Military Support to Civil Authorities

Our nation is doing more to protect its citizens against the growing threat of chemical and biological terrorism. The Department of Defense has formed 27 teams now known as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Civil Support Teams.

The most widespread misconceptions surrounding WMD Civil Support Teams focus on what they are intended to do, under whose authority they will operate, and how and where they will normally function.

The WMD Civil Support Teams were established to deploy rapidly to assist a local commander in determining the nature and extent of an attack or incident; provide expert technical advice on WMD response operations; and help identify and support the arrival of follow-on state and federal military response assets. Each team consists of 22 highly skilled, full-time members of the Army and Air National Guard.

The WMD Civil Support Teams are unique because of their federal-state relationship. They are federally resourced, federally trained and federally evaluated, and they operate under federal doctrine.

But they will perform their mission primarily under the command and control of the governors of the states in whichthey are located. They will be, first and foremost, state assets. Operationally, they fall under the command and control of the adjutants general of those states. As a result, they are available to respond to an incident as part of a state response well before federal response assets would be called upon to provide assistance.

If the situation were to evolve into an event that overwhelmed state and local response assets, the governor could request that the President issue a declaration of national disaster and provide federal assistance. At that point, the team would continue to support local officials in their state status, but would assist in channeling additional military and other federal assets in support of the local commander.

These teams are in no way connected with counter-terrorism activities. They do not have any counter-terrorism capability or mandate. They are involved exclusively in consequence management activities. The WMD Civil Support Teams will link with the consequence managers in their jurisdictions.

If federalized, the Civil Support Teams would fall under the operational command and control of the recently established Joint Task Force-Civil Support, based in Norfolk, VA at US Joint Forces Command, led by a National Guard general.

Although it has no standing forces, the task force will respond to requests for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the purpose of domestic WMD consequence management support. It will have robust planning and command and control capabilities and the ability to mobilize a military task force quickly in support of FEMA requests. It will also have rapid access to military forces and quick reach-back capability to subject matter experts, labs and medical support.

DoD has personnel trained to detect chemical, biological and nuclear hazards and fully trained to operate in hazardous environments. The joint task force will anticipate problems, know where necessary military assets are and be able to get the assets where needed quickly. It has full-time personnel who train and exercise with civil authorities.

Other types of emergencies that could result in military support are:

Civil: Any man-made emergency or threat which causes or may cause substantial property damage or loss of lives or property such as civil disturbances or government sector strikes. The National Guard response efforts to the Los Angeles riots, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the TWA Flight 800 crash are examples of civil response actions.

Natural: Any hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mud-slide, snowstorm, drought, fire, or other catastrophic event not caused by man.

Other: An emergency in any part of the United States, such as the recent terrorist attacks, which requires assistance to supplement local or state efforts to save lives and protect property, preserve public health and safety, or to avert or lessen the threat of a disaster.