The Military Response to Pandemic: The New Global Threat

Abstract

The more we develop, the more people gather in enormous urban conglomerates, the more we become intertwined in a complex society characterized by large availability of means of transportation, and the more the disruptive effects of a global plague stemming from an unknown infection will be. It is necessary to address this new type of menace in order to know the enemy we face, and once known, find feasible, acceptable, and suitable course of actions to defeat it or, at least, minimize the undesirable effects to our complex society. To fight this kind of war is not only the duty of a few researchers or doctors. The Army, as the ultimate bulwark between order and chaos when a threat becomes disruptive for the entire society, has a big role to play in order to assure order, deliver goods and medicines, control the stream of infected people, and maintain open vital communication`s routes. The threat of pandemic does not find place in the The Spectrum of Conflict, and requires new tasks to be accomplished by the Armed Forces. This paper has been developed to address this kind of problem.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 28, 2009
Accession Number
ADA494293

Entities

People

  • Pietro Tornabene

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Climate Change
  • Education
  • Health Services
  • Human Population
  • Hygiene
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Law
  • Microorganisms
  • Minority Groups
  • New York
  • Public Health
  • Quarantine
  • Sars
  • Training
  • United States
  • Viruses
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Economics
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design