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.)
All we need is enough space for the Washington traitors.
Heck, for them? We can use anyone"s basement (sorry for the double apostrophe...my computer is acting stoopid again).
Yes.
From DD's post:
S.853
Title: A bill to direct the Secretary of State to establish a program to bolster the mutual security and safety of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Lugar, Richard G. [IN] (introduced 4/20/2005)
Cosponsors (6)
Related Bills: H.R.2672
Latest Major Action: 4/20/2005 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. COSPONSORS(6), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]: (Sort: by date)
Sen Coleman, Norm [MN] - 6/30/2005
Sen Cornyn, John [TX] - 6/7/2005
Sen Hagel, Chuck [NE] - 7/11/2005
Sen Hutchison, Kay Bailey [TX] - 7/1/2005
Sen McCain, John [AZ] - 5/25/2005
Sen Stevens, Ted [AK] - 5/12/2005
H.R.2672
Title: To direct the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a program to enhance the mutual security and safety of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Harris, Katherine [FL-13] (introduced 5/26/2005) Cosponsors (2)
Related Bills: S.853
Latest Major Action: 6/6/2005 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment. COSPONSORS(2), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]: (Sort: by date)
Rep Pearce, Stevan [NM-2] - 5/26/2005
Rep Shays, Christopher [CT-4] - 5/26/2005
si
SEC. 5. IMPROVING THE SECURITY OF MEXICO'S SOUTHERN BORDER.
Is it just me, or is it not WEIRD that our government is assisting Mexico secure it's southern border but our government REFUSES to secure our OWN BORDER?
No, it's not just you...
I read on one website something about the domestic military programs, and it's "SECRET". I'll try to find the website and article. (I don't know who the guy was, that's why I didn't post it earlier.)
S.853br> North American Cooperative Security Act (Introduced in Senate)
SEC. 5. IMPROVING THE SECURITY OF MEXICO'S SOUTHERN BORDER.
And here's SEC. 6. (which I did NOT SEE in the House Bill, also):
SEC. 6. NORTH AMERICAN DEFENSE INSTITUTIONS.
(a) In General- The Secretary of Defense, in
consultation with the Secretary of State, shall examine the
feasibility of--
(1) strengthening institutions for consultations
on defense issues among the United States, Mexico, and
Canada, specifically through--
(A) the Joint Interagency Task Force South;
(B) the Permanent Joint Board on Defense;
(C) joint-staff talks; and
(D) senior Army border talks;
(2) proposing mechanisms to reach agreements with
the Government of Canada or Mexico regarding contingency
plans for responding to threats along the international
borders of the United States;
(3) in consultation with the Governments of Canada
and Mexico, and with input from the United States Northern
Command--
(A) developing bilateral and trilateral
capabilities and coordination mechanisms to address common
threats along shared borders; and
(B) work together to clearly define the term
'threats' to only encompass military or defense-related
threats, rather than other threats to homeland security;
(4) offering technical support to willing regional
parties to maintain air space security, including
consultation mechanisms with the Joint Interagency Task
Force and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, to
improve security in the North American and Central American
space; and
(5) proposing mechanisms to strengthen
communication information and intelligence sharing on
defense issues among the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
Mi frontera es tu frontera? (My border is your border?)
CFR's Plan to Integrate the U.S., Mexico and Canada (July 2005)
eagleforum. ^ | July 13, 2005 | Phyllis Schlafly
Posted on 05/17/2006 5:33:52 PM PDT by dennisw(snip)
A 59-page CFR document spells out a five-year plan for the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community" with a common "outer security perimeter."
My nine year old granddaughter came home from school one day last year and announced that communism was O.K. and everyone would "share". This child had read a whole book on communism and her Mother,who was reared by me, wasn't aware of the book. My daughter had a session with granddaughter and changed her mind immediately.
My daughter lives in a small college town in east Washington State. They use a lot of student teachers.
A year or so ago, Kofi Annan, was on some of PBS children's show. They are not missing a opportunity to spread socialism. I never watched any of those shows, but now I wish I had watched them or at least one of them.
The NWO is coming together as planned.
yw!
THE WAY FORWARDAs never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning. Such renewal is the promise of these Earth Charter principles. To fulfill this promise, we must commit ourselves to adopt and promote the values and objectives of the Charter.
This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility. We must imaginatively develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally. Our cultural diversity is a precious heritage and different cultures will find their own distinctive ways to realize the vision. We must deepen and expand the global dialogue that generated the Earth Charter, for we have much to learn from the ongoing collaborative search for truth and wisdom.
Life often involves tensions between important values. This can mean difficult choices. However, we must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with long-term goals. Every individual, family, organization, and community has a vital role to play. The arts, sciences, religions, educational institutions, media, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and governments are all called to offer creative leadership. The partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for effective governance.
In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development.
ping to post #34
I checked out the sites of Lugar and K. Harris regarding the Mexican southern border. I hope Harris loses her race in Florida. I wonder if Florida freepers know what a jerk she is?
I wonder who they are going to put on the Mexican border as LEOs. Mexicans will continue taking mordidas. They'll let any one through with the right price.
The Mexicans will not let Canadian nor American LEOs on their soverign southern border because of their culture.
The one worlders forgot culture when planning this and that is the reason they are going after our children.
She is well positioned to help implement Pastor's dream
---
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations
Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
Subcommittee Member Assignments, 109th Congress
Dan Burton, IN, CHAIRMAN
Jerry Weller, IL, VICE CHAIRMAN
Katherine Harris, FL
Connie Mack, FL
Michael McCaul, TX
Ron Paul, TX
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, FL
Christopher H. Smith, NJ
William D. Delahunt, MA
Eliot L. Engel, NY
James A. Leach, IA
Barbara Lee, CA
Gregory W. Meeks, NY
Grace F. Napolitano, CA
Donald M. Payne, NJ
Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, A.S.
The main person I like on this page is Ron Paul,TX.
I have been fooled so many times over the years thinking that I have voted conservative to find out later, this person was a liberal.
I don't think many people know of Katherine Harris' bill to secure the southern Mexico border. Richard Lugar doesn't surprise me but she does.
Berzerkly? : )
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