Welcome to the Logistics Officer Association Professional Development Module
#9, Defense Support of Civil Authorities. This module was developed by the
Gateway Chapter from Scott Air Force Base. The purpose of this module is to
provide you a better understanding of how the Department of Defense, through the
United States Transportation Command, and ultimately Air Mobility Command
provide support for civil authorities in response to natural and man-made disasters.
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On October 22, 2012, a low pressure system south of Kingston, Jamaica, developed
into a tropical depression. Later that day, as the storm built, it was named Tropical
Storm Sandy, and on October 24 it was upgraded to hurricane status. It developed
into the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 season and the secondcostliest hurricane in US history. In the US alone, Superstorm Sandy killed a total
of 160 people, caused tens of billions of dollars worth of damage across 24 states,
and cut power to a record 7.5 million businesses and households.
On October 29, 2012, the USTRANSCOM Fusion Center transitioned from 24-hour
support for scheduled USNORTHCOM and USSTRATCOM exercises to 24-hour
Hurricane Sandy relief operations. AMC and USTRANSCOM deployed 678
passengers and 3,401.7 short tons of cargo ranging from medical and search and
rescue personnel to public utility vehicles to blankets and medical equipment.
Although we’ve seen the US military providing humanitarian aid to nations across
the globe in the aftermath of natural disasters, aid to our own nation is governed by
a program known as Defense Support of Civil Authorities, or DSCA (disk-uh).
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In this module, we will first define DSCA then outline the Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs’ standing execution order for it. We will identify the organizations that are
supported by DSCA, known as primary agencies, and discuss the resources that are
taskable under this program and the categories of support they fall under. We will
explore the criteria used to evaluate DSCA requests, and, finally, we will identify
the USTRANSCOM and AMC forces that support DSCA requests.
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So what is DSCA? DoD Directive 5111.13 defines DSCA as support provided by
U.S. Federal military forces, National Guard forces performing duty in accordance
with Title 32, DoD civilians, DoD contract personnel, and DoD component assets in
support of requests for assistance from civil authorities for special events, domestic
emergencies, designated law enforcement support, and other domestic activities.
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The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has a standing execution order, or
EXORD, pertaining to DSCA authority. The EXORD identifies the commanders of
USNORTHCOM and USPACOM as the supported combatant commanders with
DSCA responsibilities, and it delegates to them limited approval authority for
routine requests for assistance (RFAs). Delegated approval authority enables the
combatant commanders to provide a rapid and flexible DoD response to federal
primary agencies for potential or actual emergencies and/or disasters within the
United States,
States its territories
territories, possessions
possessions, and protectorates.
protectorates
The CJCS EXORD for DSCA is not intended to cover chemical, biological,
radiological or nuclear incidents. There is a separate CJCS CBRN EXORD to cover
those responses; however, both EXORDs may be used in conjunction with one
another as needed. The supported CCDR must notify the SECDEF and the CJCS
under which authority the support is being provided.
provided
Unless otherwise directed by the President or the Secretary of Defense, deployment
of resources to conduct DSCA must not interfere with the primary DoD mission.
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The organizations supported by DSCA operations are known as Primary Agencies,
or PAs. The three most commonly supported organizations are the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) for domestic incident management operations, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operating under the
Department of Commerce for weather reconnaissance capability requests, and the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under DHS for natural or manmade disasters, emergencies, catastrophic events and terrorist attacks.
PAs request DoD assistance only after all local, state and other federal agencies
have been exhausted.
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The military resources that may be tasked under DSCA run the gamut from
individual personnel to complete military installations. Personnel may be tasked
individually or in modular force packages for operations such as search and rescue,
medical, transportation, command and control, communication, theater opening and
wildland firefighting. Assets such as fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft and
communication assets may be tasked,
The Civil Air Patrol can be used as a civilian volunteer auxiliary of the Air Force
and may be called upon for civil support such as situational awareness, damage
assessment, evacuation monitoring, and light airlift. The are capable of conducting
imagery and assessment of the affected area, to include visual observation, still
photography, and hyper-spectral imaging.
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There are four categories of forces authorized for DSCA under the CJCS EXORD.
Category 1 forces are those assigned or allocated to the supported CCDR.
