Who's In Charge: Command and Control of Military Forces During Domestic Emergencies

Abstract

This paper discusses the issues of bifurcated command and control structures and demonstrate that command and control of military forces responding in support of a state during a natural or manmade disaster should be retained by the Governor of each state and executed through the authority of the state's National Guard forces. Governors through their National Guard should gain operational or tactical control .of -federal forces deployed in support of civil authorities. The National Guard will be the first military force to respond to a domestic incident and federal military forces will only be dispatched in response to a Governor's request for additional support. The Governor, as the chief executive of a state should be allowed to receive operational or tactical control of federal military forces deployed in support of civil authorities. Allowing a governor operational or tactical control through the resources of his National Guard creates better unity of effort and unity of command.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 26, 2011
Accession Number
ADA600678

Entities

People

  • Michael J. Grzybowski

Organizations

  • Marine Corps University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Counter WMD

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Command And Control
  • Congress
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Disasters
  • Emergency Response
  • Homeland Security
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Law
  • Military History
  • National Governments
  • National Guard
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • United States Northern Command
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control