The Role of the National Guard in Responding to Weapons of Mass Destruction Attacks in the U.S.

<p>The potential for terrorists' use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threatens Americans every day. To many nations and groups their only means to counter the United States (U.S.) is with nuclear biological or chemical weapons. According to most experts terrorists' use of WMD is no longer a question of if they will be used but when. When domestic capabilities were found to be lacking in this regard Congress enacted legislation Public Law 104-201 and named the National Guard as the primary responder to domestic WMD events. It is evident gaps and shortfalls remain in the National Guard`s (NG) ability to respond to domestic WMD attacks. The purpose of this paper is to examine the critical gaps and shortfalls encountered by the CSTs since their activation. This is done by investigating any available materials concerning the NG involvement in the program identifying the critical gaps and shortfalls encountered by the CSTs and to coming up with recommendations to correct them.</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>