98155. Guard, Reserve To Take On New Role

By Paul Stone

American Forces Press Service



	WASHINGTON -- Army Brig. Gen. Roger Schultz is both 

clear and direct when he talks about the potential for 

attacks with weapons of mass destruction: "We don't know 

when and we don't know the place, but we will be attacked."

	Schultz is the deputy for the Director of Military 

Support, a DoD agency that coordinates military assistance 

to states and local governments in times of disaster. As 

such, he is a key player in the program Defense Secretary 

William Cohen recently unveiled to integrate National Guard 

and Reserve forces in responding to attacks with weapons of 

mass destruction.

	Under the program, National Guard and Reserve forces 

will be trained to help states and local governments respond 

to nuclear, biological and chemical attacks against their 

communities.

	Ten Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection elements 

will be trained and equipped beginning in fiscal 1999 to 

respond to a variety of scenarios, including terrorist 

bombings. Each element will have 22 full-time National Guard 

soldiers and airmen capable of deploying to an incident 

within four hours. The teams will be supported by 

reconnaissance and decontamination teams drawn from existing 

reserve component forces.

	In the case of an attack, RAID elements would work with 

federal, state and local authorities to assess conditions, 

detect contaminants and lend technical advice to local 

authorities. They also would facilitate the arrival of DoD 

or other federal agency assets.

	Schultz is both excited and anxious to get the program 

off the ground -- excited because he believes the program 

will help the reserve components achieve greater integration 

with the Total Force; and anxious because he sees a nation 

and citizenry not fully prepared for attacks.

	Integration takes place in several ways, Schultz 

explained. "This is not simply about adding another 

responsibility to Guard and Reserve soldiers and building 

them into a unit," he said. "It's also about exercising with 

state and community 'first responders' and exercising with 

federal government partners around the nation. It's 

integrating the Guard and Reserve into the response 

community's capabilities in such a way we create a habitual 

relationship."

	The plan also fuses Guard and Reserve forces with the 

larger DoD effort. 

	"The task we're going to be training Guard and Reserve 

soldiers and airmen on is related to our warfighting. We're 

not just investing in a domestic response; we're investing 

in a commander in chief's requirement to go to war," Schultz 

said. "If we respond to a domestic incident, that's one 

capability. Responding to a theater outside the continental 

United States is another. They're all DoD capabilities. And 

that's the bonus of this DoD investment."

	The plan blends initiatives from several fronts. 

Presidential Directive 39 directed government agencies to 

begin preparing for terrorist attacks, while the Defense 

Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 1996 required 

immediate action to improve response capabilities at 

federal, state and community levels. Schultz said the plan 

also responds to Cohen's 1997 Defense Reform Initiative 

emphasis on effective and efficient use of resources and his 

Sept. 4, 1997, memo on active and reserve component 

integration.

	Schultz said he hopes the program will help educate the 

American public about its vulnerability to chemical, 

biological and nuclear attack. During the past five years, 

he said, at least 11 states, as well as foreign nations, 

have experienced terrorism. Some of the most widely 

publicized incidents were the 1993 World Trade Center 

bombing in New York, the 1995 chemical attack on a Tokyo 

subway, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal 

Building in Oklahoma City, and the Centennial Park bombing 

in Atlanta at the 1996 Olympics.

	Despite these incidents, Schultz said, he believes 

Americans maintain a false sense of security.

	"We are used to fighting wars in foreign theaters, but 

we're not used to it on our own soil," he said. "So when we 

begin discussing threats in our own country, it's difficult 

for people to think in those terms because they haven't been 

exposed to it."

	What Americans don't always appreciate, he said, is the 

freedoms they enjoy also make them vulnerable to attack, 

especially when combined with current technology and the 

availability of raw materials. With this program, he said, 

Americans may better understand the threat and come to 

appreciate the term "homeland defense."

	"Homeland defense is going to take on quite a different 

meaning for us," Schultz said. "It will include preparing 

for weapons of mass destruction as a minimum. It will 

include not just domestic preparedness, but installation 

preparedness and our ability to protect our power and 

continuity of government. All this comes together in the 

plan in the next few years."

	Schultz said the Guard and Reserve are not ready for 

this new responsibility today, but will be in a few years. 

Calling the new mission a natural extension of the role the 

Guard and Reserve now play in responding to disasters such 

as floods, hurricanes and blizzards, he said what's missing 

is the proper training and equipment.

	That situation will turn around in the next few years, 

he said, pointing to the president's fiscal 1999 budget 

request for $49.2 million for personnel costs, patient 

decontamination and reconnaissance training, medical 

training for operating in contaminated areas, and for 

establishing a Consequence Management Program Integration 

Office.

	Funds will also pay for training exercises with 

federal, state and local disaster response teams and to 

upgrade simulation systems for tabletop exercises. 

	"This is a totally integrated effort," Schultz 

emphasized. "It took a lot of study. We've identified the 

needs, and the major initiatives are in place. Now it's time 

to move on with the plan, and that's what we're doing."









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