Obama's 'civilian national security force'

[freediver]

This is interesting. I've seen people suggest something similar for Australia.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/07/ ... secur.html

Barack Obama's recent words to promote his image as Community Organizer in Chief were not about forming a paramilitary force of volunteer brown shirts. They were about turning America into one, giant, community organizer's sandbox at enormous cost to taxpayers.


Senator Obama was nearly 17 minutes into his July 2 speech (yet another one where naming Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was required) in Colorado Springs, Colorado when he deviated from his pre-released script and performed without the teleprompter net saying,


"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." (emphasis added)


The immediate context for that amazing statement was a preview of parts of his plan to vastly expand community service opportunities for Americans of nearly all ages. He said,


"People of all ages, stations, and skills will be asked to serve."


The range of his community service initiatives was outlined in an earlier American Thinker article. In his campaign document entitled "The Blueprint for Change: Barack Obama's Plan For America," Obama's "Service" section runs a close second to "Education" in complexity. But, with his Colorado Springs' statement, it grabbed first place in its projected costs to taxpayers. Obama did the cost projection himself.


He plans to double the Peace Corps' budget by 2011, and expand AmeriCorps, USA Freedom Corps, VISTA, YouthBuild Program, and the Senior Corps. Plus, he proposes to form a Classroom Corps, Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, Veterans Corps, Homeland Security Corps, Global Energy Corps, and a Green Jobs Corps. Here a corps - there a corps - everywhere a corps corps.


http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/04/ ... y_org.html

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=69601

http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl? ... 9615/47#47

[boxy]

When he says "civilian national security force", wouldn't that be something like the FBI?

Brownshirts? Meh.

[Rainbow Moonlight]

I didn't like the idea when he put it forward in the campaign but it is something I decided has to do with US culture.

[freediver]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/st ... 01,00.html

THE role of Australian Defence Force reservists should be greatly expanded, to include not only clerks in the jungles of the Pacific, but Qantas pilots in the air force and fishermen in the navy during the down season.

The Ready Reserve axed by the Howard government should be resurrected to boost capability at a time when the ADF is struggling to attract skilled personnel, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has recommended.

Over the past decade both the US and Britain had made better use of their part-time military than Australia to sustain operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the report from the government-funded ASPI.

Similar potential was available for the ADF but a more flexible working arrangement with employers was required along with a pay review, said report authors Andrew Davies and Hugh Smith.

Significantly, the Royal Australian Air Force had started discussions with Qantas about closer co-operation, Mr Davies told The Australian.

"The air force loses pilots to Qantas relatively frequently and what they're trying to do is turn that into a managed process," he said. "The quid pro quo might be that some of the Qantas people might come back and fly for the air force especially when the air force is flying aircraft that are essentially airliners."

Mr Davies was referring to new air-to-air refuellers and surveillance aircraft ordered by the RAAF.

In the US reservists fly the most advanced fast jets including the latest F-22 Raptor fighter.

Current ADF Reserve strength is 25,408, most of whom (17,171) serve in the army, but better use could be made of the part-timers for overseas deployments, Mr Davies said.

One option was to resurrect the Hawke-Keating era Ready Reserve which operated from 1991-1996 before it was scrapped by John Howard.

The program was worth reviving because at its core was a 12-month full-time training requirement designed to ensure the soldiers were more usable.

Faced with heavier demand on their military personnel both the British and Americans had gone further in their use of part-time forces than Australia.

"In part because they've been much more stretched than us with deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan," Mr Davies said.

To ensure the Reserves remained an attractive career option, the Rudd Government needed to close the gap in pay and conditions for full and part-time servicemen that would allow a "seamless" transfer between the reserve and regular ranks.

The British experience offered a new approach for use of Australia's part-time military, including the deployment of soldiers as light infantry on regional peacekeeping or humanitarian missions.

The ADF is moving in that direction. Most of the Australian troops serving with the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands are now reservists.

Other initiatives to make better use of part-time military include the establishment of a national ADF data base with up-to date records of civilians and their skills, ASPI recommended.

The hard-pressed navy, which has seen many of its highly trained personnel take better paid jobs in the private sector, is now working with the South Australian fishing industry to utilise skilled personnel during their seasonal downtime.

"Not all civilian skills are in operationally high demand, but there are some specialised skills that can sometimes make valuable contributions to operations," said ASPI. These could typically include IT, language and psychology skills.