20,000 u.s.troops to be stationed inside the conus by 2011 for homeland security.. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113002217.html?hpid=topnews The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials. The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said. There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military's role in domestic law enforcement.
Isn't this what FEMA is supposed to do? Oh yeah, they demonstrated their incompetence when Katrina hit New Orleans. What about the National Guard? They all got sent overseas. Who's left? The regular military forces, whose training is to destroy the enemy? Sure, that makes sense... if the people of the United States are the enemy...
No FEMA recently came out and admitted its job is emergency "management". not delivering food, suppliesorjustice.
This falls into the same catagory but hasnt been covered at all by the MSM. http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/267361 Tucson Region Major international drill based at D-M to focus on rescue skills, coordination By Carol Ann Alaimo Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.15.2008 To troops downed in combat, few sights are sweeter than the approach of military rescuers. In a few weeks, Tucson will be at the center of efforts to speed up that lifesaving process. Personnel from around the globe will converge at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base from Dec. 1 to Dec. 12 for the largest rescue exercise of its kind. The effort, dubbed Angel Thunder, will involve the U.S. Army and Air Force, troops from Germany, Chile, Colombia and observers from Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Pakistan. Several non-military U.S. agencies such as the State and Justice departments, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office, also will take part in the drills, which aim to smooth interaction between military branches, allied nations and civilian agencies. With about 450 personnel involved, Angel Thunder "is the most complex and largest Department of Defense personnel- recovery exercise to date," said a news release from Air Combat Command in Langley, Va. D-M will be at the hub of the effort, but most of the mock rescue action will take place elsewhere in Arizona and in New Mexico. Tucsonans may notice some unfamiliar aircraft in the skies during the drills, such as Vietnam-era UH-1N Huey helicopters, which will be used to airlift personnel and equipment to and from training. But D-M officials predict minimal impact on city residents because some of the base's normal training will be suspended during the exercises, and the heaviest traffic will be at remote sites. For many of the military participants, the drills will serve as pre-deployment training for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Maj. Brett Hartnett, a D-M rescue pilot and project officer in charge of the event. Some of the practice runs are classified — the Defense Department doesn't want enemies knowing the methods used by military rescuers — so few details are being released, Hartnett said. But a major part of training will center on a mock earthquake in a foreign country near a combat zone — the same scenario that arose in Pakistan a few years back when U.S. combat rescuers in Afghanistan were diverted over the border to aid civilian survivors. Military rescuers often are called upon to save civilians during natural disasters abroad and at home. No matter who needs saving, many basic rescue skills are the same, Hartnett said. Such training is crucial to keeping skills sharp, and ensuring agencies can work together well, Hartnett said. "We need to do what we need to do to bring the kids back home," he said. ● Contact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo at 573-4138 or at calaimo@azstarnet.com.
