Let's look at what you think we should do.
Each state in the United States should develop a quick response military unit to handle terrorist attacks against places in that state. They could have other uses to back up the US military in some cases.
You thinking is that they could respond more quickly and effectively than local police forces.
They would be ready if ISIS made a military strike in the US. I assume this would involve infiltrating a fully trained military force, with personal and heavy weapons, into the US in order to make this strike.
Some of my points:
The response time would be no faster than is currently provided by local police forces.
The units would be very expensive. If they used whatever kind of helicopters we are talking about $50 million just for transport, plus training and salaries for the members of the team. You mentioned 30 at one point up above. Therefore we are talking about at least $1 million per year for each station. In Florida for example I see a need for at least 4 stations (Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville) so that comes to $250 million for copters (1 extra for when one is down). Plus ground crews and maintenance. So we are talking at least $5 million a year after we buy the copters. I think that is highly conservative. It would be more like 10 times that.
Of course these special teams would not be able to get there until after the active shooting is over, since the shooting is usually what triggers the alarm. The shooters finish the shooting before the first responders get there, and either get killed, kill themselves, or run away. After that the job is to sort out the scene, and catch the terrorists if they aren't already dead. As I pointed out most police forces are already well trained in all these situations. Layering another bunch of people who won't get there until it is too late any way is really stretching it. And the cost, when most states are already having budget troubles is just totally out of the question.
Of course if ISIS does manage to infiltrate their army into the US it might be a slightly different situation. When they come across the border with their guns blazing I'm sure it would be handy to have an organized military force handy.
Any way I think by this time our readers have probably had plenty of time to analyze our positions and make up their minds in a reasonable fashion.
Bill Gill
