A US Approach to Combating Domestic Terrorism

MAJ Jeffrey D. Allen
Commander
4th WMD-CST

          Atlanta , Georgia. Probably one of the more unsettling discoveries in U.S. defense was made official in January 1998 in the Department of Defense (DoD) Plan: Integrating National Guard and Reserve Components Support for Response to Attacks Using Weapons of Mass Destruction. The conclusion of this study was that National Guard/Reserve were not prepared to handle DoD requests in support of the Federal Response Plan in the event of a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) incident within our own borders. While having the most lethal, efficient, and decisive military power, we were unprepared for the battlefield of choice for the 21st century terrorist, that battlefield being the streets, cities, and waterways of the United States . This report both show-cased our shortcomings and developed a viable and comprehensive solution to the gap in response capabilities for a WMD attack on American soil. This analysis, along with the proposed solution, has created, equipped, and evolved into what is now commonly known as a Weapon of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team (WMD-CST).

          Originally chartered at the RAID (Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection) elements, the formation of these teams were the product of an ad-hoc committee formed under the direction of the Deputy Secretary of Defense. The initial product of this committee, known as the “Tiger Team”, laid the foundation for what has evolved into 32 teams of highly trained WMD response professionals, with a time-phased plan for 23 additional teams. Upon funding, equipping, training and DoD certification of the final 23 teams, the Tiger Team concept to have a DoD sponsored WMD response asset in each U.S. state will have been fulfilled. With the exception of several name changes and upgrades in equipment to maximize new technologies, the role, organization, and primary mission of the National Guard's WMD-CST, has remained constant. The original mission for the WMD teams remains constant and that is to provide immediate response which will help save lives, prevent human suffering, and mitigate property damage.

          Given that there were a number of highly knowledgeable and capable response organizations within the DoD structure that were already well versed in the detection and mitigation of WMD materials, it may have surprised some that this responsibility was to be placed in the hands of the National Guard. However the ability to support rapid response to an immediate crisis within the U.S. , was geographically not feasible for the ‘active duty' branches of Army, Navy and Air Force. Planners now focused on the principle of a State response under the control of the State governor with federal funding, also known as Title 32 USC. This maintained consistency with the organization of the National Guard for response to State emergencies just as with civil disturbances, and a wide number of natural disasters as the National Guard has done for decades. This plan, by design, allows for a rapid response of military assets without invoking an adverse public reaction which could result from deployment of federal troops internally within the US .

          The basic personnel structure of the WMD-CST has remained constant with the original design. The teams were organized to fall in line with the incident command system (ICS) used by all emergency first responders for command and control at an incident site. This allows for a seamless integration of National Guard assets into the in-place command structure prior to arrival of the WMD team. The team is composed of 22 full-time (Title 32) Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) personnel from both Army and Air National Guard. The team is divided into six operational sections which include; Command, Operations, Medical, Survey, Communications, and Administration/Logistics. The teams can be deployed as a whole or in sections, dependent upon the needs of the requesting civilian authority. The basic premise for deployment of a CST revolves around the situation of local incident commanders depleting or expecting to deplete their resources or not having the resources to manage a suspected WMD incident. As the CSTs are aligned with current state MSCA (Military Support to Civil Authorities) doctrine, the request for assistance can funnel through local to State emergency management channels which would then be validated and given as a mission assignment to the National Guard. Due to the close working relationship initiated by CST commanders to integrate their assets into the Emergency Response community, deployments are often initiated by a direct call from the incident site to the CST commander. Although each mission must have higher headquarters concurrence before the unit can deploy, this first hand pre-deployment communication saves countless minutes in response time.

          To understand the assets a CST can bring to an incident site, a breakdown of each specialized section's capabilities will serve to provide a picture of how a typical CST is used. Although each unit in every state is authorized the same personnel, there will be variations in individual functions from team to team, based on that CST commander's vision and the personal strengths of his soldiers and airmen. The Command element of the team is made up a Lieutenant Colonel Commander and his Deputy Commander, a Major. These two personnel provide the conduit between the team, higher headquarters, and the first responder community. The CST command section ensures their teams' technically and tactically proficiency by training and rehearsing to respond to any unknown situation. Through a series of command directed no-notice alerts and assemblies followed by integrated exercises with local, state, and federal response agencies; CST commanders ensure that their teams are responsive to the needs of their communities. Commanders are responsible for informing the first response community of the capability that exists within the CST. During a WMD response, the command section would link up with their counterpart from the civilian response agency at the established incident command post. From there, all requests for assistance from the local incident commander would be taken and assigned directly from the CST commander to his personnel on the incident site.

