IP: Military's secret plans for civilian 'preparedness'

["Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>]

From: believer@telepath.com
Subject: IP: Military's secret plans for civilian 'preparedness'
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1998 10:45:04 -0500
To: believer@telepath.com

Source:  World Net Daily
http://www.WorldNetDaily.com/exclusiv/980928_domestic_rapid_depl.html

ARMED AND DANGEROUS 
Domestic rapid deployment forces 
The military's secret plans for civilian 'preparedness' 

 This report is part of a continuing series by
 WorldNetDaily on the militarization of
 federal government and America's civilian
 sector.

By Joseph Farah 
Copyright 1998, WorldNetDaily.com 

Under the guise of preparedness for domestic terrorist
attacks, the U.S. military is training thousands of local
police officers, national guardsmen and other officials
to respond to national emergencies under centralized
federal authority and control, according to plans
revealed by Defense Department sources. 

In addition, U.S. military forces are stepping up
training exercises in American civilian population
centers, prompting constitutional concerns in some
quarters. 

The plans for military involvement in the civilian sector
are a direct result of the "Defense Against Weapons of
Mass Destruction Act of 1996," which mandated the
federal government to develop response scenarios to
domestic terrorist incidents involving nuclear,
biological, chemical and radiological weapons. The
legislation designated the Department of Defense as
the lead agency in coordinating sweeping plans
involving the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, the FBI, Department of Energy, the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Department
of Health and Human Services. Representatives of all
these agencies meet monthly as the Senior Interagency
Coordination Group, or SICG. 

The Defense Appropriations Act of 1997 added
funding for the Pentagon "to improve the capability of
the federal, state and local emergency response
agencies." 

"The United States Army Chemical and Biological
Defense Command leads interagency training
development and city visits," H. Allen Holmes,
assistant secretary of defense for special operations
and low-intensity conflict, testified to the Strategic
Forces Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services
Committee earlier this year. "Interagency teams
coordinate with fire, police, emergency medical and
hazardous material officials and tailor training to city
requirements. Additionally, FEMA has developed a
terrorism annex to the Federal Response Plan to
ensure coordination across all agencies at all levels." 

In 1997, the Defense Department spent $30.5 million
on the training and civil response aspects of the
program, Holmes reported. An additional $10 million
was dedicated to improving the U.S. Marine Corps
Chemical-Biological Incident Response Force. This
year, Congress allocated $50 million for the domestic
preparedness program. Another $50 million is
appropriated for the program in 1999. 

The money is for training purposes only. However, the
Defense Department is lending equipment to state and
local agencies, according to Holmes. 

The program calls for the National Guard to stand up
10 Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection teams in
selected cities across the nation using 200 full-time
active guardsmen and reservists. Members of Army
Guard and reserve chemical companies will be trained
next year to conduct searches for weapons of mass
destruction. 

The goal of the domestic preparedness program is to
train 120 cities by 2001 and to provide mechanism for
every community in the nation to "leverage federal
expertise," according to the Defense Department. The
interagency team has trained more than 10,000 "first
responder trainers" -- drawn from firefighting, law
enforcement, emergency medical communities and
emergency telephone operators and dispatchers -- in
30 cities, according to Defense Secretary William
Cohen. Another 25 cities will receive training in the
next year, he said. 

"Our program is specifically designed so that the
people we train become trainers themselves," Cohen
said earlier this month in a report to the Council on
Foreign Relations titled "Security in a Grave New
World." "This approach will greatly magnify our efforts
to produce a core of qualified first responders across
the nation." 

FEMA has compiled a master inventory containing
information on the resources and capabilities of each
agency involved in the program and what is available
to state and local officials in emergency situations.
However, the information on that inventory is not
available to the public or the press -- only to federal
and state emergency planners. Undisclosed surplus
military equipment is being made available to state and
local government agencies through this program. 

Some civil liberties groups have pointed out that the
intense, coordinated rush to "fight terrorism" in
America comes at an odd time -- given the
government's own figures reporting a 25-year low in
such attacks and incidents. 

The National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers points out, for instance, that the
overwhelming majority of law enforcement's record
number of applications to eavesdrop on people
through electronic surveillance technology involves
investigation into drug, racketeering and gambling
offenses -- not terrorism. There was bipartisan support
in Congress for giving the executive branch of
government vast new, codified authority to plant
wiretaps and electronic bugs and to confiscate
property as a result of investigations in this effort to
"combat terrorism." 

The 1996 law grants the president exclusive,
unreviewable powers to designate groups "terrorist
organizations." Under such powers, the government
could deport suspects -- including permanent residents
and non-immigrants -- based on "classified" or "secret
evidence" under the cloak of national security. Another
provision of the legislation requires banks to freeze
assets of domestic groups and citizens deemed agents
of such "terrorist organizations." There is no
mechanism established to challenge such decisions by
banks. 

In a development the Defense Department claims is
unrelated to the terrorism plans, more actual combat
training is taking place in urban centers. Earlier this
month, Marines took part in such a training exercise in
Maryland. Last month, a special unit of U.S. Marines
with assault rifles conducted maneuvers in Birmingham,
AL. 

These exercises are part of a program called "Training
in the Urban Environment. " 

All of the operations, including the exact timing of the
exercises, were kept secret from the public, raising
concerns about civil liberties issues. 

Similar exercises have been conducted recently in
Chicago, Jacksonville, FL, and other U.S. cities. The
question on some minds is: Who exactly are the
Marines preparing to wage war with in America's
urban environments? 

The training is part of a certification program in "urban
combat." The program includes missions, such as
rescuing a pilot, which the Marines might be called to
perform in foreign countries such as Somalia, military
spokesmen say. Marine officials say the urban
landscape adds a new dimension to the training the
Marines have already received. 

 � 1998 Western Journalism Center 
-----------------------
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
-----------------------




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