How the United States Army Reserve Can Effectively Support the Defense Support of Civilian Authorities Mission.

摘要

This paper takes the position that the United States Army Reserve can become the lead Title 10 force for the Department of Defense in conducting Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA). The National Guard will retain its primacy as the tool for Governors to conduct disaster relief and maintain civil order. When state resources are unable to meet the requirements and local officials or request immediate response assistance or the Governor requests Federal support, the USAR should be the lead federal military responders. The USAR will need to replace its Cold War personnel systems and work with the Active Army to establish Total Force Personnel system. A personnel system is needed that will allow the USAR to respond rapidly to the needs of the Total Force and Combatant Commanders without the cumbersome mobilization process. The USAR must eliminate the numerous duty statuses and their restrictive training identifiers that specify what type of actions reservists can complete. The USAR should leverage and expand the number of Maneuver Enhancement Brigades (MEB) for the DSCA mission because of its capabilities to respond to natural and man-made disasters. Many of the disaster response skillsets found in the Army National Guard (ARNG) are found in the USAR. The USAR has engineer, medical, transportation, logistics and chemical biological radiological nuclear (CBRN) units in communities throughout the United States. The USAR focus on the homeland security and defense mission will allow the active Army to concentrate its resources on preparing for and responding to overseas contingency operations. Using the USAR in support of the ARNG in homeland security and defense is a smart use of the reserve component (RC) as an operational reserve, especially with the personnel reductions of active force. Using a remodeled USAR to provide the lead Title 10 efforts in DSCA will keep the Total Force mission requirements balanced and be a great benefit for the United States.