Shoring Up the Homeland Defense: The Joint Medical Task Force and Weapons of Mass Destruction

Abstract

America is no longer safe within her borders. At any time, a determined group of foreign or domestic terrorists will target American citizens and institutions with Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) composed primarily of lethal biological or chemical agents. Presently, many of our nation's military and civilian hospitals are not prepared to respond to WMD threats, as the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) is the only line of medical defense against these threats. A layered defensive strategy must be considered as a back-up capability to address gaps in the "WMD medical defense shield." This capability should be created from our armed forces' reserve medical personnel to form Joint Medical Task Forces (JMTF) to augment USPHS capabilities and to assist local community hospitals in the event of a WMD incident.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 05, 1999
Accession Number
ADA363093

Entities

People

  • Benjamin G. Feril

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Disasters
  • Emergency Response
  • Employment
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Operations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Public Health
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • United States Naval Academy
  • Warfare
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Fields of Study

  • Medicine
  • Political science

Readers

  • Critical Infrastructure Protection in CBRN and WMD Threats.
  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • Strategic Security Studies