ARMED AND DANGEROUS
Marines hit beach
in Kentucky today
Military training for U.S. deployment
features mock-terrorism, 'earthquake'
By David M. Bresnahan
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
A devastating earthquake will hit Kentucky
tomorrow, followed a few days later by a
terrorist attack using weapons of mass
destruction; at least, that's the mock scenario for
a joint Marine and civil agency exercise that
starts today.
According to documents obtained by
WorldNetDaily, an experimental exercise to
help the U.S. Marines learn how to work with
civil agencies during a domestic emergency is
now under way.
Gunslinger 2000 is referred to as a "civil support
experiment" in Marine documents, the planning
for which has taken over a year. Marine public
affairs officers contacted by WorldNetDaily had
not prepared a news release for the media.
Officials planning the event did not expect
public attention, according to a Marine public
affairs spokeswoman.
"The principal objectives of this exercise are to
explore and define potential roles of the Marine
Corps Reserve within the civil support mission,
and to educate commanders and their staffs
about the nuances of civil support," said Col.
Karim Shihata, assistant chief of staff for the 4th
Marine Division.
U.S. Marine Corps. documents obtained by
WorldNetDaily describe Gunslinger 2000 as an
"experiment," intended to evaluate how the
Marine Reserve and National Guard can work
together with local and national civil agencies
during an emergency.
"The experiment will explore roles and missions
for the Marine Corps in the event of a Weapon
of Mass Destruction (WMD) incident within the
continental United States. Following the
completion of the CREST exercise, the exercise
staff and subject matter experts will conduct
operational planning in a facilitated discussion
by National Interagency Civil-Military Institute
(NICI) that will outline and define potential civil
support roles and capabilities for the Marine
Corps in support of Consequence Management
(CM)," stated Shihata in an internal
memorandum sent to participants.
The experiment begins today and will continue
at least to the end of the month, but one
document provided to WorldNetDaily suggests
it may continue until July 15.
"This experiment is an opportunity to provide
an exploration of the Marine Corps' role and
missions within the civil disaster management
and weapons of mass destruction arena,"
explained Shihata in the memorandum.
"Through this experiment, we must clearly and
specifically describe the general military roles
and functions for the Marine Corps within
Military Support to Civil Authorities (MSCA).
This exploration should also provide an
identifiable exit criteria to facilitate our
extrication from operations in support of
Consequence Management. The conduct of this
experiment must demonstrate SMCR-provided
expeditionary capabilities with emphasis on
voice and data communications."
The exercise will take place at Fort Knox,
Kentucky, and in the Louisville and Memphis,
Tennessee, areas. Some documents indicate that
eight states will be involved, but locations for
exercise events were not confirmed.
Planning documents confirm that many local
and national agencies will join with the Marines
during at least part of the exercise from June 19
to 23.
"Active and reserve component military, civilian
agency emergency managers from the federal,
state and local levels, law enforcement officials
and other first responders will be in
attendance," said Shihata in his memorandum.
Agencies participating:
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigations
Joint Task Force-Civil Support
Fourth Marine Division
Kentucky Plans, Operations and Military
Support Office
Kentucky State Emergency Operations
Center Director
State Emergency Management Office
Department of Health
Department of Transportation
Environmental Protection Agency
Kentucky State Police
Conservation/Natural Resources
Kentucky Army/Air National Guard
Kentucky State Public Works/Utilities
Kentucky State Social Services
The computer-assisted exercise is designed to
help all the agencies involved learn how to
communicate with each other in the event of a
real emergency. The computer program will
simulate a major earthquake, followed by a
biological or chemical terrorist attack in the
same area a few days later. A simulated national
emergency covering eight states will be
declared by authority of "Presidential Directive
39," according to Marine documents, and civil
agencies will ask for military assistance because
they will be unable to handle the situation.
The computer simulation was designed by
Cubic Applications, Inc., as part of a $47 million
contract to provide services to the Marine
Air-Ground Task Force. CAI is a subsidiary of
Cubic Corporation of San Diego. The company
provides operational and technical support to
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and to all branches of
the military.
"This award demonstrates CAI's position as an
industry leader in providing training support to
the warfighting forces of our Nation," said Jack
A. Walker, CAI president and chief executive
officer in a news release. "CAI is extremely
proud of its long-standing support relationship
with the United States Armed Forces, and we
believe our team can make a significant
contribution to the Marine Corps of the 21st
century."
Shihata explained that Gunslinger 2000 does not
represent a new role for the Marine Reserve, but
that it is an added ability as part of the "force in
readiness." He said it is not an effort to take
away the authority of the civil agencies.
