GW: What are JFHQNCR’s roles in aCBRN incident? Do you have specificassets or teams at Fort McNair orsimply command and control of assetsthat are in the region, such as theChemical Biological Incident ResponseForce (CBIRF)?JB: We provide mission command for allDepartment of Defense (DoD) forces forhomeland security, homeland defenceand defence support of civil authorities(DSCA) events in the national capitalregion; it could be a CBRN incident, anatural disaster, or terrorism. From amilitary perspective as the joint taskforce (JTF) commander if we were stoodup as a JTF I would be the supportedcommander; other commanders wouldsupport me. Army North (Arnorth) isthe joint force land componentcommander for the entire theatre, butArnorth is only responsible for bringingforces in and helping to set the theatre,so we would receive them and putthem in play.

It is possible that DoD would leadbut very unlikely except for certaintypes of homeland defence incident;most incidents would have anotherfederal government entity as primary

agency, and DoD would support them.In a criminal incident we would supportthe FBI, if it was a nuclear incident wewould support the DOE, or parts of it,in a consequence management situationwe could probably support the FederalEmergency Management Agency(FEMA). What we do as a JTF is providemission command over all DoD forces,provide that support and ensure unityof effort.

GW: In terms of that unity of effort,how do you manage the linking piece?Do you need to have liaison officers inall those federal agencies at all times?

JB: We maintain close relationshipswith all of those agencies and exchangeliaison officers for all planned events. Ifwe know that an event is scheduled, fora National Security Special Event(NSSE), like a state of the unionaddress, then CBIRF would come up asan element we usually commit tosupport in DC. When we stand up as aJTF for an NSSE we send upwards of 20liaison officers into those agencies, andbring in a like number from thoseagencies to our HQ, the joint operationscentre, so they can communicate withtheir HQs from our operations centre.

GW: In the past couple of years wehave seen overseas operations cut backand more troops become available forhomeland operations. Have you seen anincrease in the past 18 months, or hasit always been there because you arethe capital region?JB: I don’t think there is much of a linkwith the ebb and flow of operationsoverseas. The seminal event is still theterrorist attacks of 9/11, and you can goback to that incident as the start ofNorthern Command (Northcom). If youlook in DC we did not have a joint force

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HQ, the response to the attack on thePentagon was an army response. Thearmy had responsibility, but the servicesdid not have a way of talking to eachother and combining responses.

The country decided that we neededto establish Northcom and thecombatant commanders looked at theirareas of operations, and circled the mapat the national capital region (NCR).This is one of the most important pieceof terrain in the entire country becauseof its economic importance; it’s thecentre of civilian-military governmentand leadership, all in one place. Theyestablished a full time joint forcesheadquarters (JFHQ) with a full timejoint operations area, which is definedin US law. It comprises the twosouthern counties of Maryland and fourcounties of Virgina. When we talk aboutthe NCR, and the Secret Service andFBI talk about it, we are all talkingabout the same terrain.

GW: The JFHQ NCR’s resourcesinclude the mobile command centres(MCC). How do they combine with theCST’s universal communication system(UCS)? Is there a communications hubfor the JFHQ, or does it provide somekind of joint civil-military capability?JB: We have several mobilecommunications platforms and canperform mission command from ourjoint operations centre; but we alsohave sites that we can move to,alternate command and control sites.Our platforms enable communicationsnot just between different militaryassets, but also with civilian entities, sowe could connect a local sheriff’sdepartment through a secure militaryradio to a military aircraft flyingaround, and those kinds of things.

GW: As you stated, a range of NSSEsarise and recently there was superstorm Sandy. What lessons did youlearn from those? Since you are alwaysin a support role do you see yourselvesas a force that can change in order totake on those lessons?JB: The most important thing for us isto understand what the realrequirements are and be postured tohelp. General Charles Jacoby [CG

Northcom Ed.] says we cannot afford tobe late to need. We have to arrive at theright time and place with what isneeded. We must anticipate what’sneeded and can’t get it wrong. If webring a bunch of unnecessary stuff intoan area we create more problems thanwe solve. Staying connected is vital, andthat depends on these relationships,understanding the requirements andposturing ourselves so that when askedwe can provide the necessary help.

One of the assets most frequentlyrequested from the military is rotarywing aviation, because we have a lot ofit. Wearing my army hat I command anaviation brigade, and even before we getthe call to stand up as at JTF I willprobably get requests from my missionpartners in the area for help, becausewe have a lot of helicopters and I havethe authority to commit forcers to savelives. In the army we call it animmediate response authority.

What we don’t do is push aircraft towhere we think they might be neededwithout the request to help, because itcould complicate things and become aproblem, especially if the NationalGuard or local police are responding, asit mixes up airspace. We will be incontact, wait until asked, but leanforward and be ready to launch.

