Department of the Army Historical Summary: FY 1988

8

Special Functions

Civil Works

Pursuant to the 1986 Defense Department Reorganization Act, PL 99-433, the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) (ASA [CW]) holds responsibility, on behalf of the Secretary of the Army, for directing and supervising all aspects of the Army Civil Works program. The Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Corps Director of Civil Works manage 264 military and 28,000 civilian personnel who execute the Civil Works program. These general officers report to the ASA (CW) on all Civil Works matters. The Civil Works program consists of water resources project activities-planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance-and regulatory program activities.

With a budget of $3.4 billion, the Civil Works program in FY 88 operated and maintained 1,200 projects, had 359 projects under construction, and managed 12.9 million acres of real estate. It operated 232 navigation locks and 25,000 miles of navigation channel. The Civil Works program maintained flood control operations over 442 major lakes and reservoirs and, in the past ten years, has prevented flood damage estimated to average $12.2 billion per year. In FY 88 the Corps of Engineers produced 30 percent of American hydropower and generated $370 million in revenue from power sales. It responded to ten flood disasters in FY 88 and performed about $350 million of reimbursable work for federal, state, and local governments. With a staff of 946 permanent and 782 temporary rangers, the Corps operated 2,500 of the 4,300 recreation sites at 472 water projects, most of them lakes.

The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (PL 99-662), signed by President Reagan in early FY 87 as the first major water resource authorization act in sixteen years, revitalized the Civil Works program. It emphasized faster completion of sound water projects and called upon nonfederal sponsors to pay an increased share of the cost for planning, design, and implementation. In response to this legislation, the ASA (CW), working together with

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the Corps, established a commitment and provided new direction to efforts already under way for more responsible and efficient management of Corps projects, called Initiative 88. Modeled after proven practices in the private sector, the elements of Initiative 88 entail the Secretariat's early involvement in the project planning process, the life cycle project manager concept, rigorous control of construction costs and schedules through the use of a uniform code of accounts and project reports, clear definition of roles and responsibilities, strategic planning, and a construction productivity advancement research program.

The drought of 1988, one of the worst droughts of this century, destroyed $13 billion in farm production and contributed to 73,000 wildfires, which burned more than five million acres. Below normal winter snowpacks in the Pacific Northwest, California, and the western plains states, and scarce winter and spring precipitation in many of the midwestern and southeastern states indicated probable widespread water shortages for the summer. Nine of the eleven Civil Works divisions located across the country endured moderate, to severe impacts on their missions with a slowdown of navigation presenting the most visible problem. The Corps of Engineers Emergency Operations Center in Washington, D.C., began issuing daily navigation reports, while other groups such as the Interagency Drought Policy Committee, cochaired by the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) and the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior, coordinated drought relief efforts. Controlled releases of water from federal reservoirs in the Missouri and Ohio River basins and accelerated channel dredging and maintenance by the Corps kept the important barge traffic moving on the Mississippi River. Increased water flow from Corps projects on the South Atlantic Division's Chattahoochee River relieved water supply and quality needs in the Southeast.

The drought of 1988 threatened the fresh water supply of the greater New Orleans, Louisiana, area. Normally, the flow of the Mississippi River keeps the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico from moving upstream to any great extent even during the slack summer months. The drought, however, caused the river flow to drop so low early in the summer that the heavier salt water from the Gulf began creeping upstream along the river bottom and mixing with the water used for public consumption. The Louisiana governor declared a state of emergency and requested federal assistance. The Corps of Engineers responded by raising an underwater sill, or dam, in the Mississippi River about 80 miles above the Gulf of Mexico to minus 45 feet and agreeing to ship fresh water to'

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New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. The sill halted the movement of salt water upstream and allowed the main river current to push it downstream and out to sea. Before the salt water problem abated, Corps barges had carried fresh water to several Louisiana communities located near the Gulf.