Marine documents reveal plans for future
exercises after evaluating the results of
Gunslinger 2000.
A Power Point presentation used by the
Marines in preparation for the event indicates
that the Marines will "provide law enforcement
support."
"There is an appropriate role for the armed
forces to play in these circumstances. The intent
is not to fulfill law-enforcement roles, but to
augment them. This is a new function that
grows out of traditional Marine missions. We
are now exploring and experimenting our role
with the emerging mission," said Shihata.
The National Commission on Terrorism has
concluded in a recent report that current efforts
to detect, prevent and prepare for such terrorist
attacks are inadequate. The report offers plans
to deal with terrorist threats, and acknowledges
that it will provoke controversy by those
concerned with threats to freedoms.
Meeting the threat of tomorrow's terrorism, in
its view, will require a bare-knuckle approach
that includes some measures bound to provoke
controversy.
"These include dropping human rights concerns
in recruiting terrorist informants, making it
easier to initiate FBI investigations, paying for
legal help if agents overstep their bounds,
monitoring foreign students studying in the
United States, frequently updating the list of
Foreign Terrorist Organizations, hanging tough
on Iran and Syria while adding Afghanistan to
the list of state sponsors of terrorism,
designating Pakistan and NATO-ally Greece as
states 'not fully cooperating' with the United
States, expanding federal authority, and
considering designating the Defense
Department as the lead federal agency for
responding to catastrophic terrorist incidents in
the United States," said Brian Michael Jenkins, a
senior adviser to the president of RAND Corp.
who served as an adviser to the National
Commission on Terrorism. He wrote an article
about terrorism published by UPI.
Major terrorist threats on the U.S. would also
have a huge psychological impact. Jenkins said
a chemical or bioterrorism attack could cause
national hysteria.
"Liberal democracies have been shaken by
levels of violence far below this. Politicians
would pound the podium demanding the most
draconian measures while an alarmed public
screamed for even more. In such circumstances,
the commission's recommendations would
seem mild," explained Jenkins.
Related stories:
Marines on Main Street
Marines landing -- in North Carolina
Alabama Army maneuvers continue
The military's new cowboys?
Training ammo claim disputed
Marines hit beach
in Kentucky today
Military training for U.S. deployment
features mock-terrorism, 'earthquake'
By David M. Bresnahan
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
A devastating earthquake will hit Kentucky
tomorrow, followed a few days later by a
terrorist attack using weapons of mass
destruction; at least, that's the mock scenario for
a joint Marine and civil agency exercise that
starts today.
According to documents obtained by
WorldNetDaily, an experimental exercise to
help the U.S. Marines learn how to work with
civil agencies during a domestic emergency is
now under way.
Gunslinger 2000 is referred to as a "civil support
experiment" in Marine documents, the planning
for which has taken over a year. Marine public
affairs officers contacted by WorldNetDaily had
not prepared a news release for the media.
Officials planning the event did not expect
public attention, according to a Marine public
affairs spokeswoman.
"The principal objectives of this exercise are to
explore and define potential roles of the Marine
Corps Reserve within the civil support mission,
and to educate commanders and their staffs
about the nuances of civil support," said Col.
Karim Shihata, assistant chief of staff for the 4th
Marine Division.
U.S. Marine Corps. documents obtained by
WorldNetDaily describe Gunslinger 2000 as an
"experiment," intended to evaluate how the
Marine Reserve and National Guard can work
together with local and national civil agencies
during an emergency.
"The experiment will explore roles and missions
for the Marine Corps in the event of a Weapon
of Mass Destruction (WMD) incident within the
continental United States. Following the
completion of the CREST exercise, the exercise
staff and subject matter experts will conduct
operational planning in a facilitated discussion
by National Interagency Civil-Military Institute
(NICI) that will outline and define potential civil
support roles and capabilities for the Marine
Corps in support of Consequence Management
(CM)," stated Shihata in an internal
memorandum sent to participants.
The experiment begins today and will continue
at least to the end of the month, but one
document provided to WorldNetDaily suggests
it may continue until July 15.
"This experiment is an opportunity to provide
an exploration of the Marine Corps' role and
missions within the civil disaster management
and weapons of mass destruction arena,"
explained Shihata in the memorandum.
"Through this experiment, we must clearly and
specifically describe the general military roles
and functions for the Marine Corps within
Military Support to Civil Authorities (MSCA).
