Best President Ever. Rah. Rah.)
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To: Smartass

bttt


20 posted on 05/27/2006 2:17:25 PM PDT by nicmarlo (Bush is the Best President Ever. Rah. Rah.)
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