Disaster Response: Key Legal Issues for US Northern Command

• Author: Kurt Johnson
• Position: Captain, JAGC, US Navy
• Pages: 277-291

XVIII

Disaster Response:

Key Legal Issues for US Northern Command

Kurt Johnson*

Introduction

During Labor Day weekend 2005, Hurricane Katrina had its own impact in

Colorado Springs, Colorado. Over 100 men and women worked at afever-

ish pace in the Joint Operations Center and the Combined Intelligence Fusion

Center at US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) as New Orleans residents were

threatened by floodwaters creeping up to their rooftop safe havens. Similar scenar-

ios were repeated for days.

As this was the first time within the United States that a natural disaster of this

proportion had involved NORTHCOM, unique issues arose regarding the use of

Department of Defense (DoD) resources and capabilities in support of hurricane

relief operations within the United States. This article discusses NORTHCOM'

s

missions, authorities and significant legal issues associated with defense support of

civil authorities during disaster relief operations.

Dual Missions

NORTHCOM is aunique geographic combatant command as it has dual missions

—

homeland defense (HLD) and defense support of civil authorities (DSCA)—that

must be performed in our nation's homeland. The legal authority for

Captain, JAGC, US Navy.