Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Ability of the US Gov (state and federal) to deal with invasion by teleportation

patchwork · 08-12-2016, 03:28 PM

Military response time would not be good because the well-established chain of command would require Presidential authorization in nearly all cases. Getting a call through to the President, then getting their permission to deploy regular troops to a domestic emergency, might be very quick...but I wouldn't bet on it. In a reality where these things are known possibilities, though, that protocol is likely to be revised massively downwards, perhaps allowing local base commanders to respond directly to requests from local governments if they deem it appropriate.

And actual availability varies wildly from metro to metro. The Marines from Camp Pendleton et al would be able to deploy massive force quickly against a threat to San Diego or Los Angeles, the Infantry from Fort Lewis (with air support from McChord and naval support from Everett and Bangor) could deploy quickly throughout Seattle, but San Francisco would be slow (Travis Air Force Base is a logistics hub, 6th Army HQ is more of an administrative and command center), Houston would be very slow (only Coast Guard close to the city itself). Restructuring the military for domestic defense duties against enemies with superior logistics would be a massive change and not much like the real world anymore...)

08-12-2016, 03:28 PM	#6
patchwork Join Date: Oct 2011	Re: Ability of the US Gov (state and federal) to deal with invasion by teleportation Military response time would not be good because the well-established chain of command would require Presidential authorization in nearly all cases. Getting a call through to the President, then getting their permission to deploy regular troops to a domestic emergency, might be very quick...but I wouldn't bet on it. In a reality where these things are known possibilities, though, that protocol is likely to be revised massively downwards, perhaps allowing local base commanders to respond directly to requests from local governments if they deem it appropriate. And actual availability varies wildly from metro to metro. The Marines from Camp Pendleton et al would be able to deploy massive force quickly against a threat to San Diego or Los Angeles, the Infantry from Fort Lewis (with air support from McChord and naval support from Everett and Bangor) could deploy quickly throughout Seattle, but San Francisco would be slow (Travis Air Force Base is a logistics hub, 6th Army HQ is more of an administrative and command center), Houston would be very slow (only Coast Guard close to the city itself). Restructuring the military for domestic defense duties against enemies with superior logistics would be a massive change and not much like the real world anymore...)