Periscope MILITARY CONTINGENCY
16 NEWSWEEK.COM
ON WATCH Military and civilian ofɿcers
monitor screens at NORTHCOM’s
Domestic Wing Center headquarters in
Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2004.patients, the number of hospital beds
fewer than the potential number of
patients that could need them. And
brawls have already broken out in
stores where products are in short
supply. The worst case is that short-
ages and violence spreads, that the
federal military, isolated and kept
healthy behind its own barricade, is
called to take over.
Orders have already gone out
that Secretary of Defense Esper and
his deputy, David Norquist, remain
physically separated, to guard against
both of them becoming incapacitated.
Other national security agencies are
following suit, and the White House
continuity specialists are readying
evacuation should the virus sweep
through the Executive Mansion.
The plans state that the govern-
ment continues essential functions
under all circumstances, even if that
is with the devolved second string
or under temporary military com-
mand. One of the “national essen-
tial functions”, according to Federal
Continuity Directive 1 is that the
government “provid[e] leadership
visible to the Nation and the world...
[while] maintaining the trust and
confidence of the American people.”
The question is whether a faceless
elite could ever provide that con-
fidence, preserving government
command but also adding to public
panic. That could be a virus, too.Ơ William M. Arkin is the author of a
half-dozen books including american
coup: how a terrified government
is destroying the constitution. He
is writing ending perpetual war for
Simon & Schuster.“Devolution may be
temporary, or may
endure for an
extended period.”New York National Guard arrived in
New Rochelle last week, even though
they were operating under the con-
trol of the governor, Mayor Noam
Bramson still found it necessary
to assure the public that no one in
military uniform would have any
“policing function.”
Local authorities around America
are already expressing worries that
they have insufficient equipment,
particularly ventilators, to deal with
a possible influx of coronavirusconstitutional protections. Local civil
authorities must be “unable, fail, or
refuse” to protect the civilian popula-
tion for military forces to be called in,
Pentagon directives make clear.
Since Hurricane Katrina in 2006,
no emergency has triggered any state
to even request federal military aid
under these procedures. Part of the
reason, the senior officer involved
in planning says, is that local police
forces have themselves become more
capable, acquiring military-grade
equipment and training. And part of
the reason is that the governors have
worked together to strengthen the
National Guard, which can enforce
domestic law when it is mustered
under state control.
But to give a sense of how sen-
sitive the employment of military
forces on American soil is, when the ROBERTN
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.ELSBER*ʔ*ETT<APRIL 10, 2020