Law and Military Operations in Central America: Hurricane Mitch Relief Efforts, 1998-1999
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LAW AND MILITARY OPERATIONS IN CENTRAL AMERICA: HURRICANE MITCH RELIEF EFFORTS, 1998-1999 LESSONS LEARNED FOR JUDGE ADVOCATES CENTER FOR LAW AND MILITARY OPERATIONS (CLAMO) 600 MASSIE ROAD CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA 22903-1781 [email protected] [email protected] WWW.JAGCNET.ARMY.MIL/CLAMO CENTER FOR LAW AND MILITARY OPERATIONS (CLAMO) Director COL David E. Graham Deputy Director LTC Sharon E. Riley Director, Domestic Operational Law LTC Gordon W. Schukei Director, Training & Support CPT Alton L. Gwaltney, III Marine Representative Maj William H. Ferrell, USMC Automation Technician Mr. Ben R. Morgan Training Centers LTC Richard M. Whitaker Battle Command Training Program MAJ Phillip W. Jussell Battle Command Training Program CPT Michael L. Roberts Combat Maneuver Training Center MAJ Paul S. Wilson Joint Readiness Training Center CPT Rodney R. LeMay Joint Readiness Training Center CPT Peter R. Hayden Joint Readiness Training Center SFC Rod Celestaine Joint Readiness Training Center CPT Stephen L. Harms National Training Center CPT Jonathan Howard National Training Center Contact the Center The Center’s mission is to examine legal issues that arise during all phases of military operations and to devise training and resource strategies for addressing those issues. It seeks to fulfill this mission in five ways. First, it is the central repository within The Judge Advocate General's Corps for all-source data, information, memoranda, after-action materials and lessons learned pertaining to legal support to operations, foreign and domestic. Second, it supports judge advocates by analyzing all data and information, developing lessons learned across all military legal disciplines, and by disseminating these lessons learned and other operational information to the Army, Marine Corps, and Joint communities through publications, instruction, training, and databases accessible to operational forces, world-wide. Third, it supports judge advocates in the field by responding to requests for assistance, by engaging in a continuous exchange of information with the Combat Training Centers and their judge advocate observer-controllers, and by creating operational law training guides. Fourth, it integrates lessons learned from operations and the Combat Training Centers into emerging doctrine and into the curricula of all relevant courses, workshops, orientations, and seminars conducted at The Judge Advocate General’s School. Fifth, in conjunction with The Judge Advocate General’s School, it sponsors conferences and symposia on topics of interest to operational lawyers The contents of this report are not to be construed as official positions, policies, or decisions of the U.S. Army, The Judge Advocate General, the U.S. Marine Corps, or the Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. The Center welcomes and solicits suggestions and contributions of relevant operational law materials from the field. LAW AND MILITARY OPERATIONS IN CENTRAL AMERICA: HURRICANE MITCH RELIEF EFFORTS, 1998-1999 LESSONS LEARNED FOR JUDGE ADVOCATES CENTER FOR LAW AND MILITARY OPERATIONS 15 September 2000 LAW AND MILITARY OPERATIONS IN CENTRAL AMERICA: HURRICANE MITCH, 1998-1999 PREFACE This is the first interagency After Action Report produced by the Center for Law and Military Operations. This Report identifies lessons learned for judge advocates and other agency attorneys who participated in United States relief operations that took place in Central America following Hurricane Mitch, from 1998-1999. This Report is the result of a two-day conference hosted by the Center at The Judge Advocate General’s School, Charlottesville, Virginia, from 23-24 April 1999. Participants included representatives of the following agencies: The U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps; The U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Department; The U.S. Army Peacekeeping Institute; The Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Civil Military Operations, USARSO; The Defense Security Cooperation Agency; The Office of Humanitarian Assistance and Demining, OSD; The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID); Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA); The Institute for Defense Analysis; and CARE. This report would not have been possible without the contributions of all concerned. While Law and Military Operations in Central America: Hurricane Mitch Relief Efforts, 1998-1999 contains lessons learned for judge advocates, it is intended to promote more effective interagency coordination and to assist both judge advocates and agency representatives in future relief operations of this nature. The Center finds that legal services provided during this operation validate the Corps’ new doctrine, contained in FM 27-100, and published 1 March 2000. Judge advocates increasingly practice individually, in remote locations, linked to main legal offices only by telephone and Internet. Judge advocates deployed in support of Hurricane Mitch relief efforts provided legal services to commanders and soldiers on operational law matters as well as all of the core military legal disciplines. Reach-back capability was essential to their success. The Hurricane Mitch relief effort also demonstrated that operations will continue to be conducted on short notice and on an interagency basis. Judge advocates must be prepared to deploy quickly, with operational law resource material, and with appropriate automation equipment. They must also be prepared to work with representatives of a variety of governmental, non-governmental, and private voluntary organizations. This Report is designed to assist in that regard. Lessons learned materials, to include this Report, would not be possible without the detailed logs, records, and files submitted to the Center by dedicated judge advocates, legal administrators, legal specialists, and civilians. The Center invites your contributions, and requests that deploying and supporting legal personnel continue to submit materials concerning the legal support that you provide to all forms of operations, so that others may learn and profit from your experience. i C ENTER FOR L AW AND M ILITARY O PERATIONS ii LAW AND MILITARY OPERATIONS IN CENTRAL AMERICA: HURRICANE MITCH, 1998-1999 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION...................................................................... 1 II. THE OPERATIONAL CONTEXT....................................... 3 A. THE HURRICANE........................................................................................ 3 B. THE RESPONSE........................................................................................... 5 1. The Immediate Response .................................................................... 5 2. Operation Fuerte Apoyo (“Strong Support”) ...................................... 8 3. The Phased Operation ....................................................................... 10 a. Phase I – The Emergency Phase.................................................... 10 b. Phase II – The Rehabilitation Phase.............................................. 12 c. Phase III – The Restoration Phase................................................. 13 III. NON-MILITARY PARTICIPANTS IN FOREIGN DISASTER RELIEF OPERATIONS........................................ 15 A. GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS ............................................................ 16 1. Department of State (DOS) ................................................................ 16 2. The U.S. Embassy for the Affected Nation........................................ 17 3. United States Agency for International Development (USAID) ....... 17 4. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA).................... 20 5. Office of Humanitarian Assistance and Demining (HA/D), Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA)......................................................... 23 a. Humanitarian and Civic Assistance (HCA) Program ................... 24 b. Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP) .................................... 25 6. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)........................................... 26 a. USDA Food Assistance................................................................. 26 (1) The Food for Peace Program........................................................................ 27 (2) The Food for Progress (FFP) Program ......................................................... 28 (3) Section 416(b)............................................................................................... 28 (b) USDA Forest Service (FS) and Disaster Assistance Support Program (DASP) ............................................................................... 30 B. NON-GOVERNMENTAL, PRIVATE VOLUNTARY, AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS........................................................................................... 30 1. CARE.................................................................................................. 30 2. Catholic Relief Services (CRS).......................................................... 31 3. Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) ..................... 32 iii C ENTER FOR L AW AND M ILITARY O PERATIONS IV. LESSONS LEARNED .......................................................... 33 A. INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL ISSUES ...........................................................33 1. Legal issues confronted in a foreign disaster relief operation are widely varied but largely predictable............................................................33 2. The type and quantity of legal issues will