U.S. Northern Command

Army combat unit to deploy within U.S.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) — The United States military’s Northern Command, formed in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, is dedicating a combat infantry team to deal with catastrophes in the U.S., including terrorist attacks and natural disasters.


Soldiers preparing for a mission coordinated by Joint Task Force North, the U.S. Northern Command unit.

The 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry, which was first into Baghdad, Iraq, in 2003, started its controversial assignment Wednesday.

The First Raiders will spend 2009 as the first active-duty military unit attached to the U.S. Northern Command since it was created. They will be based in Fort Stewart, Georgia, and focus primarily on logistics and support for local police and rescue personnel, the Army says.

The plan is drawing skepticism from some observers who are concerned that the unit has been training with equipment generally used in law enforcement, including beanbag bullets, Tasers, spike strips and roadblocks.

That kind of training seems a bit out of line for the unit’s designated role as Northern Command’s CCMRF (Sea Smurf), or CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force. CBRNE stands for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive incidents.

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Secretive FEMA Camp Drill Running In Iowa

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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) along with other government institutions are currently conducting an 8-day anti-terror and disaster exercise from May 1st through May 8th called National Level Exercise 2-08 in the United States.

We recently covered this exercise in great detail using press releases from FEMA and U.S. Northern Command as source material. We also raised the prospect of the government using this exercise as cover for a potential false flag terror attack. Considering the historical precedent of the government running drills on the day of the 9/11 attacks as cover for the actual operation, this 8-day long anti-terror and disaster exercise sparked some concern.

According to the press releases from both FEMA and U.S. Northern Command, drills are slated to take place in Oregon, Washington State and in the Washington DC or mid-Atlantic area. With this in mind, it is incredibly strange to see reports from the Des Moines Register and the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier indicating that a secretive FEMA exercise is taking place in Waterloo, Iowa.

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General: Homeland response task force to be ready by fall

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RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – The Pentagon will have its first specially trained task force designed to rapidly respond to a catastrophic attack against the United States ready by this fall, a top military commander said last week.

Gen. Victor “Gene” Renuart, chief of the U.S. Northern Command, said the brigade-sized unit will consist of military personnel who are trained to help local authorities respond to a chemical, biological or nuclear incident. The unit will have between 4,000 and 4,500 people and come from various bases and specialties across the country. When disaster strikes, those dedicated to the task force will come together to form the unit.

“Today we pull that together very quickly to respond,” Renuart said Thursday. “This unit will be trained to react in a very short period of time.”

Renuart, the top commander in charge of defending the homeland, is traveling through Europe this month to exchange information with NATO leaders on how military forces can fight homeland terrorism and respond to national disasters.

U.S. Northern Command, called NORTHCOM for short, was created in 2002 to oversee the Pentagon’s homeland defense efforts and support civil authorities. The creation of the rapid-response team comes after congressional leaders questioned heavily the military’s ability to react to a major attack against the United States.

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