Military Alerts



Introduction

Military operations in the United States are comprised of the U.S. Armed Forces, which include the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. Historically, the U.S. military has a long tradition of civilian control. The armed forces are led by the president as commander-in-chief, with the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps under the administration of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the secretary of which is also a civilian, appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Over 1.4 million people serve in the various branches of the U.S. military, augmented by an additional 500,000 civilian employees. These numbers are augmented by the approximately 850,000 men and women who serve in military reserves or the National Guard. U.S. military forces serve at over 800 installations located in over 130 different nations around the globe and within the United States (Suellentrop, p.1).

Discussion

The Force Protection Condition (FPCON) system describes progressive levels of security measures to use when military installations are threatened by a terrorist attack. The U.S. Central Command uses FPCONs to standardize threat and readiness conditions across the armed forces. FPCON levels are different from defense readiness condition (DEFCON) levels, which determine military deployment levels for incidents likely to have civilian casualties (Pentagon Force Protection Agency, p.2). Different locations usually have different FPCON levels, which are assigned taking into consideration the assets and infrastructures that may appeal to a terrorist group, how vulnerable the place may be to an attack, and the ability to recover and respond.

The FPCON system replaced an earlier system of “terrorist threat conditions” or THREATCONs. That terminology was changed in July 2001 to avoid confusion with the State Department's Threat Advisory System. However, many contemporary reports on the 9/11 attacks still used the term “THREATCON.” The terminology became even more complicated with the establishment of the Homeland Security Advisory System in 2002, which uses five colors to indicate the danger of an attack on U.S. soil.

The first two of the five force protection threat conditions are general. The first level, FPCON (or THREATCON) Normal, means that a general threat exists but that security should be routine (Airman's Manual Explains, p.92).

There are seven levels of alert, or ALERT Status LERTCON. Five of them correspond to DEFCON, either:

DEFCON 5: Preparation normal peacetime

DEFCON 4: Preparation normal, but increased intelligence and strengthened security measures

DEFCON 3: Increase the readiness of forces beyond the normal preparation

DEFCON 2: Increase in preparing additional forces, but below the maximum preparation

DEFCON 1: Preparation maximum forces (at war). This level is for an imminent attack or planned U.S. military or U.S. territory by a foreign army. The alert level was never reached

The other two are Emergency Condition (EMERGCON), corresponding to an attack by intercontinental ballistic missile :

DEFENSE EMERGENCY: Major attack against U.S. forces overseas or on allied forces.

AIR DEFENSE EMERGENCY: attack against the territory of the United States, the Canada or Greenland ongoing or imminent.

In the case of a EMERGCON, all forces are automatically in DEFCON 1.

However, in 2004 the federal National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) was formed ...