Reading the entire article, the following is very pertinent:
Military preparations for a domestic weapon-of-mass-destruction attack have been underway since at least 1996, when the Marine Corps activated a
350-member chemical and biological incident response force and later based it in Indian Head, Md., a Washington suburb. Such efforts accelerated after
the Sept. 11 attacks, and at the time Iraq was invaded in 2003, a Pentagon joint task force drew on 3,000 civil support personnel across the United
States.
I've worked on projects with the military in the past, and I can tell you, from experience, that projects take a long time to come to fruition.
Funding is always a problem, changes of administration cause many delays, and cancellations, and just prior to major changes, plans are frequently
accelerated. Since 2001 was a change of Presidential Administration, this project was probably in flux, if not on complete hold. Now that it is
certain of a new administration, seemingly, not as "hawkish (at least that was the way the campaign presented themselves-I'm not so sure though),
the Pentagon is probably rushing things through, because they are not so sure that the Obama Administration would go ahead with things as planned.
Note also:
In 2005, a new Pentagon homeland defense strategy emphasized "preparing for multiple, simultaneous mass casualty incidents." National security
threats were not limited to adversaries who seek to grind down U.S. combat forces abroad, McHale said, but also include those who "want to inflict
such brutality on our society that we give up the fight," such as by detonating a nuclear bomb in a U.S. city.
In late 2007, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England signed a directive approving more than $556 million over five years to set up the three response
teams, known as CBRNE Consequence Management Response Forces. Planners assume an incident could lead to thousands of casualties, more than 1 million
evacuees and contamination of as many as 3,000 square miles, about the scope of damage Hurricane Katrina caused in 2005.
In other words, last year more funds were approved for the program, and it is obvious that this is part of that program.
Furthermore:
Last month, McHale said, authorities agreed to begin a $1.8 million pilot project funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through which
civilian authorities in five states could tap military planners to develop disaster response plans. Hawaii, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Washington
and West Virginia will each focus on a particular threat -- pandemic flu, a terrorist attack, hurricane, earthquake and catastrophic chemical release,
respectively -- speeding up federal and state emergency planning begun in 2003.
Note that in addition to terrorism, there are four other scenarios for the pilot program.
Finally:
Last Monday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered defense officials to review whether the military, Guard and reserves can respond adequately
to domestic disasters.
Gates gave commanders 25 days to propose changes and cost estimates. He cited the work of a congressionally chartered commission, which concluded in
January that the Guard and reserve forces are not ready and that they lack equipment and training.
Bert B. Tussing, director of homeland defense and security issues at the U.S. Army War College's Center for Strategic Leadership, said the new
Pentagon approach "breaks the mold" by assigning an active-duty combat brigade to the Northern Command for the first time. Until now, the military
required the command to rely on troops requested from other sources.
"This is a genuine recognition that this [job] isn't something that you want to have a pickup team responsible for," said Tussing, who has assessed
the military's homeland security strategies.
The article was very clear in explaining the use for these troops. Until proven otherwise, this is just cautious planning.
Imagine what the outcry would be, IF a disaster did occur, and we did NOT have a response team to help handle the aftermath.
