Someone Posted this in another thread I thought It was VERY intresting.
Domestic military of 20,000 planned by 2011
By Spencer S. Hsu and Ann Scott Tyson
The Washington Post
Posted: 12/01/2008 12:30:00 AM MST
Updated: 12/01/2008 12:34:27 AM MST
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials
respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.
The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of
prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.
There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil-liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis
threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in
domestic law enforcement.
But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the
greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response — a nearly sevenfold increase in five years —
"would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last
month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But the realization that civilian authorities may be overwhelmed in a catastrophe
prompted "a fundamental change in military culture," he said.
The Pentagon's plan calls for three rapid-reaction forces to be ready for emergency response by September 2011. The first 4,700-person unit, built
around an active-duty combat brigade based at Fort Stewart, Ga., was available as of Oct. 1, said Gen. Victor Renuart, commander of the U.S. Northern
Command.
Read more: Domestic military of 20,000 planned by 2011 - The Denver Post
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Domestic military of 20,000 planned by 2011
By Spencer S. Hsu and Ann Scott Tyson
The Washington Post
Posted: 12/01/2008 12:30:00 AM MST
Updated: 12/01/2008 12:34:27 AM MST
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials
respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials.
The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of
prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said.
There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil-liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis
threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in
domestic law enforcement.
But the Bush administration and some in Congress have pushed for a heightened homeland military role since the middle of this decade, saying the
greatest domestic threat is terrorists exploiting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dedicating 20,000 troops to domestic response — a nearly sevenfold increase in five years —
"would have been extraordinary to the point of unbelievable," Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said in remarks last
month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But the realization that civilian authorities may be overwhelmed in a catastrophe
prompted "a fundamental change in military culture," he said.
The Pentagon's plan calls for three rapid-reaction forces to be ready for emergency response by September 2011. The first 4,700-person unit, built
around an active-duty combat brigade based at Fort Stewart, Ga., was available as of Oct. 1, said Gen. Victor Renuart, commander of the U.S. Northern
Command.
Read more: Domestic military of 20,000 planned by 2011 - The Denver Post
www.denverpost.com...
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content:
www.denverpost.com...