Joint Task Force Civil Support Provides a Helping Hand
Written by Kenya McCullum
The task force offers a number of services during
emergencies, including logistical support, search
and rescue services, and organic medical services.
When there is an emergency, local governments have access to a valuable resource that they can use when their own responders are not enough to handle the problem. The Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS)— which is part of the CBRNE Consequence Management Resource Force (CCMRF), an agency designed to offer support after a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive incident—is staffed with personnel trained to save lives, prevent injury and provide temporary critical life support to a community that needs assistance. When all of the available options on the local and state levels have been exhausted, governors can appeal to the federal government for the task force to supplement its efforts in keeping the public safe—at no charge to the state.
The use of JTF-CS is triggered only after a long chain of resources has been tapped into and proven insufficient to handle a problem. When an incident occurs, first local responders work to help the community. If those resources are not enough, the county and state responders augment those local efforts. If this is still not enough support, governors have the option of asking other state governors to supply national guardsmen through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), which allows states to share resources with each other during an emergency situation when necessary. If this is not enough support for the state’s emergency, the governor will call a state of emergency and ask the president to declare the situation a national disaster. At that time, an appropriate federal agency—such as the Centers for Disease Control, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—responds to the emergency.
After all of this, if the state still needs additional support to handle its emergency, the JTF-CS is deployed. The task force offers a number of services during emergencies, including logistical support, search and rescue services and organic medical services that will not potentially overload an already burdened local health care system.
“We know going in that the local facilities and hospital systems are already going to be overwhelmed. The last thing we want to do is have more casualties by bringing more people in that they’re not going to be able to take care of,” said JTF-CS surgeon Joanne McManaman. “As we anticipate needs, or get missions coming down from our federal agencies, we’ll be able to relocate and provide medical care based on what their needs are if they have a gap that they need to fill.”
In addition to patient care, the JTF-CS provides medical surveillance and CBRNE detection, including testing biologic, soil and environmental samples. The task force is also involved in the distribution of assets from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) and veterinary care, such as animal decontamination.
To help provide these medical services, the JTF-CS is currently working to acquire the best equipment for its mission—such as devices that will allow it to monitor and identify radiological nuclear accidents. And because safety is paramount, the agency is also looking for equipment that will provide the best available protection for members of the unit while still allowing them to perform their duties.
“The most protection isn’t necessarily the best answer because sometimes it can hinder your operation,” said McManaman. “We’re working very hard right now to figure out what is the best personal protection equipment that we can give our troops because they are going into dangerous environments.”
Another challenge the agency faces is the number of staff it can access. Generally, members of the task force sign up for one year of service, but because of the number of troops that have been regularly deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, JTF-CS has seen a lot of its staff leave early. As a result, it has added additional month-long training exercises to accommodate early arrivals that replace staff members when they have been deployed. Although it has been a challenge for the agency, the scheduling problem has been manageable.
In addition, JTF-CS has faced some reputation management issues—particularly with writers in the blogosphere who believe the task force’s reach extends much farther than it actually does. In particular, the agency has been combating the rumor that it actually usurps the state government’s authority and completely takes over the handling of an emergency, rather than simply provide assistance.
“If the CCMRF shows up, they’re there to save lives, prevent injury and provide temporary critical life support to the community,” said JTF-CS chief of staff Michael Collins. “The CCMRF does not have, nor will it ever have, any civil disturbance mission. It does not have any law enforcement responsibilities—that is strictly the role of the state police, county sheriff law enforcement personnel and national guardsmen, because all national guardsmen have a secondary law enforcement responsibility and the training.”
As a result of this perception, Collins said it’s important to set the record straight and educate the public on the good work JTF-CS does.
“We think it’s a huge good news story, the fact that you’ve got approximately 5,000 Department of Defense men and women on alert who are ready to go out and help their fellow Americans in a time of an emergency,” Collins said. ♦