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MISSOURI DIVISION |
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEPTEMBER 2000 POST EARTHQUAKE HIGHWAY RESPONSE AND RECOVERY SEMINAR HELD IN ST. LOUIS MISSOURI
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ASSISTANCE BY ROBERT A. FITTON
MR. MUSSER: Bobby, Janet, David, we thank you for your time. I would like to introduce our next speaker, Colonel Robert Fitton. Colonel Fitton is the chief military support division director of military support for the United States Army. He has been a battalion commander in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fort Dix, New Jersey, and in Berlin. Colonel Fitton received his bachelor of arts from the United States Military Academy and a masters of arts in social psychology/adult education from the University of North Carolina. He has had several military leadership and doctrine development articles published in leading publications.
COL. FITTON: I'm with the Director of Military Support. Our responsibility is to provide military support to civil authorities in times of domestic disasters and emergencies. What we do is called military support for civil authorities or MSCA. It is a key aspect of our national policy. It goes from the national security strategy signed off by the president down through the national military strategy that is signed off by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense. Our primary mission is national security and to fight wars and when called upon, we provide support to the nation during disaster emergencies.
We follow the decision of the leadership of the civilian members of the Department of Defense. The three key decision makers that we depend upon for decisions when DOD is requested to provide support are the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Cohen, the Undersecretary of Defense, Rudy de Leon, and Secretary of the Army, Lewis Caldera.
Whenever DOD is called upon and requested to provide military support to civilian authorities,there is a series of processes we go through prior to arriving at one of the civilian locations in making that decision.
There are five key principles on how we look at things. First of all, we insure we maintain the public trust and accountability as DOD and military forces. We're always in a support role. DOD is never in the lead but always in a support role. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is the lead federal agency we generally provide support to.
DOD contributes things that make a difference in times of a disaster. Generally that's transportation, logistics and the ability to move large numbers of troops and supplies very quickly to the disaster scene to stabilize things.
We are prohibited by legislation to stockpile supplies for domestic disasters. We can only bring to a disaster those supplies and equipment we already have available for conducting our national security mission.
The last item is a key element. DOD has the authority necessary to provide support based upon the request from civil authorities. The Secretary of Defense has given the Secretary of the Army the authority to make decisions for most military support to civil authority situations. The Secretary of the Army has the ability to task all the DOD organizations including the reserve components to provide the support requested.
There are a couple key aspects on this. The first is time. My boss, the Director of Military Support, Brigadier General Mike Maples has a very short decision tree up. The request moves quickly up to the secretary of the army and then the secretary of defense. This is one process that doesn´t have the traditional military hierarchy.
Another key aspect is the fact that he is supported by a series of deputy DOMS, Deputy Directors of Military Support. They represent all the other services that include the Marine Corps and the Coast Guard. Also, the army deputy DOMS has a national role. Our organizational integration and linkages can make things happen very quickly by virtue of this structure and our reporting chain.
We have the all hazards approach. I not only support the provision of military support that civil authorities request but also special events such as the 2002 Olympics and the upcoming inauguration.
As part of our all hazards approach, we also cover weapons of mass destruction operations. We are the ones responsible for developing and managing the weapons of mass destruction frame has been or will be provided to 120 cities. The establishment and development of the weapons of mass destruction civil support teams began in 1997. It has been established in ten states and another 16 states will be on board by the end of fiscal year for a total of 27 teams across the nation.
In order for us to act on behalf of the Department of Defense and any civil authorities, we have to be integrated and linked with a number of different agencies at the military, federal, the state and local levels. We do this on a day-to-day basis so we know and interact with a number of these different institutions such as the American Red Cross and FEMA. In order to be effective, we have to know them and they have to know us. So when we get the call, we can move things very, very quickly.
Our area of responsibility covers the 50 States plus the possessions and territories. What that translates to in military terms is three different geographical command centers. The joint forces command has the continental United States and District of Columbia. The U.S. Southern command has the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico; the U.S. Pacific command has the two states and possessions and territories out in the Pacific Rim. So on a day-to-day basis, we have domestic responsibility across a fairly wide span of this globe.
Under the all hazards approach, we have the responsibility to provide DOD support in any number of different emergencies. Our support can vary from just one or two soldiers or one or two DOD civilians providing some support or technical assistance to a vast number of troops. For example, our on-going fire fighting efforts out west peaked at about 5,500 DOD personnel. For Hurricane George a couple years ago, that number peaked at about 13,000.
There are several standing missions for active military support that the Secretary of the Army is charged with to maintain the capability to provide responses to on a moment's notice. We have agreements with other federal agencies or operations plans that allow us to execute things on a moment's notice.
For domestic disaster relief such as earthquakes, we would follow the Federal Response Plan. For our civil disturbance operation covers fighting fires in the United States. The Secretary of the Army is periodically called upon to do special non-recurring missions such as the presidential inaugurations or the Olympic events. It looks like we might be getting a request to provide support for the World War II Memorial dedication.
Military support has to be done under the appropriate authority. The most frequent ones are the Stafford Act and Economy Act. The Stafford Act authorizes the President to make a disaster declaration that involves FEMA personnel. The Economy Act says that if one federal agency wants support from another, they've got to pay for it. Public Law 84-99 is separate legislation for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to respond to disasters. This operation doesn't come through my shop but we become aware of it. I do have a couple of Corps of Engineer individuals who now operate in my operation center. This allows us to share information on a moment's notice.
