The U.S. Defense Department should work with other agencies to clarify its role in responding to domestic WMD strikes ahead of the Pentagon's inclusion in an interagency federal disaster planning system, congressional investigators wrote in a report released yesterday (see GSN, July 29).
The Government Accountability Office reported in July that the U.S. Integrated Planning System had yet to incorporate the U.S. Defense Department's WMD response strategy, which calls for deployment of active-duty Army or federalized Army National Guard forces in the aftermath of one or more major strikes.
The Pentagon should work with the Homeland Security Department, Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal entities to define "interim goals, objectives and planning assumptions" for its role in responding to a major attack, the report states.
Responding to the recommendation, the Defense Department indicated it had established a new advisory group that would, in consultation with other U.S. agencies, propose changes to Pentagon policies aimed at assisting "civil authorities in preventing or responding to [WMD] incidents."
"We believe the panel DOD described will be a suitable mechanism for coordinating with DHS, FEMA or any other relevant federal agency in addressing the substance of our recommendation," GAO auditors wrote.
The Pentagon generally concurred with other GAO recommendations on its WMD response strategy, but warned that cost constraints could prevent it from conducting regular drills involving the snap deployment of thousands of troops (U.S. Government Accountability Office release, Oct. 7).