20k Troops to Deploy to .... US

Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security

By Spencer S. Hsu and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, December 1, 2008; A01

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 E. Renuart Jr., commander of the U.S. Northern Command.

If funding continues, two additional teams will join nearly 80 smaller National Guard and reserve units made up of about 6,000 troops in supporting local and state officials nationwide. All would be trained to respond to a domestic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive attack, or CBRNE event, as the military calls it.

Military preparations for a domestic weapon-of-mass-destruction attack have been underway since at least 1996, when the Marine Corps activated a 350-member chemical and biological incident response force and later based it in Indian Head, Md., a Washington suburb. Such efforts accelerated after the Sept. 11 attacks, and at the time Iraq was invaded in 2003, a Pentagon joint task force drew on 3,000 civil support personnel across the United States.

In 2005, a new Pentagon homeland defense strategy emphasized "preparing for multiple, simultaneous mass casualty incidents." National security threats were not limited to adversaries who seek to grind down U.S. combat forces abroad, McHale said, but also include those who "want to inflict such brutality on our society that we give up the fight," such as by detonating a nuclear bomb in a U.S. city.

In late 2007, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England signed a directive approving more than $556 million over five years to set up the three response teams, known as CBRNE Consequence Management Response Forces. Planners assume an incident could lead to thousands of casualties, more than 1 million evacuees and contamination of as many as 3,000 square miles, about the scope of damage Hurricane Katrina caused in 2005.

Last month, McHale said, authorities agreed to begin a $1.8 million pilot project funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through which civilian authorities in five states could tap military planners to develop disaster response plans. Hawaii, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Washington and West Virginia will each focus on a particular threat -- pandemic flu, a terrorist attack, hurricane, earthquake and catastrophic chemical release, respectively -- speeding up federal and state emergency planning begun in 2003.

Last Monday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered defense officials to review whether the military, Guard and reserves can respond adequately to domestic disasters.

Gates gave commanders 25 days to propose changes and cost estimates. He cited the work of a congressionally chartered commission, which concluded in January that the Guard and reserve forces are not ready and that they lack equipment and training.

Bert B. Tussing, director of homeland defense and security issues at the U.S. Army War College's Center for Strategic Leadership, said the new Pentagon approach "breaks the mold" by assigning an active-duty combat brigade to the Northern Command for the first time. Until now, the military required the command to rely on troops requested from other sources.

"This is a genuine recognition that this [job] isn't something that you want to have a pickup team responsible for," said Tussing, who has assessed the military's homeland security strategies.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the libertarian Cato Institute are troubled by what they consider an expansion of executive authority.

Domestic emergency deployment may be "just the first example of a series of expansions in presidential and military authority," or even an increase in domestic surveillance, said Anna Christensen of the ACLU's National Security Project. And Cato Vice President Gene Healy warned of "a creeping militarization" of homeland security.

"There's a notion that whenever there's an important problem, that the thing to do is to call in the boys in green," Healy said, "and that's at odds with our long-standing tradition of being wary of the use of standing armies to keep the peace."

McHale stressed that the response units will be subject to the act, that only 8 percent of their personnel will be responsible for security and that their duties will be to protect the force, not other law enforcement. For decades, the military has assigned larger units to respond to civil disturbances, such as during the Los Angeles riot in 1992.

U.S. forces are already under heavy strain, however. The first reaction force is built around the Army's 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, which returned in April after 15 months in Iraq. The team includes operations, aviation and medical task forces that are to be ready to deploy at home or overseas within 48 hours, with units specializing in chemical decontamination, bomb disposal, emergency care and logistics.

The one-year domestic mission, however, does not replace the brigade's next scheduled combat deployment in 2010. The brigade may get additional time in the United States to rest and regroup, compared with other combat units, but it may also face more training and operational requirements depending on its homeland security assignments.

Renuart said the Pentagon is accounting for the strain of fighting two wars, and the need for troops to spend time with their families. "We want to make sure the parameters are right for Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. The 1st Brigade's soldiers "will have some very aggressive training, but will also be home for much of that."

Although some Pentagon leaders initially expected to build the next two response units around combat teams, they are likely to be drawn mainly from reserves and the National Guard, such as the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade from South Carolina, which returned in May after more than a year in Afghanistan.

Now that Pentagon strategy gives new priority to homeland security and calls for heavier reliance on the Guard and reserves, McHale said, Washington has to figure out how to pay for it.

