Major General Jeffrey Buchanan, commander Joint Force Headquarters, National Capital Region, (JFHQ NCR) tells Gwyn Winfield about preparing Washington DC for attack GW: What are JFHQNCR s roles in a CBRN incident? Do you have specific assets or teams at Fort McNair or simply command and control of assets that are in the region, such as the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF)? JB: We provide mission command for all Department of Defense (DoD) forces for homeland security, homeland defence and defence support of civil authorities (DSCA) events in the national capital region; it could be a CBRN incident, a natural disaster, or terrorism. From a military perspective as the joint task force (JTF) commander if we were stood up as a JTF I would be the supported commander; other commanders would support me. Army North (Arnorth) is the joint force land component commander for the entire theatre, but Arnorth is only responsible for bringing forces in and helping to set the theatre, so we would receive them and put them in play. It is possible that DoD would lead but very unlikely except for certain types of homeland defence incident; most incidents would have another federal government entity as primary agency, and DoD would support them. In a criminal incident we would support the FBI, if it was a nuclear incident we would support the DOE, or parts of it, in a consequence management situation we could probably support the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). What we do as a JTF is provide mission command over all DoD forces, provide that support and ensure unity of effort. GW: In terms of that unity of effort, how do you manage the linking piece? Do you need to have liaison officers in all those federal agencies at all times? JB: We maintain close relationships with all of those agencies and exchange liaison officers for all planned events. If we know that an event is scheduled, for a National Security Special Event (NSSE), like a state of the union address, then CBIRF would come up as an element we usually commit to support in DC. When we stand up as a JTF for an NSSE we send upwards of 20 liaison officers into those agencies, and bring in a like number from those agencies to our HQ, the joint operations centre, so they can communicate with their HQs from our operations centre. GW: In the past couple of years we have seen overseas operations cut back and more troops become available for homeland operations. Have you seen an increase in the past 18 months, or has it always been there because you are the capital region? JB: I don t think there is much of a link with the ebb and flow of operations overseas. The seminal event is still the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and you can go back to that incident as the start of Northern Command (Northcom). If you look in DC we did not have a joint force NSSE's might be easy to predict, that doesn't make them any easier to manage DoD 6 CBRNe WORLD June 2014 www.cbrneworld.com
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HQ, the response to the attack on the Pentagon was an army response. The army had responsibility, but the services did not have a way of talking to each other and combining responses. The country decided that we needed to establish Northcom and the combatant commanders looked at their areas of operations, and circled the map at the national capital region (NCR). This is one of the most important piece of terrain in the entire country because of its economic importance; it s the centre of civilian-military government and leadership, all in one place. They established a full time joint forces headquarters (JFHQ) with a full time joint operations area, which is defined in US law. It comprises the two southern counties of Maryland and four counties of Virgina. When we talk about the NCR, and the Secret Service and FBI talk about it, we are all talking about the same terrain. GW: The JFHQ NCR s resources include the mobile command centres (MCC). How do they combine with the CST s universal communication system (UCS)? Is there a communications hub for the JFHQ, or does it provide some kind of joint civil-military capability? JB: We have several mobile communications platforms and can perform mission command from our joint operations centre; but we also have sites that we can move to, alternate command and control sites. Our platforms enable communications not just between different military assets, but also with civilian entities, so we could connect a local sheriff s department through a secure military radio to a military aircraft flying around, and those kinds of things. GW: As you stated, a range of NSSEs arise and recently there was super storm Sandy. What lessons did you learn from those? Since you are always in a support role do you see yourselves as a force that can change in order to take on those lessons? JB: The most important thing for us is to understand what the real requirements are and be postured to help. General Charles Jacoby [CG Northcom Ed.] says we cannot afford to be late to need. We have to arrive at the right time and place with what is needed. We must anticipate what s needed and can t get it wrong. If we bring a bunch of unnecessary stuff into an area we create more problems than we solve. Staying connected is vital, and that depends on these relationships, understanding the requirements and posturing ourselves so that when asked we can provide the necessary help. One of the assets most frequently requested from the military is rotary wing aviation, because we have a lot of it. Wearing my army hat I command an aviation brigade, and even before we get the call to stand up as at JTF I will probably get requests from my mission partners in the area for help, because we have a lot of helicopters and I have the authority to commit forcers to save lives. In the army we call it an immediate response authority. What we don t do is push aircraft to where we think they might be needed without the request to help, because