National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams

The Department of Defense is also in the process of reevaluating its contribution to homeland security in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Of particular concern is the DoD plan for assisting civilian authorities in consequence management - the measures taken to protect public health, safety, and the environment, to restore essential government services, and to provide emergency relief to governments businesses and individuals affected by the consequences of terrorism. A significant DoD contribution to the consequence management aspect of homeland security has been the development of the National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction - Civil Support Team (WMD-CST), a new type of unit designed to provide civilian authorities military support in response to WMD attacks involving the use of nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological (NBCR) weapons. The development of the WMD-CST concept has raised considerable debate over the merits of the new organization. Previous authors argued that the WMD-CST is incapable of providing timely support to local authorities. Others take the criticism of the WMD-CST a step further, calling into question the ability of the Department of Defense to provide personnel sufficiently trained to provide meaningful support to civilian first responders. Positive reviews emphasized the WMD-CSTs' ability to respond rapidly to events, because of their ability to operate under Title 32 or Title 10 authority. This monograph determines whether the National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team (WMD-CST) is an effective organization for conducting Military Support to Civilian Authorities in response to a WMD attack in the United States. The determination is made by evaluating the actual performance of WMD-CSTs against the required capabilities specified in the original Presidential Decision Directives, legislation, Federal regulations, and Department of Defense initiatives that shaped the national consequence management strateg