Fearing Civil Unrest
WASHINGTON (Newsweek) -- District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser has ordered a one-month extension of the state of emergency, as cases in the region grow at a rapid pace. Federal officials in the nation’s capital expect a New York-like epidemic in the District, Maryland and Virginia, one that could potentially cripple the government.
"No one wants to talk evacuation, especially when there’s nowhere to go,” says a senior military officer working on continuity of government planning; he requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on the record.
But a little-known military task force charged with evacuating Washington has already been activated, a task force charged with the most sensitive government mission of "securing” Washington in the face of attackers, foreign and domestic—and if necessary, moving White House and other key government offices to alternate locations.
Activated on March 16, Joint Task Force National Capital Region (JTF-NCR) is chartered to "defend” Washington on land, in the air, and even on its waterfronts.
Behind the scenes, JTF-NCR is responsible for what the military calls "homeland defense”: what to do in the face of an armed attack on the United States, everything from guarding Washington’s skies to preparing for the civil unrest that could occur if a nuclear weapon were detonated in the capital. But most immediate, JTF-NCR is charged with facilitating continuity of government, particularly moving civil and military leaders to secret locations were the order given to evacuate the city.
Ever since National Guards started to activate countrywide, Pentagon officials have insisted that men and women in uniform are not conducting secret missions and that they will not administer or enforce "stay at home” quarantines. The Pentagon has also rejected reports, including articles in Newsweek, about martial law or other extreme contingency plans, arguing that the Guard remains under strict control of state governors, while federal troops support civil agencies like FEMA.
And yet the activation of Joint Task Force National Capital Region, including almost 10,000 uniformed personnel to carry out its special orders, contradicts those assurances. JTF-NCR is not only real and operating, reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense for some of its mission, but some of its units are already on 24/7 alert, specially sequestered on military bases and kept out of coronavirus support duties to ensure their readiness.
In peacetime, the Joint Forces Headquarters is merely a coordinator, with each of the military services retaining control of their forces. But once the Joint Task Force is activated, as it has been now, operations and units shift to what the military calls "operational command.”
The latest fatality figures for the U.S., as tallied by Johns Hopkins University, pushed the total death toll in the country to 33,288 early Friday.
Trump on Thursday announced his "Opening Up America Again” guidelines that include three phases. "Some states will open sooner than others,” Trump said Thursday. "We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time.”
There are over 671,400 coronavirus cases in the U.S. and over 2.1 million worldwide Friday, according to John Hopkins University data.
"No one wants to talk evacuation, especially when there’s nowhere to go,” says a senior military officer working on continuity of government planning; he requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on the record.
But a little-known military task force charged with evacuating Washington has already been activated, a task force charged with the most sensitive government mission of "securing” Washington in the face of attackers, foreign and domestic—and if necessary, moving White House and other key government offices to alternate locations.
Activated on March 16, Joint Task Force National Capital Region (JTF-NCR) is chartered to "defend” Washington on land, in the air, and even on its waterfronts.
Behind the scenes, JTF-NCR is responsible for what the military calls "homeland defense”: what to do in the face of an armed attack on the United States, everything from guarding Washington’s skies to preparing for the civil unrest that could occur if a nuclear weapon were detonated in the capital. But most immediate, JTF-NCR is charged with facilitating continuity of government, particularly moving civil and military leaders to secret locations were the order given to evacuate the city.
Ever since National Guards started to activate countrywide, Pentagon officials have insisted that men and women in uniform are not conducting secret missions and that they will not administer or enforce "stay at home” quarantines. The Pentagon has also rejected reports, including articles in Newsweek, about martial law or other extreme contingency plans, arguing that the Guard remains under strict control of state governors, while federal troops support civil agencies like FEMA.
And yet the activation of Joint Task Force National Capital Region, including almost 10,000 uniformed personnel to carry out its special orders, contradicts those assurances. JTF-NCR is not only real and operating, reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense for some of its mission, but some of its units are already on 24/7 alert, specially sequestered on military bases and kept out of coronavirus support duties to ensure their readiness.
In peacetime, the Joint Forces Headquarters is merely a coordinator, with each of the military services retaining control of their forces. But once the Joint Task Force is activated, as it has been now, operations and units shift to what the military calls "operational command.”
The latest fatality figures for the U.S., as tallied by Johns Hopkins University, pushed the total death toll in the country to 33,288 early Friday.
Trump on Thursday announced his "Opening Up America Again” guidelines that include three phases. "Some states will open sooner than others,” Trump said Thursday. "We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time.”
There are over 671,400 coronavirus cases in the U.S. and over 2.1 million worldwide Friday, according to John Hopkins University data.
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