This exploration should also provide an
identifiable exit criteria to facilitate our
extrication from operations in support of
Consequence Management. The conduct of this
experiment must demonstrate SMCR-provided
expeditionary capabilities with emphasis on
voice and data communications."
The exercise will take place at Fort Knox,
Kentucky, and in the Louisville and Memphis,
Tennessee, areas. Some documents indicate that
eight states will be involved, but locations for
exercise events were not confirmed.
Planning documents confirm that many local
and national agencies will join with the Marines
during at least part of the exercise from June 19
to 23.
"Active and reserve component military, civilian
agency emergency managers from the federal,
state and local levels, law enforcement officials
and other first responders will be in
attendance," said Shihata in his memorandum.
Agencies participating:
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigations
Joint Task Force-Civil Support
Fourth Marine Division
Kentucky Plans, Operations and Military
Support Office
Kentucky State Emergency Operations
Center Director
State Emergency Management Office
Department of Health
Department of Transportation
Environmental Protection Agency
Kentucky State Police
Conservation/Natural Resources
Kentucky Army/Air National Guard
Kentucky State Public Works/Utilities
Kentucky State Social Services
The computer-assisted exercise is designed to
help all the agencies involved learn how to
communicate with each other in the event of a
real emergency. The computer program will
simulate a major earthquake, followed by a
biological or chemical terrorist attack in the
same area a few days later. A simulated national
emergency covering eight states will be
declared by authority of "Presidential Directive
39," according to Marine documents, and civil
agencies will ask for military assistance because
they will be unable to handle the situation.
The computer simulation was designed by
Cubic Applications, Inc., as part of a $47 million
contract to provide services to the Marine
Air-Ground Task Force. CAI is a subsidiary of
Cubic Corporation of San Diego. The company
provides operational and technical support to
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and to all branches of
the military.
"This award demonstrates CAI's position as an
industry leader in providing training support to
the warfighting forces of our Nation," said Jack
A. Walker, CAI president and chief executive
officer in a news release. "CAI is extremely
proud of its long-standing support relationship
with the United States Armed Forces, and we
believe our team can make a significant
contribution to the Marine Corps of the 21st
century."
Shihata explained that Gunslinger 2000 does not
represent a new role for the Marine Reserve, but
that it is an added ability as part of the "force in
readiness." He said it is not an effort to take
away the authority of the civil agencies.
Marine documents reveal plans for future
exercises after evaluating the results of
Gunslinger 2000.
A Power Point presentation used by the
Marines in preparation for the event indicates
that the Marines will "provide law enforcement
support."
"There is an appropriate role for the armed
forces to play in these circumstances. The intent
is not to fulfill law-enforcement roles, but to
augment them. This is a new function that
grows out of traditional Marine missions. We
are now exploring and experimenting our role
with the emerging mission," said Shihata.
The National Commission on Terrorism has
concluded in a recent report that current efforts
to detect, prevent and prepare for such terrorist
attacks are inadequate. The report offers plans
to deal with terrorist threats, and acknowledges
that it will provoke controversy by those
concerned with threats to freedoms.
Meeting the threat of tomorrow's terrorism, in
its view, will require a bare-knuckle approach
that includes some measures bound to provoke
controversy.
"These include dropping human rights concerns
in recruiting terrorist informants, making it
easier to initiate FBI investigations, paying for
legal help if agents overstep their bounds,
monitoring foreign students studying in the
United States, frequently updating the list of
Foreign Terrorist Organizations, hanging tough
on Iran and Syria while adding Afghanistan to
the list of state sponsors of terrorism,
designating Pakistan and NATO-ally Greece as
states 'not fully cooperating' with the United
States, expanding federal authority, and
considering designating the Defense
Department as the lead federal agency for
responding to catastrophic terrorist incidents in
the United States," said Brian Michael Jenkins, a
senior adviser to the president of RAND Corp.
who served as an adviser to the National
Commission on Terrorism. He wrote an article
about terrorism published by UPI.
Major terrorist threats on the U.S. would also
have a huge psychological impact. Jenkins said
a chemical or bioterrorism attack could cause
national hysteria.
"Liberal democracies have been shaken by
levels of violence far below this. Politicians
would pound the podium demanding the most
draconian measures while an alarmed public
screamed for even more. In such circumstances,
the commission's recommendations would
seem mild," explained Jenkins.
Related stories:
Marines on Main Street
Marines landing -- in North Carolina
Alabama Army maneuvers continue
The military's new cowboys?
Training ammo claim disputed
I was out back looking in his direction for the mushroom cloud to rise