Empire Shield arms Wisconsin National Guard with homeland defense information

By 1st Sgt. Vaughn R. Larson

Wisconsin National Guard

With the CERFP's (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-Explosive Emergency Response Force Package) recent certification, the Wisconsin National Guard has additional resources to apply to domestic emergency operations. To get a sense of how National Guard assets can integrate with local agencies, a team of Wisconsin National Guard members representing the Joint Staff and CERFP visited the New York National Guard's Joint Task Force Empire Shield, which has conducted a state-duty homeland security mission since Sept. 11, 2001.

"We were able to visit with the command elements of JTF Empire Shield and discuss with them in depth and see first-hand how they conduct their missions and orchestrate their day-to-day missions," said Brig. Gen. Scott Legwold, director of the Wisconsin National Guard Joint Staff. "Our takeaways are truly learning from an organization that provides personnel to support homeland security day in and day out at multiple locations in a vast metropolitan area, which is not done in any other cities [currently] to our knowledge."

JTF Empire Shield has approximately 280 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen on state duty in three company-sized elements, patrolling vital transportation terminals in the New York City area and nuclear power plants north on the Hudson River. They coordinate daily with various law enforcement agencies and state agencies such as the New York Naval Militia - a state maritime agency comprised largely of retired Navy Reserve personnel.

Lt. Col. Peter Riley, JTF Empire Shield commander, explained that his troops support law enforcement, but their primary mission is to detect and deter terrorism.

"Sometimes that means they can assist law enforcement, but they don't have the power to arrest," Riley said.

"We're there for presence," added Senior Master Sgt. Edwin Mondezie, Jr., the JTF Empire Shield senior enlisted advisor. "It's so difficult, the role that we play. Even explaining it to the Soldiers, it gets difficult. We're one incident away from being good guys to, 'Why are they out there?' So we have to make sure at all times that we are supporting law enforcement, not doing our own thing."

"Our customers, agency partners and the public in general like what we do," Riley said. "They like that show of force, that presence."

Mondezie said it is impossible to measure how many threats have been prevented simply by having armed Guard members on patrol.

Maj. David Hellekson, the Wisconsin National Guard provost marshal, was impressed with JTF Empire Shield's scale of operations.

"The interagency cooperation has to exist at so many different levels," Hellekson said. "That really drives home the importance of building relationships between those agencies so you can function and train, so when real stuff happens you're ready to go. You have those relationships established and methodologies established so you can act when you're needed to respond."

Capt. Jeremy Duffy, a member of the Wisconsin National Guard CERFP, agreed.

"The biggest thing was how they did the integration and joint service connection, the interagency cooperation between the police, fire and different law enforcement agencies," Duffy said. "As we stand up [the CERFP], that's going to be our biggest challenge - to figure out how we bridge the gap and create that cooperation for interagency training and application."

Duffy said one lesson learned from JTF Empire Shield is to request to train with agencies the CERFP will support in the event of a domestic emergency. 

"That way they're really driving the train and we're not," Duffy said. "They're running the show and we're just there to supplement them."

Legwold said the information gained can be applied if the Wisconsin National Guard is ordered to augment local authorities.

"We certainly can turn to the New York National Guard for a top flight example of conducting a security mission," Legwold said. "They have a set rules of engagement for individuals providing security, and how they implement their rotating security, how they set up their sites, how they work in an urban interagency environment with a significant number of stake holders and interagency partners - all of these are timely and important examples, along with lessons learned that can assist us in planning for any similar mission in the future."

Hellekson said that the visit put the homeland security picture into perspective - not only because of the large metropolitan areas surrounding Wisconsin, but the enduring threat potential in New York City.

"9/11 isn't that far back in their rear view mirror," Hellekson observed. "This isn't a scenario for them."