Skelton lobbies for Fort Leonard Wood as home for new Army HQ

WASHINGTON -- The Army should speed plans for a new unit to coordinate homeland security efforts among local responders, and Fort Leonard Wood should be its home, Rep. Ike Skelton said Wednesday.

Skelton, the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, made a formal request late Wednesday to Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army's chief of staff, after about three weeks of talks with other Army officials.

"I think it's needed as soon as possible," Skelton said in an interview. "With what has happened on Sept. 11 and the potential that could come to pass, we need every tool possible, and this would be a major step."

The Army plans to establish a command and control headquarters more than four years from now, but there currently is no single overseer of Army units across the country set up to cope with attacks on U.S. soil using chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons, Skelton said.

The 13-term lawmaker asked the Army to act now, in time for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. The unit initially would include about 70 people.

Besides coordinating efforts among various units, the headquarters would conduct training for military and civilian authorities to respond to weapons of mass destruction. It also would establish doctrine, tactics and techniques that first responders should use.

Home to the U.S. Chemical School, Fort Leonard Wood already trains the military's emergency defenders, both active duty and reserve, to respond when chemicals become weapons of mass destruction. The Army base in Missouri's Ozarks also certifies and trains new civil support teams formed to respond to terrorist attacks.

The installation therefore "is the logical location" for a headquarters and training, Skelton said.

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