Northern Command Finally Announced:
Details Still To Be Worked Through
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on April 17, 2002, formally announced the establishment of the new U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), with the primary mission of homeland security. Despite earlier official information that the new command would be headquartered close to the national capital region, so as to ease liaison with the government, the command instead is likely to be located at Colorado Springs, Colo. It will be formally established on Oct. 1. 2002.
A number of issues will have to be decided before the new command can be established, in addition to those already under discussion. Its base site is not certain. Its area of responsibility and tasks has been announced, but not the forces that it will have to carry them out. Finally, establishing NORTHCOM will mean splitting two previously linked commands already in Colorado Springs, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and the U.S. Space Command. NORAD, which involves Canada, and the Space Command share linked missions and staffs.
From late January, when the name of the new command was announced, several locations close to Washington, D.C., were canvassed. At that point, the Northern Command's posture was primarily being shaped by the need to respond to terrorist attacks, which would require close liaison with the federal government. However, the facilities and expertise inherent in the Colorado Spring area swung the day. After all, Colorado Springs is home to NORAD, which is responsible for defense against air attacks. Peterson Air Force Base, in eastern Colorado Springs, was announced as the 'preferred' site for the command, with Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia and Offurt Air Force Base, which play host to the Joint Forces and Strategic Commands respectively, as alternate sites. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with the Colorado Springs Gazette that the other two locations were named because federal law required the Pentagon to name alternative sites. It is almost certain that Peterson AFB will be the command's final location.
The Northern Command will be assigned as its area of responsibility the continental United States, Alaska, Canada and Mexico, plus portions of the Caribbean. The contiguous waters in the Atlantic and Pacific will also be included out to 500 miles. It will undertake the land, aerospace and sea defense of the United States, as well as commanding U.S. forces operating in support of civil authorities on homeland security tasks. But it is not certain what those forces will be. The transfer of the Joint Task Force Civil Support, the military unit that supports civilian response to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and major conventional explosives attacks, to Northern Command has been confirmed. Another likely addition to the new command are the Maritime Defense Zones in the Atlantic and Pacific, which is the term for the Coast Guard ocean commands when they operate in their Navy-assigned homeland defense role.
NORAD will be linked to NORTHCOM by having a shared commander. But no definite public announcement has been made about what other forces it might have, which might include Army active and reserve home defense units in the United States, as well as the bulk of the Army and Air Force's pool of U.S.-based combat units. Special arrangements would have to be made to align National Guard units under Northern Command, given that they usually report directly to their state governor. The state governments' first responding role in homeland security means that the current arrangement is likely to stay.
The primary mission of the home-based units of the Army and Air Force is worldwide deployment to carry out varied U.S. military missions. They have historically reported to the Joint Forces Command at Norfolk, Va. Now, the Joint Forces Command will lose its area of responsibility — in part, to the Northern Command — to focus on the transformation of the U.S. military, joint experimentation and joint training. During the press conference announcing the new arrangements, officials seemed to indicate that Joint Forces Command would retain control of those forces, and thus leave the Northern Command with a few small Army and Air Force home defense units. Northern Command's focus will be more on coordinating with local, state, national and international agencies rather than commanding large combat forces as the other nine unified commands do.
Finally, the establishment of Northern Command will necessitate some intricate military staff reorganization. This is because the U.S. Space Command and NORAD share some elements of their headquarters staff. With the U.S. Space Command now being split from NORAD, and Northern Command to be linked to NORAD instead, personnel, intelligence, logistics and communications staffs at Peterson AFB will have to split and reorganize. However, this staff reorganization should go relatively smoothly and will probably pass unnoticed outside the gates of Peterson AFB. The command center inside Cheyenne Mountain, just west of Colorado Springs, will also see some reorganization to accommodate Northern Command's needs. Come Oct. 1, the new command should be ready to shoulder responsibility for defense of the continental United States.
BACK TO THE TOP  TERRORISM PROJECT HOME LINKS CDI HOME
|
|
