Should the Military Be Called in for Natural Disasters?

The December 31, 2008 issue of Time.com has an interesting article concerning the policy issues involved in using the military in response to disasters in the U.S.

Currently plans are by 2011 the Department of Defense plans will have 20,000 uniformed troops expressly trained to assist in national disaster rapid response at a moment's notice. These are regular military "combat units" not state National Guard units. READ MORE

OPINION - Why is this of interest to the HAZUS user community

As the military gets more integrated into the disaster management community they will become a big HAZUS-MH user. The military and the related Intelligence Community can also be providers of "tactical" remote sensing data that can be used in HAZUS driven response and recovery activities. For example, the implementation of the DHS National Applications Office continues to be stalled because of Congressional concerns over privacy and civil liberties. As the principal interface between the Intelligence Community and the Civil Applications communities, the DHS National Applications Office is intended to provide more robust access to needed remote sensing information.