National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams

<p>The Department of Defense is also in the process of reevaluating its contribution to homeland security in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Of particular concern is the DoD plan for assisting civilian authorities in consequence management - the measures taken to protect public health safety and the environment to restore essential government services and to provide emergency relief to governments businesses and individuals affected by the consequences of terrorism. A significant DoD contribution to the consequence management aspect of homeland security has been the development of the National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction - Civil Support Team (WMD-CST) a new type of unit designed to provide civilian authorities military support in response to WMD attacks involving the use of nuclear biological chemical or radiological (NBCR) weapons. The development of the WMD-CST concept has raised considerable debate over the merits of the new organization. Previous authors argued that the WMD-CST is incapable of providing timely support to local authorities. Others take the criticism of the WMD-CST a step further calling into question the ability of the Department of Defense to provide personnel sufficiently trained to provide meaningful support to civilian first responders. Positive reviews emphasized the WMD-CSTs' ability to respond rapidly to events because of their ability to operate under Title 32 or Title 10 authority. This monograph determines whether the National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team (WMD-CST) is an effective organization for conducting Military Support to Civilian Authorities in response to a WMD attack in the United States. The determination is made by evaluating the actual performance of WMD-CSTs against the required capabilities specified in the original Presidential Decision Directives legislation Federal regulations and Department of Defense initiatives that shaped the national consequence management strateg</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>