Homeland Security and Homeland Defense: America’s New Paradigm
The United States Constitution divides authority over the military between the President, in his role as Commander in Chief,1 and the Congress, which has the authority to “raise and support Armies ... provide and maintain a navy.. . and make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval forces.”2 After the devastating terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush reaffirmed that “The United States government has no more important mission than protecting the homeland from future attacks.”3 The National Strategy for Homeland Security outlines the policy of the United States to achieve this goal.4 It defines homeland security as “a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur.”5 Further evidence of the U.S. Government’s commitment to this mission can be found in statements made by senior Department of Defense (DOD) leadership: “Protecting the United States homeland from attack is the highest priority of the Department of Defense.”6 DOD has developed a homeland “defense-in-depth” strategy for covering all defense domains.7 A key element of this strategy is addressing threats at the earliest possible opportunity and as far away from our domestic shores as possible. The strategy acknowledges there will be times and instances when military forces will be employed domestically. These instances can be broken down into three broad categories of employment.
Current Obstacles to Fully Preparing Title 10 Forces for Homeland Defense and Civil Support
Abstract : The National Strategy for Homeland Security, The National Military Strategic Plan for the War of Terrorism, the Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support, numerous CONPLANS and DOD instructions, all reference the use of Title 10 forces INCONUS. However current law creates many obstacles to ensuring our active forces are fully prepared. During a crisis, the President and Secretary of Defense could authorize use of Title 10 forces. However, this "just in time" approach does not allow for the units assigned the opportunity to be fully trained to respond. I suggest that changes in law and policy are required to support the training needed to ensure our active forces are adequately prepared to defend against asymmetric threats in the US. In this paper, I will discuss the definitions and legal authority of Homeland Defense and Civil Support then explore the history and precedence of assigning forces to missions on U.S. soil. Also explored are the military forces available to respond to include National Guard, Coast Guard and Active Duty forces. I will review several case studies of where the military has been used INCONUS as well as look at plans and scenarios that may require the use of Title 10 in the future. Finally, I will provide recommendations that might be considered. We constantly prepare to fight the last war. We are now in a war unlike any we have fought, we must let go of the last war, embrace this one and make the changes needed militarily, politically and legally. No longer is our threat another state's military power on distant shores. It is against criminals that we call terrorists here at home. Criminals are normally fought within the law of our great nation but when the law prevents bringing the full force of our nation's capabilities against the enemy in this war, the law should be changed.
American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People
This is a story of rumour, charity, vengeance, and restraint. "American Insurgents, American Patriots" reminds us that revolutions are violent events. They provoke passion and rage, a willingness to use violence to achieve political ends, a deep sense of betrayal, and a strong religious conviction that God expects an oppressed people to defend their rights. The American Revolution was no exception. A few celebrated figures in the Continental Congress do not make for a revolution. It requires tens of thousands of ordinary men and women willing to sacrifice, kill, and be killed. Breen not only tells the history of these ordinary Americans but, drawing upon a wealth of rarely seen documents, restores their primacy to America's road to independence. Mobilizing two years before the Declaration of Independence, American insurgents in all thirteen colonies concluded that resistance to British oppression required organized violence against the state. They channeled popular rage through elected committees of safety and observation, which before 1776 were the heart of American resistance. "American Insurgents, American Patriots" is the stunning account of their insurgency, without which there would have been no independent republic as we know it.