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U.S.: Communication Breakdown in Homeland Defense?
March 4, 2002
Summary
Miscommunication between the U.S. military and local police that led to the recent death of a soldier in North Carolina is a symptom of a deeper problem. Poor communication between military and civilian defense officials, and between federal and local authorities, is a threat to the United States' homeland defense network.
Analysis
One soldier training to become a U.S. Army Green Beret was killed and another injured in rural North Carolina on Feb. 23, when a local sheriff's deputy mistakenly shot them during a 19-day Army training mission. A similar training simulation last fall in South Carolina also went awry, raising questions about the level of communication between military and civilian security authorities.
Those cases are examples of a much larger challenge the United States faces as it seeks to develop a viable homeland defense network. A hodge-podge of federal, state and local authorities work under some basic assumptions about communication and cooperation that will continue to hamper the identification and investigation of terrorist threats.
No defense is impenetrable. But without vast and permanent improvements in communication protocols and capabilities, the United States will continue to have holes in its domestic security apparatus large enough to drive a truck-bomb through.
The North Carolina case boils down to a communication failure. The soldiers, who were posing as civilians, apparently believed that the Moore County sheriff's deputy who pulled their pickup over on a rural road was participating in the simulation. One soldier rushed the officer. Unaware of the simulation and believing his life to be in danger, the officer used pepper spray and then opened fire on the men.
Though such training exercises have taken place in the area for decades and are understood by local residents, a Moore County Sheriff's Department official said his office was not notified of the particulars of the operation or that anything would be taking place that day. Officials from Fort Bragg -- where the Army Special Forces Operations command is based -- said that county authorities were not informed of the exercise because the military didn't think the department would be involved, the Associated Press reported Feb. 26.
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* U.S.: Communication Breakdown in Homeland Defense?
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