215.9—Providing military resources to civil authorities.
This section provides general guidance for the handling of requests for DoD facilities, personnel, equipment, or supplies, received from officials of the 50 States, District of Columbia, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, U.S. possessions and territories, or any political subdivision thereof, for use in connection with civil disturbances.
(a) Loan policy.
Civil authorities, National Guard, and Federal agencies will be encouraged to provide sufficient resources of their own, so as to minimize the need to rely on DoD assistance.
(1) Classification of resources.
Military resources will be classified into three groups, as follows:
(ii) Group Two.
Riot control agents, concertina wire, and other like military equipment to be employed in control of civil disturbances which is not included in Group One.
(iii) Group Three.
Firefighting resources (to include operating personnel); equipment of a protective nature (such as masks, helmets, body armor vests) and other equipment not included in Group One or Two (such as clothing, communications equipment, searchlights); and the use of DoD facilities.
(2)
Requests for personnel to be used in a direct law enforcement role are not within the purview of this part and must be made by the legislature or governor of a State in accordance with 10 U.S.C. 331. Pursuant to the Posse Comitatus Act, DoD operating personnel employed in connection with loaned equipment may not be used in a direct law enforcement role.
(3)
Repair parts and POL items are classified according to the group of the equipment for which the parts or POL are intended.
(b) Approval of requests.
(1)
Requests for Group One military resources may be granted only with the personal approval of the DoD Executive Agent or, when designated by him for that purpose, the Under Secretary of the Army.
(2)
Requests for Group Two military resources may be granted only with the personal approval of the DoD Executive Agent, or the following individuals when designated by him for that purpose:
(3)
Requests for Group Three resources may be granted by Secretaries of the military departments, CINCs of unified and specified commands outside CONUS; or commanders of military installations or organizations who have been delegated such authority by the appropriate Service Secretary or CINC.
(i)
Installation commanders are authorized to provide emergency explosive ordnance disposal service in accordance with applicable regulations of respective military departments.
(ii)
The Director, Defense Supply Agency, is authorized to approve requests from subordinate agencies for firefighting assistance in connection with civil disturbances. Where installation fire departments have mutual aid agreements with nearby civil communities, the installation commander is authorized to provide emergency civilian or mixed civilian/military firefighting assistance. In the absence of a mutual aid agreement and when it is in the best interest of the United States, a commander with Group Three approval authority is authorized to provide emergency civilian or mixed civilian/military assistance in extinguishing fires and in preserving life or property from fire, within the vicinity of an installation. In either case, civilian firefighters may be used provided:
(a) In civil disturbance situations where there is significant danger of physical harm to firefighters, the civilian employees volunteer for the assignment. (DoD civilian employees acting in this volunteer capacity are acting as Federal employees.)
(b) Firefighting equipment will not be used for riot control.
(c) Civil authorities recognize that prior to the commitment of Federal forces to assist in restoring law and order, the protection of firefighting crews and equipment is the responsibility, in ascending order, of municipal, county, and State officials. Failure on the part of such authorities to recognize this responsibility and/or to provide adequate protection will be grounds for refusal to commit installation resources or for withdrawal of resources already committed.
(4)
Requests for Groups One, Two, or Three resources, and for renewal of outstanding loans, may be denied at any level in the chain of command down to and including commanders delegated Group Three approval authority.
(c) Processing of requests.
(1)
All requests will be promptly submitted through channels to the appropriate approving authorities using the format established by the DoD Executive Agent.
(2)
Requests will be forwarded and processed in keeping with the degree of urgency dictated by the situation.
(3)
Requests received by personnel of Defense agencies will be referred to local military commanders for processing, except that DSA subordinate agencies will forward requests for firefighting assistance to DSA.
(4)
Request from civil law enforcement agencies for training assistance related to the control of civil disturbances will not be approved at the local level. Such requests should be referred to the nearest U.S. attorney, Department of Justice.
(d) Reporting of requests.
(1)
Reports of all requests for military resources (approved, denied, or pending) will be prepared by all appropriate approving authorities, using the format established by the DoD Executive Agent, and forwarded through channels as follows:
(i)
To the military department headquarters, in the case of requests received in the CONUS by the four Services.
(ii)
To the DoD Executive Agent, in the case of requests for firefighting assistance received by the Defense Supply Agency.
(iii)
To the JCS, in the case of requests received by organizations or installations over which the commanders of the unified and specified commands exercise command authority.
(2)
Reports received by the military department headquarters and JCS will be transmitted to the DoD Executive Agent, who, in turn, will transmit information copies of all approved requests for Groups One and Two military resources to the General Counsel of the DoD and the Deputy Attorney General of the United States.
(3)
In addition, a weekly summary report of all requests will be compiled by the DoD Executive Agent, showing action taken (approved, denied, or pending) and submitted to the General Counsel of the DoD, the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Installations and Logistics), and the Deputy Attorney General of the United States. Negative summary reports are required.