Regulatory Activities

President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev formally ratified the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in Moscow on 1 June 1988. It eliminated Soviet and U.S. nuclear weapons that have a delivery range between 300 and 3,400 miles. The Soviets maintain 133 INF sites located in the Soviet Union, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia. The U.S. operates facilities at 31 sites in CONUS, West Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy. Soviet missiles marked for elimination include 80 SSCX-4 cruise missiles and the following ground-launched ballistic missiles-650 SS-20s, 170 SS-4s, 6 SS-5s, 726 SS-12s, and 200 SS-23s. The U.S. must destroy 442 ground-launched cruise missiles along with 170 Pershing la and 247 Pershing II ballistic missiles. The INF Treaty contained several verification provisions. In addition to an exchange of data on the missiles and their locations, it allowed on-site inspections by each country to validate the data exchanged and to verify both missile destruction and cessation of further production. The treaty further provided for short notice on-site inspection at INF sites during a three-year reduction period and ten years thereafter as well as verification by national technical means such as satellite imagery.

The Defense Department activated the On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA), an interagency organization, in Washington, DC, in January 1988. It tasked OSIA to conduct INF Treaty inspections in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and to coordinate U.S. activities associated with Soviet inspections in the U.S. and Western Europe. An Army brigadier general heads OSIA, assisted by deputies from the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the State Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). His staff consists of about 300 personnel, 150 permanent and 150 temporary, with a ratio of about 65 percent military to 35 percent civilian taken from the armed services, the Coast Guard, and other federal agencies. In September 1987 the U.S. And the Soviet Union agreed to establish Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers (NRRC) to lessen the possibility of war between the two countries by accident or misunderstanding. The White House directed that the NRRC,

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activated at the State Department in March 1988, would transmit communications between U.S. And Soviet officials regarding INF inspections. Soviet INF inspectors can enter the U.S. at two points-Washington, DC, and Travis Air Force Base, California. Army Pershing sites in CONUS that the Soviets may inspect include Redstone Arsenal, Alabama; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Pueblo Army Depot Activity, Colorado; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; and the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant, Texas.

As for destruction of the missiles affected by the INF Treaty, Soviet officials indicated they would burn most of their weapons in pits but also may launch some for disintegration in the upper atmosphere. The U.S. Air Force planned to fly its cruise missiles, deployed in Europe, to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and cut them apart with chain saws. The Army decided to transport its Pershing II missiles, deployed in Europe and stored in the U.S., to two Army installations located in the U.S. for destruction-the Pueblo Depot Activity and the Longhorn Ammunition Plant cited above. It will destroy all of the Pershing 1a models at their present location, the Pueblo Depot Activity. The destruction procedure calls for burning the solid fuel propellant and crushing the motors and other portions of the missiles with bulldozers. The Air Force and the Army will transfer the nuclear warheads from their destroyed missiles to the Defense Nuclear Agency for storage. The treaty also requires destruction of missile launchers, so the Army developed a plan to destroy Pershing launchers located in Europe at Hansen, West Germany. OSIA supervised the first destruction of Pershing rocket motors at the Longhorn Ammunition Plant on 8 September 1988. Implementation of the INF Treaty required a conventional force adjustment by the Army. It proposed to restructure its four Pershing II battalions-the 1st, 2d, and 4th Battalions of the 9th Field Artillery, 56th Field Artillery Command, in West Germany, and the 3d Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, 214th Field Artillery Brigade, at Fort Sill-into a field artillery brigade.

Many parts of the U.S. experienced unusually dry weather during 1988, and lightning caused an outbreak of forest fires in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, and surrounding areas during the early summer. The Interior Department responded with a policy which alternated between allowing the fires to burn and periodically attempting to control them with civilian firefighting resources.

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By mid-summer the fires had worsened considerably, and on 18 August the Interior Department requested help from the Defense Department under the Military Assistance to Civilian Authorities Plan. Forces Command then tasked Sixth U.S. Army to organize a response effort by the Army. Joint Task Force West Yellowstone, which consisted of about 2,600 personnel from the 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, and other Army elements from Forts Benning and Stewart, Georgia, and Fort Hood, Texas, along with 1,500 marines from Camp Pendleton, California, began arriving at Yellowstone on Sunday, 21 August. During the preceding day, Black Saturday, fires destroyed more than 165,000 acres of parkland.