it could complicate things and become a problem, especially if the National Guard or local police are responding, as it mixes up airspace. We will be in contact, wait until asked, but lean forward and be ready to launch. GW: For DC, like New York, or LA there is plenty of mass here, many responders. Consequently when you do a NSSE and all the wagons circle is it business as usual, or are there always surprises? JB: No, it is not business as usual. Every time we stand up as a JTF it is a unique event with individual requests and threat conditions. We work hard with all the intelligence and law enforcement agencies to look at the potential threats and then we position ourselves to resist them. Even though we did the state of the union in the Capitol building last year, and we will do it again this year in the same place with the same group of people, the people outside and potential threats will have changed, so the way we defend against them must also change. GW: It is an interesting point as generally the army is a dynamic organisation, deploying assets quickly to eliminate threats. Yet when you do these NSSEs you know the players and event and have plenty of time to prepare. How do you ensure that you don t get into a scripted mindset, how do you ensure that you react dynamically? JB: We exercise a lot, sometimes without notice. One of my responsibilities is to help evacuate and move government leaders in case of emergency and this week we did it at no notice. We had to coordinate some aspects at staff level with the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) prior to doing it, but the crews didn t know and we scrambled all available aircraft, that s 24 aircraft, in a formation flight through the capital to practise a contingency mission. This is typical of what we do to keep ourselves, and our planning and coordination abilities, sharp. CBIRF is intentionally not in the middle of downtown DC, but if there is an event there we have to get them in. If you can picture the kinds of events that would bring CBIRF into DC then you can imagine that getting them there by road in a hurry would be difficult. Traffic on a normal day is tough! This year we practised using aircraft with sling load operations to fly them from place to place and move their equipment rapidly. We also have the option of moving them by river. We do these exercises so we can best meet the need. GW: Another thing that has happened in recent years is a shift to Homeland Response Forces (HRFs), Defence CBRNE Reaction Force (DCRF), Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF CS) etc. Do you get much play with them? JB: We do coordinate with the CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Packages (CERF-P), HRFs and CSTs, primarily by working with the Guard elements in Maryland, DC and Virginia, but for the most part I am concerned with the Title 10 forces. There is an interplay, when you look at the CBRN enterprise there is a Title 10 aspect, there is a state response, a federal response, and ostensibly the state response comes first, but if it is a big event we will be scrambling together to get there at the same time. You mentioned Joint Task 8 CBRNe WORLD June 2014 www.cbrneworld.com
Capital Shield is a week long exercise designed to bring all the DC Federal, State and local assets together DoD Force Civil Support and they could be a part of it with the DCRF as part of that response, or it might not. CBIRF could also be part of the DCRF, depending on where it is. If it is in the nation s capital then parts of CBIRF will stay here. GW: The big exercise in DC is Capital Shield. Have you seen style and type of forces shift and change? JB: We have. Last year we had 39 different federal, local and state agencies involved. It is a great week long exercise and we do a number of things with it, including a command post exercise for the HQ, but also as a series of field training exercises. We have a special one of a kind engineer company, which is an urban search and rescue organisation, and they use it for their annual certification where they go into collapsed structures. We will usually do a mass casualty event, coordinated with various rescue and fire departments around the area, do a Medevac situation, which is a joint reception/staging/onward integration exercise where we receive a lot of forces at an airfield. We handle all the tactical things as part of Capital Shield, actually moving forces and assets with people talking on radios, rather than just as a table top. GW: Recently it was nuclear, is that always the case? JB: It is all sorts of different scenarios. This year part of it included collapsed structures and here at Fort McNair we will have an active shooter in some buildings. Various SWAT teams, including our own and Met Police, will try and reduce that threat. GW: How will we see the headquarters evolve? We are seeing a big draw down in funding for civilians and potentially the military, either Title 10 or 32, needs to pick up this slack. Are you expecting an active evolution? JB: Our forces are not growing, the army as a whole is not growing. Two years ago we had 572,000 soldiers, by the end of next year it will be 490,000 and it will reduce beyond that. We are determined to maintain readiness throughout and if we are going to do that we can afford less of a force structure. Our force structure is both army and joint forces, so we will feel the pressure to reduce both the army and the joint side. Like every organisation across the army we are making cuts. The key for us is to be smart about how we do it, to understand how we can gain efficiencies in our HQ and subordinate forces so we can get the job done and do it well and to standard with fewer people. At some point in time when we are told to keep cutting we will have to say that we can no longer do it through gaining efficiencies, but by taking tasks off the table. We are not there yet, but we are getting smaller rather than larger. 10 CBRNe WORLD June 2014 www.cbrneworld.com