          The operations section for the WMD-CST is composed of one officer and three non-commissioned officers (NCOs) and is designed to synchronize all events of the unit to include individual and unit training, travel, and exercise coordination. In garrison, the operations section resolves scheduling conflicts, ensures team members are qualified for their military position and are certified to perform duties required by that position. All operations section members are certified air load planners and maintain pre-planned air deployment paperwork for every type rotary or fixed wing asset within the Department of Defense inventory. The section maintains hazardous materials qualification files on each member available for inspection at any given moment. Unit equipment status is tracked in the operations center so that the CST commander knows what tools are available when requested. On an incident site, the operations section directs and tracks all actions as approved by the commander. All movements taken by CST personnel are logged onto an ICS standard form and printed for the local incident commander's records before the CST leaves the site. In addition, an incident action plan and site safety plan is prepared and approved by the incident commander before an entry team enters any suspected contaminated area. The operations section brings with it the ability to provide hazard prediction models to be used by the incident commander in making a decision as to whether or not the evacuation of the civilian populated is required. This hazard modeling asset is augmented by a mobile weather station which allows for real-time wind and weather data, providing a more accurate depiction of how a particular chemical, biological or even radiological agent will behave. Before closing an incident site out, the operations section collects and submits a supplies expended list for immediate re-stocking from our logistics support center. Within 24 hours of redeployment, the CST is fully stocked to pre-incident levels.

          As foreseen in the DoD plan, the Survey section would be the backbone of the CST concept and the majority of the requests for assistance would be specifically for the down-range collection and identification capabilities that this section possesses. Made up of eight personnel specialized in NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) agent threat, detection, and sampling, the survey team provides a highly professional WMD response resource to augment their civilian Hazardous Materials responder counterparts. All survey team members are qualified by military specialty as NBC specialists, while each one is trained to the hazardous materials specialist level as prescribed by OSHA for response to and mitigation of a hazardous materials incident. Team members have all performed personal protective equipment and detection equipment validation in live agent and toxic agent environments. Team members have also tested their equipment and skills on remote radioactive sites. Due to the intense demand upon survey team members, many CST commanders have made efforts to cross train all other section members to step in a fill the role of a survey team member if the situation dictates. As with most team members, this section is trained and prepared to deploy via fixed or rotary wing aircraft with an insertion on land or sea on the deck of a sea going vessel. The training intensity and realism under which the survey section trains provides an incident commander with an asset that has total confidence and unmatched proficiency in the timely detection and identification of a suspected WMD material. Through integrated training with law enforcement and confirmatory laboratories, team members adhere to strict sampling protocols that will support the requirements for both the analytical and judicial processes involved in the confirmation and criminal prosecution that would be a critical piece of a WMD attack scenario.

          The medical section of the CST provides what is arguably the most responsive analytical capability in the nation. Comprised of four team members, each with a specialized function, this section provides medical integration into the ICS, on-scene analytical capability, medical treatment advice for WMD casualties, as well as the immediate care of team members. This section deploys with a wide range of analytical equipment that has the ability to process and provide preliminary results for chemical and biological WMD agents as well as toxic industrial chemicals. Through the use of a Mobile Analytical Laboratory System (MALS), the Nuclear Medical Science Officer can prepare samples in a bio-safety level 3 glove box and run these samples through a series of tests to include hand held Bio-Assay detection tickets to detect the presence of eight different biological WMD agents. This test is followed by a run through a PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) also looking for the presence of biological agents. On the chemical side, in addition to the preliminary testing conducted by the down-range survey section, the medical team offers a more thorough analysis of samples. The MALS operators prepare the sample, whether it be liquid, soil, or vapor, for analysis in the HAPSITE which is a mobile gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer capable of identifying 17 military significant WMD chemical agents in addition to the growing number of toxic industrial chemicals. Operators maintain a chain of custody log for further processing of samples and transfer of samples to other entities, are it law enforcement or a confirmatory lab. On an incident site, the medical section links up with on-scene EMS assets and relays treatment and transport information specific to the suspected agent. Next to the survey element, the MALS and its medical section operators are one of the most requested assets that the CST has in its WMD toolbox.

          The ability to communicate is paramount to mission success and nowhere does that stand out more than in the WMD-CST arena. With the ability to provide a mobile means of secure communications, the CST communications team and their UCS (Unified Command Suite) can deploy in the same time frame as the down-range survey team members and can have satellite communications established within five minutes and secure capability up and running only minutes later. This two person element provides an incident commander with a platform for transmission of secure communications, voice and/or data, and provides the hub for linking the down-range team members by voice to the CST command as well as external WMD assets. Whether being tasked to establish a local area network or call in aviation assets, the CST communications team makes it happen. If a rapid rotary wing deployment is the order, the communication team dismounts their vital assets into a back-pack and continues the mission, still being able to provide a secure satellite communications link to higher headquarters and other responder agencies.

          The logistics and administrative section, comprised of two highly qualified Non- Commissioned officers, keeps the unit day to day activities functioning. In their garrison roles, these two soldiers maintain unit readiness through ensuring all military personnel requirements are met and that the entire team has the necessary equipment in working order to complete their mission. They are responsible for purchasing, distributing, calibrating, and replacing mission essential equipment, to include all detection equipment and protective ensembles. Although each section performs daily routine maintenance on their gear, the logistics NCO ensures the timely calibration of much of the detection equipment, which is performed at a higher level of maintenance support facility. The administrative NCO also ensures that all soldiers and airmen have complete medical coverage for themselves and their families and that wills, powers of attorney, and other legal matters are in order. This NCO is the overseer of all personnel actions to include promotions, hiring, pay matters, and professional military education requirements. In addition to their primary role, these individuals are cross-trained in WMD response tasks and serve dual roles in either the Survey section or as decontamination team members during an incident response.