NorthCom commander: Cooperation, staff are up since Katrina

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jun 2, 2007 | by PAM ZUBECK THE GAZETTE

Northern Command has improved how it responds to disasters since Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005. But the fiveyear-old command still isn't hitting on all cylinders, its new commander said last week.

The command has tightened links with federal and state agencies and bolstered logistical planning, Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart said.

That means NorthCom can respond quicker, with exactly what's needed.

But the command must rely on a war-stressed National Guard and Reserve force. And it needs more work in planning its response to national scenarios, he said.

"We're still in this process between what we'd like to have in the end game and where we are today," Renuart said in his first interview since taking command March 23.

But he said he's satisfied the Federal Emergency Management Agency understands the importance of planning and identifying gaps, which helps NorthCom devise its strategies.

NorthCom began operations in October 2002 in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. Its mission is to detect and deter threats against the nation and respond to national emergencies. Before that, there was no single agency that focused on homeland defense.

NorthCom's first big test came in August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina, a category 3 storm, hit the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,000 people and annihilating parts of New Orleans and Mississippi's coast.

Since then, the command has increased staff by 22 percent, with a total of 1,257 assigned today.

More importantly, Renuart said, NorthCom has developed more sophisticated relationships -- many have permanent chairs at NorthCom's table at Peterson Air Force Base -- with 60 federal agencies that are better trained and equipped to work together when emergencies strike.

Instead of having one or two Corps of Engineers officials on hand as it did two years ago, for example, the command now can quickly tap eight who are versed on North-Com procedures and lingo.

Placing NorthCom people in state command centers provides additional links with cooperating agencies, he said.

Also, after an exercise in 2006 revealed a lack of knowledge about what privately owned assets are available and how to contact them, NorthCom began assembling lists of firms with trucks, generators, mortuaries and other equipment and services that might be needed in a catastrophe. Officials now know how many beds are available in specific areas of the country to treat burn patients -- a requirement in the case of a nuclear detonation.

The results of those efforts could be tested within weeks, as a hurricane season that's predicted to be severe gets under way.

Renuart faces filling holes where Guard and Reserve forces are thin or lack equipment because of deployments overseas.

"The cost of that is that equipment is not available at home," he said. "We need to rebuild that capacity."

Minus more money, Renuart must live with Reserve units that are short-handed and hurting for trucks, communications and supplies. That means equipment may have to be shipped from Mississippi for use by Reserve soldiers in Louisiana, he said.

He said NorthCom, the head of the National Guard Bureau and states' adjutants general "have a pretty good understanding of where there may be shortfalls," he said.

"We have built a process going into this hurricane season that will allow us to adapt to that and to do that early enough that a governor's not put at risk of feeling they cannot respond to their citizens," he said. "It's a beautiful patchwork quilt."

Renuart also heads North-Com's sister command, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a binational command with Canada that monitors air, space, maritime and ground threats.

Both are based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs and have elements at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, a bunker under 2,000 feet of granite built during the Cold War to withstand nuclear strike and chemical weapons.

Renuart said he supports plans to move NORAD missions from the mountain to Peterson, while keeping computer servers and other facilities there. The idea is to have the bunker ready for use when threat levels dictate.

A Government Accountability Office report released this month found no basis for claims the move would save money. Nor has an analysis demonstrated a greater "unity of command" will result.

Still, Renuart said NORAD's functions inside the mountain need to be side by side with NorthCom at Peterson to give commanders and the president the best threat assessment and potential responses.

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