Defense Department task forces to beef up disaster response.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SECURITY BEAT: Homeland Defense Briefs

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The Defense Department is creating special units to assist state and local governments in the event of a major catastrophe, said Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and America's security affairs.

The department is establishing task forces to respond to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, high-yield explosive attacks or accidents. McHale said previously that the Defense Department will step in to assist when the homeland suffers "catastrophic" events similar to Hurricane Katrina or a terrorist attack where a weapon of mass destruction is used.

These task forces will comprise more than 15,000 military personnel from the active, Reserve and National Guard forces, McHale said at a National Defense Industrial Association homeland security conference.

Units will rotate through and be assigned, trained and deployed for the CBRNE mission, McHale said. Officials will divide the forces if needed to respond to multiple, simultaneous events.

One year ago, McHale bluntly stated the Defense Department and other federal agencies were woefully unprepared to respond to 13 of 15 homeland disaster scenarios--most of which are related to weapons of mass destruction. Hurricane response and pandemic flu were the only areas where he believed adequate plans were in place.

Called the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive consequence...