GW: For DC, like New York, or LA thereis plenty of mass here, many responders.Consequently when you do a NSSE andall the wagons circle is it business asusual, or are there always surprises? JB: No, it is not business as usual. Everytime we stand up as a JTF it is a uniqueevent with individual requests andthreat conditions. We work hard with allthe intelligence and law enforcementagencies to look at the potential threatsand then we position ourselves to resistthem. Even though we did the state ofthe union in the Capitol building lastyear, and we will do it again this year inthe same place with the same group ofpeople, the people outside and potentialthreats will have changed, so the way wedefend against them must also change.

GW: It is an interesting point asgenerally the army is a dynamicorganisation, deploying assets quickly to

eliminate threats. Yet when you dothese NSSEs you know the players andevent and have plenty of time to prepare.How do you ensure that you don’t getinto a scripted mindset, how do youensure that you react dynamically? JB: We exercise a lot, sometimeswithout notice. One of myresponsibilities is to help evacuate andmove government leaders in case ofemergency and this week we did it at nonotice. We had to coordinate someaspects at staff level with the FederalAviation Authority (FAA) prior to doingit, but the crews didn’t know and wescrambled all available aircraft, that’s 24aircraft, in a formation flight throughthe capital to practise a contingencymission. This is typical of what we do tokeep ourselves, and our planning andcoordination abilities, sharp.

CBIRF is intentionally not in themiddle of downtown DC, but if there isan event there we have to get them in.If you can picture the kinds of eventsthat would bring CBIRF into DC thenyou can imagine that getting themthere by road in a hurry would bedifficult. Traffic on a normal day istough! This year we practised usingaircraft with sling load operations to flythem from place to place and movetheir equipment rapidly. We also havethe option of moving them by river. Wedo these exercises so we can best meetthe need.

GW: Another thing that has happenedin recent years is a shift to HomelandResponse Forces (HRFs), DefenceCBRNE Reaction Force (DCRF), JointTask Force Civil Support (JTF CS) etc.Do you get much play with them?JB: We do coordinate with the CBRNEEnhanced Response Force Packages(CERF-P), HRFs and CSTs, primarily byworking with the Guard elements inMaryland, DC and Virginia, but for themost part I am concerned with the Title10 forces. There is an interplay, whenyou look at the CBRN enterprise thereis a Title 10 aspect, there is a stateresponse, a federal response, andostensibly the state response comesfirst, but if it is a big event we will bescrambling together to get there at thesame time. You mentioned Joint Task

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Force Civil Support and they could be apart of it with the DCRF as part of thatresponse, or it might not. CBIRF couldalso be part of the DCRF, depending onwhere it is. If it is in the nation’s capitalthen parts of CBIRF will stay here.

GW: The big exercise in DC is CapitalShield. Have you seen style and type offorces shift and change?JB: We have. Last year we had 39different federal, local and stateagencies involved. It is a great weeklong exercise and we do a number ofthings with it, including a commandpost exercise for the HQ, but also as aseries of field training exercises. Wehave a special one of a kind engineercompany, which is an urban search andrescue organisation, and they use it fortheir annual certification where they gointo collapsed structures.

We will usually do a mass casualtyevent, coordinated with various rescueand fire departments around the area,

do a Medevac situation, which is a jointreception/staging/onward integrationexercise where we receive a lot of forcesat an airfield. We handle all the tacticalthings as part of Capital Shield, actuallymoving forces and assets with peopletalking on radios, rather than just as atable top.

GW: Recently it was nuclear, is thatalways the case?JB: It is all sorts of different scenarios.This year part of it included collapsedstructures and here at Fort McNair wewill have an active shooter in somebuildings. Various SWAT teams,including our own and Met Police, willtry and reduce that threat.

GW: How will we see the headquartersevolve? We are seeing a big draw downin funding for civilians and potentiallythe military, either Title 10 or 32,needs to pick up this slack. Are youexpecting an active evolution?

JB: Our forces are not growing, the armyas a whole is not growing. Two years agowe had 572,000 soldiers, by the end ofnext year it will be 490,000 and it willreduce beyond that. We are determinedto maintain readiness throughout and ifwe are going to do that we can afford lessof a force structure.

Our force structure is both armyand joint forces, so we will feel thepressure to reduce both the army andthe joint side. Like every organisationacross the army we are making cuts.The key for us is to be smart about howwe do it, to understand how we cangain efficiencies in our HQ andsubordinate forces so we can get thejob done and do it well and to standardwith fewer people. At some point intime when we are told to keep cuttingwe will have to say that we can nolonger do it through gainingefficiencies, but by taking tasks off thetable. We are not there yet, but we aregetting smaller rather than larger.

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Capital Shield is a week long exercise designed to bring all the DC Federal, State and local assets together ©DoD