COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CNN) – Some of the most critical US senior military commanders and nuclear and special operations forces are now operating under extraordinary protection measures to ensure that in the event of a sudden security crisis, including any potential nuclear mission, there will be enough healthy troops and leaders to carry out orders as the coronavirus pandemic grows.
There have only been vague references to many of these measures, but taken together, they present a picture of how much worry and effort is going into ensuring the pandemic stops short of impacting the nation’s defense.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has publicly voiced concern that the military’s readiness must be maintained.
“I think we will have moderate to low levels of readiness impacts,” Milley said March 24, if the number of military cases remains relatively low.
In Colorado Springs, at the headquarters of NORAD and the Northern Command, so-called distributed operations are now in place. NORAD monitors US airspace against threats and intrusions, including Russian military aircraft. Northern Command is coordinating the military assistance for the pandemic.
We are isolating specific command personnel involved in critical mission areas, including homeland defense functions,” a US military official at the command told CNN. “To ensure we remain capable of defending the homeland despite the pandemic, our command and control watch teams here in the headquarters split into shifts.”
Some of the watch teams are now working from Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, a Cold War-era bunker inside a nearby mountain.
“Additionally, our personnel are operating in pre-determined physical zones within the building. All command members are closely monitoring their own health as well as the health of their family members. This is mitigating exposure to our personnel and their families and to preserve our capability and capacity to execute our homeland defense and COVID-19 missions,” the official said.
The strategy of having critical military personnel now work only in pre-specified zones and work in shifts is being replicated in other critical facilities including the Pentagon. Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper have been public for weeks about how much they are limiting contact with their own staffs, and not allowing large meetings inside the Pentagon. The numbers of workers coming to the Pentagon has been cut down by well over half.
Replies