Training with and of civilian first responders and response to an actual domestic disaster are among the few exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which added to the U.S. Code provisions prohibiting the use of the Army for domestic law enforcement.
The U.S. Air Force was added to the prohibition in 1956. While the Navy and Marine Corps are not specifically named in the law due to their status as maritime forces, the Department of the Navy has implemented internal regulations essentially applying Posse Comitatus to both services. Air and Army National Guard units, considered to be state militias, are exempt. So is the U.S. Coast Guard, an armed uniformed service under DHS (except when called to duty as a wartime component of the Navy).
South Carolina National Guardsmen plan evacuation support as a part of Hurricane Matthew response efforts. Hurricane Matthew peaked as a Category 4 hurricane in the Caribbean and was projected to pass over the southeastern United States, including the South Carolina coast. Approximately 1,400 South Carolina National Guard soldiers and airmen were activated Oct. 4, 2016, to support coastal evacuations after Gov. Nikki Haley declared a state of emergency. U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Brian Calhoun, 108th Public Affairs Detachment
In August 2016, DOD published a three-volume manual detailing the legal and regulatory conditions under which U.S. military capabilities can be used during domestic civilian emergencies. The manual identifies six standing Execute Orders (EXORDs) authorizing DOD support to civilian authorities, relevant presidential directives, and a host of other instructions, regulations, statutes, and directives that limit or expand military domestic involvement.
Despite more than a century of legal restrictions, the manual describes a wide range of areas in which the military has been granted a domestic mission, including: search and rescue, explosive ordnance disposal, response to chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) incidents, pandemics, acts of terrorism, mass migration emergencies, civil disturbances, and support to National Special Security Events (such as political conventions) and national and international sporting events (i.e., the Olympics, World Series, and Super Bowl).
The 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance designated DSCA as a primary DOD mission. The Unified Command Plan assigned DSCA as a core mission of NORTHCOM and PACOM. In each case, the designated DOD component does not initiate a response nor act independently, but works closely with FEMA, the CDC, Homeland Security, and state and local authorities.
The department’s work with FEMA includes development of all-hazards, pre-scripted mission assignments (PSMAs), which translate civilian support requirements into military tasks to expedite the request-for-assistance process. Although more are in development, there are 28 all-hazards PSMAs for DOD support, more than 30 PSMAs for the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and six PSMAs for National Guard support.
U.S. Navy/Marine Corps
An important aspect of U.S. military response to overseas disasters is its participation in a variety of annual training exercises throughout the world. One such exercise was conducted on Sept. 1, 2016, by elements of the U.S. Navy from its base at Sasebo, on the Japanese island of Kyushu, and U.S. Marine Corps personnel from the USS Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group operating near Okinawa.
Two MV-22 Ospreys flew medical personnel to Sasebo from the Strike Group and evacuated a simulated patient from a remote island during the annual drill at the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force’s Camp Ainoura.
Overseas exercises provide U.S. and foreign militaries and civilian responders similar opportunities to hone their skills.
“Launching from a sea-base to Sasebo for this drill demonstrates the dynamic capability of the U.S. Navy-U.S. Marine Corps team to assist Japanese civilian populations and work alongside our Japanese self defense force counterparts in the event of a disaster,” Capt. Robert Hall, deputy commander of Amphibious Force 7th Fleet, said.
At Camp Ainoura, Marines from Combat Logistics Battalion 31 off loaded a Tactical Water Purification System, which would provide an important capability in disaster response. While Fleet Activities Sasebo participates in the drill each year, providing medical and firefighting services to demonstrate the Navy’s commitment to assisting the city in the event of a real emergency, this was the first time that capability was brought from afloat to further assist the simulated disaster relief effort.
U.S. Army
One of NORTHCOM’s assets for domestic disaster response is the Air Forces Northern National Security Emergency Preparedness Directorate, which will take charge during a major national emergency, whether natural or man-made – and especially anything involving radiological materials. Through the directorate, NORTHCOM is mandated by Congress to address 15 National Planning Scenarios, including creation of several classified “concept plans,” such as DSCA.
In August 2016, NORTHCOM’s Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS) participated in Exercise Sudden Response 16 at Fort Hood, Texas. Several JTF-CS units established and operated mass casualty decontamination lines in response to simulated nuclear fallout. Sudden Response was the most recent integration training exercise for DOD’s Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Response Force (DCRF), a scalable capability able to deploy within 24 hours to support local, state, tribal, and federal agencies in the event of a large-scale CBRN incident.