Soldiers from Fort Lewis attended classes in basic firefighting techniques and safety before they deployed. When committed to the line, experienced civilian firefighters accompanied them as advisers. The soldiers worked 12-14 hour shifts under the sweltering sun mopping up hot spots, digging indirect fire lines, and helping the Forest Service start backfires. Access to the fires often proved difficult. Heavy smoke prevented helicopters from flying to the sites in many situations, so the soldiers reached them by hiking several miles through rugged terrain with 90-pound packs. Sometimes they bivouacked near their work sites, and helicopters dropped food and water to them. On 14 September, Task Force Go Devils, about 1,900 additional soldiers from Fort Lewis, moved to Canyon Creek near Helena, Montana, to fight raging fires in that area. Many of the soldiers felt that the long hours and dangerous work provided good training in independent, small unit operations and junior leadership. Several inches of snow fell on the Yellowstone National Park on 11 September and rain two days later signaled a gradual end to the wildfire threat. Army personnel redeployed to their home stations during late September. Two months later, the Secretary of Defense approved the Humanitarian Service Medal for all soldiers who participated directly in the Yellowstone National Park and Canyon Creek firefighting operations.

The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 directed the Defense Department to contribute resources to national drug interdiction programs. During FY 88 Army assistance included personnel, intelligence, loan of equipment, and training. Army officers served with the National Drug Policy Board, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Office of the vice president's National Narcotics Border Interdiction System. Army personnel assisted anti-drug operations in the Caribbean Basin, and mobile training teams provided support for loaned aircraft and also taught combat skills to

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foreign policemen. About 2,300 Army National Guardsmen from 29 states performed 370 support missions. They flew some 3,700 of 5,000 hours of aviation support supplied by the Army. During Operation FLETE, conducted late in FY 88, some 100 guardsmen helped the U.S. Customs Service search incoming cargo carriers for illegal drugs along the borders of Arizona and Texas and at Florida ports. The Army loaned thirty-seven aircraft to federal law enforcement agencies and twenty-six others to the State Department. Other loaned items included night vision and communications equipment, ground surveillance radar, wheeled vehicles, and weapons. The Army continued in FY 88 to provide jungle operations training to Drug Enforcement Administration special agents at Fort Sherman, Panama.

The Corps of Engineers continued its reimbursable design and construction management support to U.S. agencies during FY 88. It provided the equivalent of 900 work years in support of more than twenty non-Defense Department agencies. Major programs included the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program for toxic waste removal, its Construction Grants program for wastewater treatment plants, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood insurance program, and the Department of Energy's civilian and military programs. The Corps also helped the State Department on diplomatic security and other construction programs, the Voice of America to upgrade its broadcasting system, and the Federal Aviation Administration with its National Airspace System Plan.

Military security assistance (SA) programs reinforce America's national security strategy by providing materiel, services, and training to allied and friendly countries. The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and several other statutes authorize military SA that includes three programs. The Military Assistance Program and the International Military Education and Training program make direct grants. The Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program requires either cash payments or financing by the purchasing countries. Under the International Military Education and Training program the Army trains foreign military and civilian personnel both in CONUS and in their native countries. During FY 88 some 8,800 foreign students received training in CONUS Army facilities. To facilitate the execution of military SA programs, the Army sends teams of specially skilled personnel to assist participating countries. These teams consist of one or more persons assigned to foreign duty for a period of several months to two years. During FY 88 the Army sent 215 teams to 34 countries. By unified command they

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numbered 151 to Southern Command, 35 to Central Command, 20 to European Command, 5 to Pacific Command, and 4 to Atlantic Command.

Military SA funding, a single year appropriation, derives from the Foreign Assistance Appropriation controlled by the State Department. Since FY 86, military SA funding has declined from $5.9 billion to $4.8 billion, and the designation of funds for specific countries by Congress has increased from 46 to about 93 percent. The Army has disagreed with this trend and requested more resources for Latin America and other less developed countries facing low intensity conflicts. In FY 88 the Army leadership proposed a restoration of military SA funding to the FY 86 level of about $6 billion and a reduction in the designation of funds by Congress to the FY 85 level of less than 50 percent. The information in Table 4 shows congressional designation of military SA funds in millions of dollars for FY 88.

TABLE 4 - SECURITY ASSISTANCE FUNDS, FY 88
(in millions)

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