Summary: The Military’s Role in Civil Defense
Ines M. Kaldas
The recent terror attacks in Madrid have revealed how important it is to have well-working civil-military cooperation in exceptional emergency situations, which is the only way of providing the needed operational forces as well as specific capacities and resources. Unfortunately, that need is not recognized everywhere. Notwithstanding that the EU is now discussing an action plan against terrorism, there was no precedent case prior to the attacks in Madrid, like the 9/11 attacks in the US.
The US force transformation received an additional facette by strengthening civil-military cooperation within the frame of supporting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the lead agency dealing with issues of civil defense. The threat scenario does not only include conventional explosives and weapons but also nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons. As opposed to terror attacks with conventional weapons, biological or chemical weapons confront the operational forces with the problem of having to identify the substances first, thus hampering all measures of damage limitation.
Incidents with biological or chemical weapons are not only dangerous because of their pathogenetic lethality but also because of their potential to cause panic that paralyzes social life and ultimately causes political destabilization. However, accident risks stemming from illegal transports of such agents or of their precursors are at least as dangerous as terror attacks with biological or chemical weapons.
The anthrax cases in the US have shown how rapidly the infrastructure can be over-challenged and how hard it is for decision-makers at all echelons to filter out the facts from the overload of information, since it may lead to hoarding and social unrest way beyond the relatively small area of operations.
It is, therefore, of great importance to have a generalized operational concept at hand that allows for optimal operations. In the US the so-called Incident Command System was introduced. At the lowest level are the local operational organizations, while the second and third echelons are on state and federal level. What is of central importance is the operational and functional integration of coordination, cooperation, and communication among the involved operational organizations.
In order to be able to ensure smooth procedures, the DHS has set up a continued three-stage training program that starts with a theoretical discussion, followed by visiting the area of operations, and concludes by playing out the scenario.
Europe as a whole and Austria in particular, has to set up a preventive, flexible, and integrated operational system that not only contributes to the fight on terror but benefits the entire system of civil protection against CB-weapons.
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