Supported CCDRs are authorized the following actions with respect to assigned and
allocated forces: Place them on prepare to deploy orders (PTDO) status; deploy
assigned forces in their area of responsibility after first notifying the CJCS and
SECDEF; and employ forces upon receipt of a request for assistance from a PA that
has been validated by the supported CCDR. Forces may be deployed or employed
for up to 60 days, and the supported CCDR must notify the SecDef and CJCS
before movement.
Category 2 forces are pre-identified – but not pre-approved – resources to respond
p
events. The supported
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combatant commander can coordinate directlyy
to specific
with the Joint Staff J-31 and force providers to source available pre-identified
resources and place them on 24-hour PTDO for up to seven days, deploy them
within their AOR, and employ them upon combatant commander approved request
for assistance and notification of the Joint Staff and the Secretary of Defense. As
with category 1 forces, category 2 forces may be deployed or employed for up to 60
days, and the supported CCDR must notify the SecDef and CJCS prior to
movement
movement.
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Category 3 force are resources identified for internal use. In other words, they’re
DoD funded and support the DoD. The supported CCDR has the same authorities
and requirements for the use of Category 3 forces as for Category 2 forces.
And finally, Category 4 forces are large-scale response resources. Approval from
the Secretary of Defense is required to place Category 4 resources on prepare to
deploy orders and to deploy and/or employ them.
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All Requests for Assistance, or RFAs, must be evaluated based on the following
criteria:
Cost: What is the funding source and impact on the DoD budget? DSCA
missions are not part of the military budget process, and support is usually
provided on a cost reimbursable basis. Not every RFA has a clear line of
funding. What’s the impact to the DoD if funding does not materialize?
Appropriateness: Is the requested mission in the best interest of the DoD?
Readiness: How does the DSCA mission impact the DoD’s ability to
perform its primary mission? Consider impacts such as effects on
operational
ti l missions
i i
andd training
t i i as well
ll as maintenance
i t
issues
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with
ith aircraft
i
ft
or equipment.
Risk: Are DoD forces in harm’s way?
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Legality: Does the mission comply with the law?
Lethality: What is the potential for use of lethal force by or against DoD
forces?
Common Sense: Should the military be doing this?
Has contracting been explored? The DoD does not compete with the
civilian sector for business.
Have all other avenues of support been considered? PAs should request
DoD assistance only after all local, state and other federal agency support
has been exhausted. In addition, the use of DoD assets for “show the flag”
missions should be discouraged.
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USTRANSCOM also has a standing EXORD for DSCA. It identifies
USTRANSCOM forces for categories 2, 3 and 4.
Missions for the Category 2 forces include patient evacuation; Joint Task Force –
Port Opening; Deployment Distribution Center – Forward; Communications
packages; and C-130-capable Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) and
Modular Aerial Spray System (MASS)
USTRANSCOM Category 3 Forces are Director of Mobility Forces – Air and the
Joint Public Affairs Support Element
USTRANSCOM’s Category 4 Forces are strategic transportation assets for large
scale
l responses
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Place Narrative/script in the notes section of Powerpoint.
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Under the USTRANSCOM umbrella, Air Mobility Command provides two special
types of DSCA support:
Weather reconnaissance capability from the 53d Weather Recon Squadron
“Hurricane Hunters” to support NOAA (Department of Commerce) and
Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MAFFS) support to the U. S. Forest
Service (Department of Agriculture - USDA) to combat wildfires. The
Forest Service has numerous civilian aircraft used to combat wildfires;
AMC’s C-130s are tasked only after all other support has been exhausted.
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The DSCA Challenge:
Missions executed under the DSCA umbrella are not included in the DoD
budget process. They are funded as line items within the budget of the
responsible PA. Therefore, Government-wide budget constraints may lead
to underfunding. In the cases of AMC’s MAFFS and Hurricane Hunter
support, severe weather conditions may cause dramatic increases in RFAs.
Should the DoD budget for these missions in whole or in part?
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In conclusion, DSCA is DoD support provided in response to requests from civil
authorities for special events, domestic emergencies, designated law enforcement
support, and other domestic activities.
PAs request DoD assistance only after all local, state and other federal agencies
have been exhausted, and DSCA does not compete with the civilian sector for
business. Before committing resources, the DoD thoroughly vets all RFAs based on
cost, appropriateness, readiness, risk, legality, lethality, and common sense.
A final takeaway is the challenge of funding. The DoD executes DSCA missions,
but it depends on funding from the PA, which may or may not have sufficiently
budgeted to cover its requirements.
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