20,000 Uniformed Troops Inside U.S. By 2011 – Bolster Domestic Security
December 1, 2008 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
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.
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7 years after 9/11 and now we want to deploy troops for homeland? Troops should have been deployed to our homeland IMMEDIATELY AFTER 9/11. Think about what could have happened in these 7 years, but thank the GOOD LORD ABOVE WE HAVE BEEN SAFE and any potential attacks thwarted- WHEW! The financial situation our country is in we need these troops deployed NOW before these “demons” can take advantage of situation, which is what they may want.
Not DEPLOYING troops to the homeland…simply BACK HOME (CONUS for those who get the reference) and trained up, ready to respond to assist local terrorism response officials…those same local terrorism response officials that have been on-duty, trained, equipped, and working these last “7 years” (as GEM put it). And I’ll catch this one for the “Good Lord” and say YOU’RE WELCOME, I’M GLAD THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SAFE! Yes, there have been many WMD-related incidents, and yes you have highly skilled professionals on-duty 24/7/365 to handle each and every one. We welcome the addition of more WMD-trained U.S. Military personnel. I can only hope that my personal experience with them will be as enriching and rewarding as my experience with the WMD-CST has been! (oh, and we’re not the ones in the cars with the cages – we’re the ones in the red trucks, specifically the ones that say “HAZ-MAT Team” on the side!)
Thank u Rob! Ur experience appreciated. God bless
I have to admit I have very mixed feelings about this. I just don’t think that deploying federal troops on our home soil under whatever umbrella the goverment deems necessary is at all a good idea. Our State National Guard troops are stretched into deployments, were that not the case, wouldn’t each state have enough resources to deploy these units in event of a catastrophe? Oh, I forget the NG troops can’t get the training for these missions, but we damn sure can deploy them into combat zones. Personally I think we should all be on our guard, if things get worse here what happens when the 20,000 Combat Brigade Troops can’t handle it?…A well planned and executed multi-site targeted NCB attack will rendure both FEMA, Homeland Security, and theses rapid deployment troops for the most part useless. Imagine the chaos of Katrina in 5 to 10 metropolitan areas, and the picture you will see would not be pretty. Seems to me we have alot of folks out of work that could be placed into
Civilian Irregular Defense Forces, and trained by the military to perform these missions in their own states. I’m not wishing or hoping for the worst case scenario, good Lord a’willin’ we’ll get through this. I just think somewhere, a few folks that signed that precious piece of paper we call the Constitution of the United States of America, are rolling in their graves about now.
ohh I almost forgot… god bless! wew
Ref entries by Rob and Gil, both have darn good information. The thing we must keep in mind is the good ol’ Posse Comitatus Act of 1878….something that must be taken into consideration.
God Bless America and ALL Americans where ever they may be!
Guys this is what are national guard is for.
Yes they are talking about depolying US troops here but a few years back before 9/11 we had Marines training in the San Fran Bay Area in about 2000 anyway their was alot of people asking why they were training on city streets and not in the field like years past the answer came with Iraq. This is just the begaining of the way things are to come. Like the artcle said we are starting to train our troops for something in the near future this is just the begaining of the end of the amercain way of life. I was saw a program on TV that said in a clip of police officers being trained that if a person starts talking about his rights of free spreech and so on that they should look at that person as a terrorist and if that person starts talking about his beleive in God thenthat person should be also thought as a terrorist an this was a training video for the police i’m sure you may find it on line somewhere but can you see what i’m saying times are changing for the worst. Some please try to understand what is happening around you ask those question that no will ask and for god sake be ready because it could be the person living next to you. Change is coming and it’s not for the good or the wea of heart.
20K troops, BlackWater companies, FEMA. Remember they can all (and will be) be turned on us.
The Die is Cast
Looks like us military vets are going to have to ban together. Once military always military. There are millions of us out there. We don’t need training. Once you are trained you don’t forget. We have to keep this country FREE. GOD BLESS AMERICA !!!!!!!!