"It's one thing to decide upon a course of action, and it's something else to make it happen," he said. "It's time to put our money where our mouth is."

December 1, 2008 - 13:11 ET

Pentagon to deploy 20,00 troops inside USA...

GLENN: You know, I was going to talk a little bit about India and Pakistan but I want to change because there's a breaking headline now on Drudge. While the rest of the world is going to pay attention today to Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton and they are going to make this the big story, the big story today, at least for those people that are following the world, should be Pentagon to deploy 20,000 troops inside the U.S. for domestic security.

I told you this story two months ago? Was it two months ago, Joe, when I first found this story. And I said on the air this cannot be true. It can't be true. The only source I could find on that day was in Stars and Stripes and I knew that Stars and Stripes wasn't going to print something about the troops that wasn't true, and I brought that story to you. Now, these guys are being deployed for security for chemical, biological, terrorist activity, natural disaster. But this is what the National Guard is for. The reason why our founding fathers said there would be no standing army is because the federal government has no place in your town. The power to order troops, the power to be able to have people with weapons in your neighborhood must not ever be in the hands of the President or the congress. It must be in the hand of the individual governors. Our founders knew this. 20,000 -- this is a battalion. This is something entirely new.

Now let me ask you this question: Why? They are going to give you all kinds of stories. If anybody really rises up and says anything, if anybody in the media is anything but mindless sheep, they will see exactly what this is but they'll -- I'm sure. I mean, they will go after, you know, they will go after the most ridiculous stories on the planet but when it really comes down to it, they seem to not understand. They seem just to buy the government's excuses on so many things.

When I'm at these book signings, we had a bunch of Constitutions. I bought a bunch of Constitutions from the Constitution Center in Philadelphia and I'm handing them out to anybody who is in the Service and I've signed each one of them and they are little pocket Constitutions and they come up to me. And if they mention the service or I ask people before the book signings, if you are in the Service, introduce yourself. I give them a Constitution and I shake their hand and I look them right straight in the eye and I say, we are counting on you to know this. This is for domestic security. Well, what exactly is domestic security and how many steps does it take before you say domestic security is for martial law? What has to happen? Does anybody see the powder keg that we're sitting on? We are sitting on a powder keg. All that somebody has to do is do something stupid and the place goes up like a match. And I'm telling you our government knows. No one is telling you the truth, but I'm telling you I know what I know, and I know that I know and these people -- I'm not the smartest guy in the bunch. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I'm not some war gamer. I'm not some, you know, somebody who is -- they would never hire me to put puzzles together, for the love of Pete, at a puzzle store and somehow or another I can see all of these pieces come together and no one else can? Bullcrap. They see it and this is why 20,000 troops are being deployed here in the United States of America. Gang, I warn you fascism is coming and it has nothing to do -- listen to me carefully. It has nothing to do with Barack Obama. Remember this has happened under George Bush's watch. I am not a conspiracy nut. I don't believe in the Star Chamber. I don't believe that there are things going on where these dark meetings are happening. I don't believe any of that. People just keep taking steps one after another because we have to do this. Somebody knows that we are sitting on a powder keg in this country. Somebody knows that we better take precautions because this thing, with the economy -- I'm telling you, I am telling you, I hope to God I'm wrong. I hope in twelve months, A, I'm still on the air; and B, that I can come to you -- mark this -- Stu, you have your calendar. Put this in your calendar.

STU: Okay.

