Retired Marine Maj. Gen. Says Plans "Couldn't Move a Girl Scout Unit"
By Kristin Roberts
WASHINGTON
The Pentagon is not prepared to respond to a catastrophic chemical, biological or nuclear attack within the United States, placing Americans at risk, an independent panel reported to Congress on Thursday.
While the Defense Department conducts exhaustive planning for operations overseas, its planning for possible action inside the United States in response to attacks is inadequate, said the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves.
"We looked at their plans. They're totally unacceptable," said commission chairman Arnold Punaro, a retired Marine Corps major general.
"You couldn't move a Girl Scout unit with the kind of planning they're doing," Punaro said of plans drafted by U.S. Northern Command, the part of the military responsible for homeland defense.
While other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, are responsible for pieces of the government's response to an attack, the Defense Department is the only agency with the resources and capabilities to manage the overall response, the commission argued.
The National Guard and Reserve should be ordered to lead the Defense Department's activities in that arena because those part-time troops live throughout the United States and often have skills needed in an emergency, the panel said.
But the military has not dedicated sufficient time or resources to prepare for such a role, despite the creation of Northern Command after the September 11, 2001, attacks, according to the commission, created by Congress to study the best use of reserve forces.
That is partly because of historical tension between the federal government and states, the commission said. Defense officials also say the military sees its role in domestic emergencies in large part as supporting civilian agencies.
Officials at Northern Command would not discuss the commission's report, saying the Pentagon would first review the panel's nearly 100 recommendations.
ROLE OF RESERVES
The National Guard and Reserve have a dual mandate to fight overseas and serve in domestic defense roles. State governors command Guard forces during peacetime and can call the Guard into action during local emergencies. The president can activate the Guard for federal missions, like the Iraq war.
During the Cold War, they were seen as a "strategic reserve," ready to quickly boost the size of the active-duty military for a major war with the Soviet Union.
But since the 1990s, the Guard and Reserve have been used more regularly in combat. The availability of those forces, for example, has allowed Washington to conduct the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without a draft, the commission said.
Repeated deployments to those wars strained reserve troops, their equipment and their families, and led the commission to call on the Pentagon and Congress to overhaul the forces' mission, management and training.
Some of the commission's recommendations are controversial and likely to meet opposition in the Defense Department.
For example, the commission said state governors should be granted authority to direct all military forces within their state to clarify lines of authority during an emergency. The U.S. military has previously rejected such proposals.
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