Brigade Headquarters for National Guard Civil Support Teams: A Homeland Security Imperative

摘要

The current lack of an intermediate-level headquarters able to coordinate, synchronize, and oversee CST training, operations, and administration is dangerous and unnecessary. The largely informal arrangements governing the operations and training of WMD-CSTs, arguably the premier response asset for domestic terrorist incidents, are no longer adequate. By relying on dedicated junior unit commanders to sort out vital operational details needed to protect our citizens, we have abrogated our responsibility to provide coherent military leadership and operational oversight for these units. Establishing a robust intermediate-level command structure for our CSTs will rectify many of these shortcomings, and it will improve the CSTs' ability to execute homeland security tasks well into the future.