In the run up to the end of the election, some commentators, especially on the right side of the spectrum, made much of the comments candidate Obama made regarding a “civilian national security force” with the commentary that this was somehow going to be a parallel civilian security apparatus. Now, here’s a link to a previous interview with President Elect Obama’s designated Chief of Staff Congressman Rahm Emanuel discussing a three month obligatory training period for 18-25 year olds. Here’s how the interview is described on the site:
- In a 2006 interview with Ben Smith of the NY Daily News, Rahm Emanuel, who will be Barack Obama's White House chief of staff, laughed at Smith's concerns about how far-reaching a mandatory civil-service plan would be.
This interviewer clearly has personal issues with “living in a barracks” (I don’t know if this guy is homophobic or just watched Full Metal Jacket too many times and fears a blanket party, dude, grow up!) but listening to the interview, what I think Emanuel is discussing is a sort of minimalist approach to national service. It’s difficult to ascribe motive or intent to these two notions of civilian service, but I’m going to take a stab and frankly, I don’t think either of these ideas is radical and I think they might have a serious ability to help our national and homeland security.
First: civilian national security force. In both Afghanistan and later Iraq, we have Provincial Reconstruction Teams or PRT’s which are transitioning from solely military organizations to civilian dominated outfits and that is a very good thing. PRT’s have performed brilliantly in Afghanistan with all sorts of reconstruction, governance, logistics, all of the non-kinetic, non-military areas that are vital to rebuilding shattered societies and communities. US Agency for International Development is recognized by most observers as under manned and increasing both the size of the organization and their funding should be on the President Obama’s agenda. I’ve also believed for a long time that a reserve corps of State Department folks is needed as does the Bush Administration.
From the Office of the Civilian Response Corps here, is this extract from President Bush’s State of the Union address in 2007:
- "A second task we can take on together is to design and establish a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps. Such a corps would function much like our military reserve. It would ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them. And it would give people across America who do not wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time."– President Bush’s State of the Union Address, January 23, 2007
Also from that same site:
- Civilian Reservists will enter into an agreement with the Department of State to serve for 4 years, during which time they will be expected to deploy for one year. They will be given the option to end their service upon returning from their one year deployment or to extend their service for another 4 years, if they performed at a satisfactory level. Upon entering the Reserve Component, they will be required to attend 2-3 weeks of orientation training, and will receive 10-15 days of pre-deployment training prior to each deployment. In addition, they must attend 5-10 days of annual training throughout their service. Refusal to deploy or to attend mandatory training will result in their removal from the CRC and they will be required to repay the government for the full cost of their training, including related travel, lodging, pay, and per-diem.
OK, so if the proposal by candidate Obama is along the lines of a State Department Reserve Corps and increasing US AID, I think that’s a great idea. Now, let’s ponder national civil service for a three month period. First, I would presume that the military (active and reserve/guard) would be not required to do this nor qualified first responders such as firefighters, police officers, and EMT’s (if they join between 18-25, if not, I guess they would have to participate)
So, what could you do in three months? I’m thinking first aid training (ala American Red Cross), potentially disaster response stuff (debris clearing, fire fighting) possibly basic firearms training, especially weapons safety, which actually could be done with electronic weapons simulators. I think living in the outdoors to include starting fires, surviving severe weather, building shelters, etc. Basically, take parts of Army/Marine basic training (physical fitness, team work, firearms) throw in some first aid training, combine with some Boy Scout/Girl Scout outdoors stuff, this would be good for everyone. But, to put meat on the bones, I would make a final month (either in the 3 or add a fourth) and have these folks actually do things: fight fires in the west, disaster response (hurricane, flooding, and earthquakes) volunteer in hospitals, clinics, or as a volunteer first responders in rural America, or on the border watching for illegal’s crossing.
As they say, the devils in the details. Maybe I’m way too naive on this, but I don’t see this as some brown shirt/Gestapo move by Emanuel but there could be an aspect like the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps which of itself was a jobs kick start program during the Great Depression. I’ve also seen commentary that Emanuel went to Israel (he’s Jewish) to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces or along those lines. I remember very clearly when I went to Israel on military exchange during college, my host family’s father used to patrol the markets in the weekends with an Uzi, a couple of extra mags, and a ball cap or some other identifying piece of clothing. One thing I do agree with conservative observers, if George Bush had proposed this, the cry would have been heard round the world! Either way, I kind of like both these ideas.