> Pentagon Plans New Command For U.S. > Four-Star Officer Would Oversee Homeland Defense > > By Bradley Graham > Washington Post Staff Writer > Sunday, January 27, 2002; Page A01 The Pentagon has decided to ask the > White House for approval to set up a new four-star command to coordinate > federal troops used to defend North America, part of an intensified effort > to bolster homeland security, defense officials said. > The move was prompted by the new domestic security demands placed on the > military after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the Bush administration's > declared war on terrorism. > Although the Pentagon has regional commanders in chief, known as CINCs, who > are responsible for Europe, the Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East > and South Asia, none exists for U.S. forces in the United States and > Canada. The proposed change would give a single four-star officer authority > over such domestic deployments as Air Force jets patrolling above U.S. > cities, Navy ships running coastal checks and Army National Guard troops > policing airports and border crossings. > Before September, military leaders had resisted the idea of a homeland CINC > (pronounced "sink"), reflecting a traditional aversion to -- and legal > limits on -- the use of federal armed forces for domestic law enforcement. > Opposition also existed outside the Pentagon on both the political left and > right, with civil libertarians and right-wing militia groups alike warning > against military forces encroaching on areas traditionally considered the > responsibility of civilian emergency response, law enforcement and health > agencies. > But in recent months, as military air, sea and land patrols pressed into > action by the Pentagon have answered to several four-star commanders, the > Defense Department's top military officers have come to accept the need for > streamlining the chain of command. > Earlier opposition from such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union > has also waned, although concerns persist about possible "mission creep" > and the risk that any military forces deployed around the country could end > up threatening individual rights. > Initially, the military chiefs had argued for assigning the homeland > defense mission to one of two commands already headquartered in the United > States -- either the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in > Colorado, which is responsible for protecting U.S. skies, or the Joint > Forces Command in Virginia, which has been charged with guarding the > maritime approaches to North America and the land defense of the > continental United States. The thinking was that setting up an entirely new > command would entail needless additional bureaucracy and expense. > But Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has settled on creating a new > command rather than loading an existing one with additional > responsibilities, according to four officials in different branches of the > Pentagon familiar with the plan. Currently, the general who heads NORAD > also runs the U.S. Space Command, which oversees the nation's military > satellites and computer networks. The admiral who leads the Joint Forces > Command is in charge of developing new ways the different services can > fight together, and he serves as head of NATO's North Atlantic region. > "All the chiefs and CINCs have seen the plan and have signed on to it, > although it has not yet been briefed to the president," a senior military > officer said yesterday. "Everyone is moving down the track toward realizing > it." > Defense officials also said that the geographic responsibilities of the new > command would likely extend beyond U.S. borders to the rest of North > America. Among other advantages, this would facilitate the transfer of the > air defense mission from NORAD, which is operated jointly with Canada. > "It's not going to be just a homeland defense command," another official > said. "It's going to be a command that has responsibility beyond homeland > defense." > But many of the details for implementing the new command structure have yet > to be worked out, including where it would be located, what it would be > called, who would lead it and exactly which functions it would take from > existing CINCs. > "There's still the hope this new command can be created without a net > increase in headquarters staff across all the CINC-doms," the senior > officer said. > Another official said: "It's going to take time to work out how you go > about moving responsibilities from this or that CINC to this new command. > This particular review will go ahead and establish the command, and then > we'll lay out a series of considerations over the course of the next > several months to make it all happen." > Responsibility for coordinating federal activities in homeland defense > rests with Tom Ridge, who heads the White House's Office of Homeland > Security, which was set up after the Sept. 11 attacks. While the new > Pentagon command would doubtless have links to Ridge's office, it would > formally fall in a separate chain of authority running from the president > through the secretary of defense to those federal troops enlisted in the > homeland effort. > Historically, Pentagon planning for dealing with the consequences of > terrorist attacks has relied heavily on local and regional organizations -- > including the police, firefighters, medics and hazardous-material teams -- > taking the lead. Only as a matter of last resort were federal troops to be > summoned to help. > Even with the increased domestic role thrust on the armed forces in the > aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, senior > defense officials say they would prefer to avoid making federal troops > permanent fixtures at airports and elsewhere. > Pentagon authorities contend that state and local agencies should handle > the bulk of homeland security responsibilities while federal forces stay > focused on trouble spots abroad. > "The problem is concurrency," Army Secretary Thomas E. White said in an > interview last week. "No one has let us out of our obligations in Kosovo, > in Bosnia, in the Sinai, in Korea. The Army is fully deployed in 100 > different countries, supporting our regional commanders in chief. And we > are hard-pressed to do that which the Army is principally organized to do. > So we don't need to volunteer for any other tasks." > White said defense officials are hoping to begin pulling National Guard > troops off security duties at the nation's airports in the next 60 to 90 > days, turning the work over to the new Transportation Security > Administration. > Roughly 6,000 troops are stationed at more than 400 airports across the > country as part of the effort to deter terrorists and reassure the public > about the safety of air travel. > Defense officials are also evaluating whether to scale back the combat air > patrols over Washington, New York and more than two dozen other cities now > that airports and commercial airline companies have instituted stronger > safeguards. > Legal barriers to sending the armed forces into U.S. streets have existed > for more than a century under the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. That law was > prompted by President Ulysses S. Grant's use of federal troops to monitor > the elections in the former Confederate states. The act prohibits military > personnel from searching, seizing or arresting people in the United States. > Some exceptions exist, allowing military forces to suppress insurrections > or domestic unrest or to assist in crimes involving nuclear, biological or > chemical weapons. > Since Sept. 11, several prominent lawmakers -- including Sen. John W. > Warner (R-Va.), the ranking minority member on the Armed Services > Committee, and Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.), another committee member -- have > called for revising the act. But congressional opinion on the matter is > divided, and senior Pentagon officials have expressed little interest in > any fundamental legislative overhaul. > The move to establish a homeland CINC, officials said, is part of a broader > series of geographical and other adjustments being proposed in a number of > regional commands under what the Pentagon calls the Unified Command Plan. > "This does not finish something," a senior official said. "It actually > starts a process of examining how you might" streamline the commands. > Long Live the Republic, Death to the new world order!