GLENN: That I hope I can come to you today and say -- I mean a year from today I want to be able to go on the air and say I was wrong about the economy; it looks exactly the same as it did last year. I hope to God I can say that to you, but I'm telling you alarm bells are going off in me and they are getting louder and louder and louder and I don't think you are going to recognize this country or its economy next year. And when the economy starts to go, people are going to get more and more desperate, more and more hungry, more and more worried, more and more into conspiracy theories. You have something like what happened over in India a year from now and I think even today, this country has a possibility of turning on itself and we must root ourself in the Constitution. And listen to me and please preach this, say this as much as you can to anyone that listens. This is not a Democrat/Republican thing. This is not Barack Obama is the bad guy and George Bush was the savior. George Bush is the guy who started this ball rolling and Barack Obama is going to continue rolling it. This is a Democrat/Republican political parties both taking us down the same damn road. This is both of them. This is not a problem with the Republicans, it is not a problem with the Democrats. It is an American problem, and Americans will need to solve it. Americans are going to have to solve it by standing their ground. Americans are going to have to say "Excuse me?" And you will not be able to do that unless you are -- unless, A, you know what we are, you know who we are, you know what we're founded on, you know what the Constitution says. Gang, eternal repercussions if we lose liberty. Eternal repercussions. It is in our -- this is our watch. You are a watchman on the tower if you see it coming. The blood of everyone who you could have woken up and said "Storm coming" will be on your hands. If you ring the bell, if you say to people "Prepare, find who you are, find out what we are, keep peace in our heart. Please don't tear each other apart. When an event happens, be a peacemaker." If you don't do those things, all those that you could have alerted, their blood, going to be on your hands for eternity. Those people who won't wake up, you did your job. You've got to move on and wake up others. And I know there are a lot of people that are listening right now and saying to me, "Oh, Glenn, you are such a fearmonger. Oh, Glenn, oh, please, the sky is falling, the sky is falling." Let me tell you something. I wish you could stand in line and meet the people that I have met in the last three weeks as I go from city to city and shake their hand in these bookstores and time and time and time and time again people come up to me: "I saved my savings, I saved $10,000, I saved $20,000." One guy told me last night, "I saved $350,000 because of you. I would have lost $350,000, but you know what? I was listening to you and something in my gut said, you know what, you better take that seriously. I did, and I got my money out. While everyone else was saying, oh, no, stay in, oh, no, invest more." You pray on it. Don't take my word for it. You've got to do your own homework, but you must understand the people in the media, they don't get it. The people in the media, they are not looking at the bigger picture.

You know what, for so many people in the media, their agenda is either liberalism or on the other side I believe their agenda is the parties, the Republican party or the Democratic party. And for those that don't have an agenda, it's just a job, man. It's just a job. I'll tell you why I'm in it. Because believe me, I don't want to be in it. I've told you before I'm ready, man. I'm ready to go live in the side of a mountain, you know, and have a farm and raise some cows and, ooof, all the stuff I swore I never wanted to do, I want to do it. I just want to raise my kids and just have a nice life and just lead a normal life. That's what I want to do. I ain't doing it because I know what time we live in. And if you know what time you live in, you've got to do the hard things. And just because of the times we're living in, let me be very clear on what those things are. If you hear any message other than "Be a peacemaker," if you hear any message that leads you in any direction of hatred, you're on the wrong path. It's a new day, gang, and you're about to enter a new world. Yesterday's thoughts I don't believe apply. What you thought your life was going to be like in five years, I really don't believe it applies anymore. That doesn't mean you stop. I'm still planning on all kinds of things for the next few years. I'm still planning on doing these things and that thing. We're working on projects and we're doing everything because you know what? As I said at the beginning, I hope to God that I'm wrong, and with God's grace and with Americans being Americans and Americans really saying, "Okay," without the tragedy, because this tragedy comes, whatever it is, God help us all, it is going to change things in the blink of an eye, if we can just be those September 12th people, before the tragedy. We're going to be fine. We're going to be fine. But we are so fragile right now, and I don't care what they tell you. They ain't preparing for another Hurricane Katrina. The Pentagon is deploying 20,000 troops inside the U.S. for domestic security. I'm sorry, but I'm trying to figure out how that one works exactly, and that's not Barack Obama doing it. That's George Bush doing it. How exactly are we deploying those troops? Are they under the President's power? Because I don't want George Bush or Barack Obama, I don't want Ronald Reagan controlling the troops inside the country. You don't do that, period. The federal government does not deploy troops for domestic security. The governor does it with the National Guard. They answer to the states. You cannot allow them to have that control. If our federal government, God forbid we get our hands on a dictator, God forbid -- and I know people said to me ten years ago, "Oh, Glenn, we'll never..." gang, we're on the eve of it. I'm not saying it's Barack Obama. Hell, it could be Sarah Palin in four years that does it. But I'm telling you we're on the eve of fascism. And if you give these people power now or in the next two weeks, the next four years, the next eight years, I'm telling you, you get the wrong person in there and you get a crisis situation and that person can grab power. And it is what many people have wanted to happen since Mussolini was in office. A benevolent dictator. Because capitalism, this republic doesn't really work. Read the words of some former Presidents including Wilson and FDR that everybody loves so much. Prepare. Prepare your heart and prepare your mind and prepare your children. Know what you know, know who you are and know that it is essential that you're a peacemaker today.