[icopyright one button toolbar]
President Obama today signed an Executive Order authorizing The Department of Defense to order to active duty reserve and National Guard personnel “as necessary to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation United Assistance, which is providing support to civilian-led humanitarian assistance and consequence management support related to the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa.”
The U.S. has already committed up to 4,000 military personnel to be deployed to West Africa to assist in the fight against Ebola.
NBC News reports:
Sources earlier told NBC News that eight engineers and logistical specialists from the Guard, both active-duty and reservists, would probably be included in the first deployment. They are expected to help build 17 Ebola treatment centers, with 100 beds apiece. The sources said no decision had yet been made.
.
Defense Department officials said the executive order was necessary to speed the deployments, and would allow the president to send additional forces as needed.
Scroll down to read the full Executive Order.
In the meantime, the U.S. military response to the Ebola crisis continues to progress.
Speaking during a State Department news conference today, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby provided an update on Operation United Assistance:
Setup has been completed on the 25-bed hospital, and we expect it to be fully operational with U.S. Public Health Service medical workers taking responsibility for that unit next week…Construction continues on the Ebola treatment facilities, with the first expected to be completed by the end of the month.
… personnel from the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center continue to operate three mobile medical labs, which provide 24-hour turnaround results on samples, with more than 1,200 total samples having been processed to date.
…an air bridge has been set up in Senegal to help logistics flow, because some areas have no roads, and many roads that do exist are inundated with mud. “We now have Ospreys that are helping speed the delivery of resources, supplies and troops to some of these very remote areas where these labs are being set up…”
EXECUTIVE ORDER
– – – – – – –
ORDERING THE SELECTED RESERVE AND CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL READY RESERVE MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES TO ACTIVE DUTY
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 121 and 12304 of title 10, United States Code, I hereby determine that it is necessary to augment the active Armed Forces of the United States for the effective conduct of Operation United Assistance, which is providing support to civilian-led humanitarian assistance and consequence management support related to the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa. In furtherance of this operation, under the stated authority, I hereby authorize the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy, under their respective jurisdictions, to order to active duty any units, and any individual members not assigned to a unit organized to serve as a unit of the Selected Reserve, or any member in the Individual Ready Reserve mobilization category and designated as essential under regulations prescribed by the Secretary concerned, and to terminate the service of those units and members ordered to active duty.
This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,
October 16, 2014.
Lead photo: U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kevin Baird, 53rd Transportation Battalion (Movement Control) commander, practices donning personal protective equipment at Fort Eustis, Va., Oct. 15, 2014 as soldiers prepare to deploy to West Africa to fight Ebola. Photo: Kayla Newman, U.S. Air Force, via Stars and Stripes
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.