Beyond Triage: The Escalation of Empowerment by U.S. Military Forces in Support of International Disaster Response

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Joint military doctrine has yet to bridge the gap between lessons learned from U.S. domestic disaster relief and application for international disaster relief. The National Response Framework stresses the need for a response architecture emphasizing the rapid regeneration of local capacity for self-organization. Areas catastrophically disrupted by essentially fault-less chaos began with an infrastructure for governance whose restoration and improvement lies at the heart of the matter. Minding the relationships existing prior to the disaster and building upon them with military forces that act in concert with other organizations provides a robust framework for achieving national objectives. This study provides a broad operational-level survey of the conditions for the U.S. military response to the Indonesian Tsunami in 2004, Operation Unified Assistance, and to the Bangladesh Cyclone in 2007, Operation Sea Angel II, observed in relation to the concepts advocated in Joint Publication 3-07.6 Techniques, Tactics, and Procedures for Foreign Humanitarian Assistance. Bridging the divide between a military culture founded on command and control and a civilian culture dependent on collaboration and cooperation would present opportunities within the complex joint, multi-national, and inter-agency arena. Getting it right in international disaster relief creates a solid foundation for less permissive environments.