Rapid Deployment

Domestic Rapid Deployment Forces
by Joseph Farah, WorldNetDaily.com, 1998

Under the guise of preparedness for domestic terrorist attacks, the U.S. military is training thousands of local police officers, national guardsmen and other officials to respond to national emergencies under centralized federal authority and control, according to plans revealed by Defense Department sources. In addition, U.S. military forces are stepping up training exercises in American civilian population centers, prompting constitutional concerns in some quarters.

The plans for military involvement in the civilian sector are a direct result of the "Defense Again Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 1996," which mandated the federal government to develop response scenarios to domestic terrorist incidents involving nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological weapons. The legislation designated the Department of Defense as the lead agency in coordinating sweeping plans involving the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the FBI, Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services. Representatives of all these agencies meet monthly as the Senior Interagency Coordination Group, or SICG.

The Defense Appropriations Act of 1997 added funding for the Pentagon "to improve the capability of the federal, state and local emergency response agencies." "The United States Army Chemical and Biological Defense Command leads interagency training development and city visits," H. Allen Holmes, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, testified to the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year. "Interagency teams coordinate with fire, police, emergency medical and hazardous material officials and tailor training to city requirements. Additionally, FEMA has developed a terrorism annex to the Federal Response Plan to ensure coordination across all agencies at all levels."

In 1997, the Defense Department spent $30.5 million on the training and civil response aspects of the program, Holmes reported. An additional $10 million was dedicated to improving the U.S. Marine Corps Chemical-Biological Incident Response Force. This year, Congress allocated $50 million for the domestic preparedness program. Another $50 million is appropriated for the program in 1999. The money is for training purposes only. However, the Defense Department is lending equipment to state and local agencies, according to Holmes. The program calls for the National Guard to stand up 10 Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection teams in selected cities across the nation using 200 full-time active guardsmen and reservists. Members of Army Guard and reserve chemical companies will be trained next year to conduct searches for weapons of mass destruction.

The goal of the domestic preparedness program is to train 120 cities by 2001 and to provide mechanism for every community in the nation to "leverage federal expertise," according to the Defense Department. The interagency team has trained more than 10,000 "first responder trainers" - drawn from firefighting, law enforcement, emergency medical communities and emergency telephone operators and dispatchers - in 30 cities, according to Defense Secretary William Cohen. Another 25 cities will receive training in the next year, he said. "Our program is specifically designed so that the people we train become trainers themselves," Cohen said earlier this month in a report to the Council on Foreign Relations titled "Security in a Grave New World." "This approach will greatly magnify our efforts to produce a core of qualified first responders across the nation."

FEMA has compiled a master inventory containing information on the resources and capabilities of each agency involved in the program and what is available to state and local officials in emergency situations. However, the information on that inventory is not available to the public or the press - only to federal and state emergency planners. Undisclosed surplus military equipment is being made available to state and local government agencies through this program. Some civil liberties groups have pointed out that the intense, coordinated rush to "fight terrorism" in America comes at an odd time - given the government's own figures reporting a 25-year low in such attacks and incidents.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers points out, for instance, that the overwhelming majority of law enforcement's record number of applications to eavesdrop on people through electronic surveillance technology involves investigation into drug, racketeering and gambling offenses - not terrorism. There was bipartisan support in Congress for giving the executive branch of government vast new, codified authority to plant wiretaps and electronic bugs and to confiscate property as a result of investigations in this effort to "combat terrorism."

The 1996 law grants the president exclusive, unreviewable powers to designate groups "terrorist organizations." Under such powers, the government could deport suspects - including permanent residents and non-immigrants - based on "classified" or "secret evidence" under the cloak of national security. Another provision of the legislation requires banks to freeze assets of domestic groups and citizens deemed agents of such "terrorist organizations." There is no mechanism established to challenge such decisions by banks.

In a development the Defense Department claims is unrelated to the terrorism plans, more actual combat training is taking place in urban centers. Earlier this month, Marines took part in such a training exercise in Maryland. Last month, a special unit of U.S. Marines with assault rifles conducted maneuvers in Birmingham, AL. These exercises are part of a program called "Training in the Urban Environment. " All of the operations, including the exact timing of the exercises, were kept secret from the public, raising concerns about civil liberties issues. Similar exercises have been conducted recently in Chicago, Jacksonville, FL, and other U.S. cities.

The question on some minds is: Who exactly are the Marines preparing to wage war with in America's urban environments? The training is part of a certification program in "urban combat." The program includes missions, such as rescuing a pilot, which the Marines might be called to perform in foreign countries such as Somalia, military spokesmen say. Marine officials say the urban landscape adds a new dimension to the training the Marines have already received.