Features | 49
Arthur D. Simons Center for Interagency Cooperation, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
by Gary D. Mills
Gary D. Mills is the Simons Center Interagency Writing Award winner for the 2018 graduating
class of the School of Advanced Military Studies, and is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command
and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
the Chemical, Biological, Radiological,
Nuclear Response Enterprise
Reassessing
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower
D
uring the last nine months, citizens throughout the world have observed momentous events
that have added to a tumultuous global environment. Internationally, the ongoing conflicts
in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria are of great concern, notwithstanding the potential
of future conflicts in North Korea or Eastern Europe. Domestically, Americans experience a front
row seat as their elected officials wage partisan politics, while the country operates on a budget of
continuing resolutions. On 20 January 2018, the U.S. government shut down for three days because
Congress could not agree on a budget. The continued possibility of another government shutdown
is unsettling, as agencies within the U.S. government continue to deal with an extensive list of
domestic and international issues.
Among the challenges the U.S. faces is the prevalent threat of major catastrophes. As society
becomes accustomed to expecting governmental support, the current model of responding to
a catastrophic disaster with government agencies, including the military, appears routine. This
expectancy has not always been the case. Disaster response has evolved over the course of 200
years, built with a goal of providing prompt assistance to communities in need. Historically, local
authorities managed disasters and, in rare cases, state governments provided capabilities to manage
the incident site. Generally speaking, the U.S. government lacked a systematic approach for disaster
assistance and therefore handled incident response on a case-by-case basis. This pattern began to
change in the early nineteenth century when the government recognized the need to address fires
and diseases in the nation’s large cities and townships. During this era, the U.S. government tended
to pass ad hoc disaster legislation as disasters unfolded.
In 1803, Portsmouth, NH, experienced a chain of fires that strained local and state resources.
