DFF Chairman Ambassador J. William Middendorf, II, introduces Peter Verga, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Security at the Department of Defense.

Peter Verga, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Security at the Department of Defense, addressed the topic: “DoD’S Role in Protecting U.S. Citizens from Terror Attacks.” Verga began by explaining the difference between Homeland Security and Homeland Defense. Homeland Security is defined as the prevention of terrorist attacks inside the United States, reduction of vulnerability to terrorist attacks, and the response and recovery to terrorist attacks. Homeland Defense is the military defense of the United States against external threats and aggression, the historic and current role of the Department of Defense (DOD).

In the context of 9-ll, for example, preventing the terrorists from getting into the United States, preventing them from overstaying their visa, preventing them from being able to get onto the aircraft with a weapon, preventing them from being able to take over the aircraft — all are the job of the Department of Homeland Security or another agency of the United States government. Dealing with those aircrafts after they had been hijacked and turned into guided missiles is the job of the DOD.

The Founding Fathers, based on their experience as a colony of Great Britain, wanted to ensure the United States military had a very circumscribed role in internal security. Hence, the DOD is not responsible for internal security matters inside the United States. Verga pointed out: “but that is not to say that we do not bear responsibility for protecting the population: that is what the global war on terrorism is all about. It’s protecting the United States population from attack by attacking our enemies where they are, as opposed to allowing them to come here and attack us. That is called active layered defense,” explained Verga. “It means that you defend forward; you put your forces where the enemy is — not wait for the enemy to come to you — so that we can provide that layer of protection.”

“Our biggest fear is that a weapon of mass destruction — chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapon — will somehow be introduced into the United States and then will be detonated, causing huge, huge devastation,” explained Verga. “So we have this active layered defense that we’ve constructed that works in forward areas — in the approaches to the United States, in something we call the global commons, which is space, cyberspace and ungoverned areas of oceans — to prevent those things from happening.”

There is a role for the military in responding to terrorist attacks. Throughout our history, fires, floods, hurricanes, natural disasters — the military has always been able to respond to help the American people under those special circumstances.

In addition to trying to prevent attacks on the United States through our military missions overseas and an active layered defense, we are in fact prepared to respond should such an attack occur, Verga explained. The DoD has organized special units to be able to respond to a weapon of mass destruction attack in the United States. The Joint Task Force Civil Support, headquartered at Fort Monroe, Virginia, is the command and control headquarters. It works for the commander of the United States Northern Command, who is the overall combatant commander responsible for the territory which includes the United States. “They’re prepared to employ that joint task force, which is about 3,000 people, made up of the Army, the Army National Guard, the Army Reserve, and some Air Force units that have specialties that could be useful in responding to the results of a weapon of mass destruction attack: medical, chemical-biological, decontamination, all those types of things,” Verga said. Two other units, Joint Task Force East and West, can also assist should an attack occur simultaneously or near-simultaneously.

Currently, thirty-seven states have and soon every state will have a Weapon of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team. These teams are mini task forces with 22 folks in each who are specialists in decontamination, biological and chemical work. They have a mobile laboratory, a mobile communications van, and some capability to deal with casualties. They have the capability to roll up to a location and using a sophisticated laboratory assess the biological or chemical material.

To deal with a possible invasion on United States soil, there is a Quick Reaction Force that can be deployed to a particular location should an emergency arise or should a particular location come under threat. The United States Northern Command also provides support to civil authorities when directed by the President or Secretary of Defense.

“Every day you’ll find combat air patrols being flown over the United States to deter and prevent a repetition of another 9/11 attack,” said Verga. “It is very difficult to deter a suicide bomber because they are not deterred by the fact that they are going to die, but there is some prospect of deterrence if they won’t be able to achieve the objective that they’re trying to achieve.”