Bush Signs Order to Activate 50,000 Reserve Troops (aus New York Times)

verfasst von Sascha, 15.09.2001, 00:53

September 14, 2001

THE MILITARY

<font size=5>Bush Signs Order to Activate 50,000 Reserve Troops</font>

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:33 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- <font color="#FF0000">The Pentagon will call thousands of reservists to active duty for"homeland defense," including Cold War-style patrols of U.S. airspace from coast to coast, officials said Friday</font>.

The call-up of as many as 50,000 members of the National Guard and Reserve was authorized Friday by President Bush, who said in a formal declaration of national emergency that the extra troops are needed in light of a"continuing and immediate threat" of further terrorist attacks on the United States.

Under the authorization signed by Bush, the Pentagon could call as many as 1 million reservists to active duty, although Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he would call no more than 50,000.

The military services said they expect to need no more than 35,500 and have not yet decided which units to call. Once on active duty the citizen soldiers could be required to serve as long as two years.

Craig Duehring, a senior Pentagon personnel executive, said he was not sure when the first call-ups would be made. Victoria Clarke, spokeswoman for Rumsfeld, said they would come within days.

<font color="#FF0000">The call-ups will be as follows:

-- Air Force, 13,000.

-- Army, 10,000.

-- Marine Corps, 7,500.

-- Navy, 3,000.

-- Coast Guard, 2,000.</font>

All are intended for duty in the United States, officials said, although additional call-ups beyond the initial 35,500 might be sent abroad. Duehring said that besides the"homeland defense" role, some others will provide mortuary services in New York City and other support for civilian agencies.

It is the first time the president has authorized a partial mobilization of the reserves since January 1991, when 265,322 were called to active duty at the outset of the Gulf War. Such a call-up is permitted by law only if the president declares a national emergency. Bush said Friday that an emergency exists because of Tuesday's aerial attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

A key task for those called up will be continental air defense, a mission the active-duty military ceded to Air National Guard in the aftermath of the Cold War. Normally, only 20 fighter-interceptors are on 24-hour alert to protect against unauthorized violations of U.S. and Canadian airspace, <font color="#FF0000">but after Tuesday's attacks from hijacked airliners Rumsfeld ordered combat air patrols over numerous U.S. cities</font>.

<font color="#FF0000">At the height of the Cold War the military had 3,600 fighter-interceptors for continental air defense, according to Army Maj. Barry Venable, spokesman at the North American Aerospace Defense Command</font>.

Patrols are now being flown only in the New York-Washington air corridor, but Rumsfeld said Thursday <font color="#FF0000">that he ordered fighter-interceptors at 26 bases to be ready to launch with 15 minutes notice</font>.

An unspecified number of the 35,500 reservists being called to active duty -- from the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps -- will fill those air defense missions, said Air Force Maj. Gen. Paul Weaver, director of the Air National Guard.

Among the other expected duties:

-- Security at military bases and elsewhere.

-- Communications and intelligence support.

-- Medical assistance and chaplain services.

-- Port operations and security.

<font color="#FF0000">The U.S. military has 1.3 million reservists and 1.4 million people on active duty.</font>

Quelle: http://nytimes.com[/b]


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