Tiered disaster response. Domestic responsibility traditionally rests with local responders. When it exceeds their capabilities, it goes up to the state. When a state's capabilities are overwhelmed, the governor can request the president's disaster declaration. This activates FEMA and triggers the Federal Response Plan.
In lieu of a request from the Governor, DOD does have a provision that allows installation commanders to provide support based upon a request from a local civilian official such as a mayor. This can be done if the mayor feels such support will save lives, mitigate great property damage, and prevent undue-human suffering. The installation commander reports any support given up the chain of command. So it is reported to the senior leadership within the Department of Defense so they are aware of any support given in the nation at any one time.
The Federal Response Plan, again, you've got your support functions, FEMA we just talked about, you've got the responsible agencies the only one DOD has responsibility, or primary responsibility for is public works and engineering which the Corps of Engineers have. DOMS within DOD has two primary functions although we interact on all these as part of the practical process.
For military response, I´m referring to situations exceeding the local capabilities that elevate to the State level. The State can include the National Guard under its command and control. So there are assets out there and readily available as needed on a day-to-day basis. Basically it's an issue of who pays.
We heard about EMAC already. In a major disaster when FEMA headquarters dispatches the emergency support team, we move in National Guard individuals to meet the EMAC representatives as part of the FEMA task. They use EMAC to get the flow of assets across state lines to provide support.
In terms of my shop, we receive a written request through the DOMS (Directors of Military Support). It could come in through what is called OSD executive or the Secretary from FEMA. AS a matter of course, it comes in through DOMS. Our job is to assess that and do the necessary coordination and send it upward with a recommendation to the decision maker: either the Secretary of the Army or Secretary of Defense. Once we get the decision, we authorize the units to go ahead and provide the support.
DOD is not just sitting back waiting for a request when a major disaster is occurring. We do have triggers out in the community. We have about three different mechanisms to become aware of a need.
First of all, I have a National Guard officer who works with me so he keeps me informed on what is going on in the guard organization in the impacted state. DOD also has a group of emergency preparedness liaisons. These are reserve component individuals. They're not full-time soldiers, airmen, or marines. When a disaster is called, the unit goes to support the state or FEMA in regional operations areas. We get information from this group.
The state also communicates with FEMA prior to the presidential declaration request and FEMA keeps us informed. I do have an officer at FEMA on a day-to-day basis. So I've got three different ways to get information to begin to alert the DOD staff that there is a disaster. Since we get informed quickly, it shortens the decision and response times.
Once we get the presidential declaration and FEMA establishes a federal coordinating officer (FCO), we get a request for DOD support. We will launch an executive order. Normally, a commander-in-chief who is a four star admiral or general is given charge of this operation. That commander in chief, normally from the joint forces command, will order the army, navy, marines or whatever service component, to respond. The First and Fifth Armies cover the continental United States, 48 states and District of Columbia. A defense-coordinating officer (DCO) is designated. This individual wears a number of hats. He or she represents the Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO), represents FEMA and the President on the ground, the DCO represents the commander-in-chief of that unified command, and the Secretary of Defense to coordinate and orchestrate DOD support.
That DCO operates as part of the field office and doesn't work for the FCO but operates alongside him. The DCO brings with him support assets, is specially trained, goes through a lot of FEMA courses, is very familiar with the FEMA process, familiar with the incident command system (ICS), and a lot of other terminology.
DOD does provide a lot of support to the nation, not just in hurricanes and earthquakes. We just approved the 43rd bill of support to civil authorities this fiscal year. So we average just about 40 Military Support to Civil Authority (MSCA) missions a year. They have been across the continental domestic United States. Right now we're involved in about six separate operations simultaneously. These include the wild land fires out west, some medical logistical support to the Department of Agriculture in New York, and some insect infestation down in Southern California. We have another request from the Department of State wants for help in moving a statue from the sculptor's location to the courtyard.
Again earthquakes are a major aspect of what we're prepared to do. About every 2 years, the First and Fifth Armies have a major exercise. It is kind of a sit- down-around-the-table go over our responsibilities for the New Madrid fault. So we anticipate this will involve a lot of activities.
Basically, DOD expects to be called upon to respond to earthquakes or any major disaster providing food, transportation, water, shelter, engineer support, and security. As DOD is called upon to provide more and more troops, we set up a process to provide a command control structure. We're not just trying to control the troops. We want to assure unity of command or unity of control. We would provide someone at the top who is responsible for coordinating and insuring the appropriate execution of the DOD support. Again, when we look at an earthquake, particularly New Madrid fault, our staffing could easily include several majors, First Army, Fifth Army, and probably three or four star general officers, and ranking officers responsible for orchestrating the DOD support.
We also provide training at some of our middle executive service schools to reach command general staff members. We also conduct annual earthquake exercises and get military officers as familiar with that as possible.
The Corps of Engineers brings their emergency support functions free to FEMA or under their own public law authority. In the Northridge earthquake, DOD contributed people, water, and emergency shelter.
Security or controlling civil disturbance in a major disaster is a distinct possibility, not because people are displeased with our emergency response but they have family and can't get in to help or find out what´s happening. The National Guard would use the state authority of the Governor or we could federalize troops to provide the needed security.
A second process we could use for the disaster response is following FEMA´s lead. We just task force the matter and support an individual called the senior civilian representative to the attorney general: a.k.a, the FCO.
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