Accessing the Reserve Components in Response to Attacks Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction
Abstract
The threat of terrorist attacks against United States (U.S.) interests has become a high-priority national security concern. These threats come from unconventional, asymmetrical, and transnational sources. The objective of these attacks is to inflict the greatest amount of death and destruction for the least investment in materials and manpower. The terrorists employ weapons of mass destruction because of their effectiveness in achieving this end. The US government has enacted legislation to meet this threat and placed the Department of Defense (DoD) at the forefront of these measures. One of DoD's most significant actions was the decision to integrate the Reserve Components (RC) into the domestic response of managing the consequences of attacks involving weapons of mass destruction. Many challenging issues arise related to accessing the Reserve Components for employment in this mission. These issues involve all of the force integration functional areas. This paper investigates structuring, training, and deploying. Also discussed is the fundamental issue of missioning of RC forces for CoM requirements. This paper will explore these issues and present some recommendations for changes in these force integration functional areas. These changes will facilitate the ultimate objective of accessing and employing trained and ready RC forces in this new and vital aspect of military assistance to civilian authorities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 04, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA377636
Entities
People
- Cary T. Threat
Organizations
- United States Army War College