[Vision2020] Department of Defense Releases Final Fort Hood Review

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the Department of Defense at:

http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13816

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DoD Releases Final Fort Hood Review

The Department of Defense (DoD) released today the final review of the
recommendations from the independent report “Protecting the Force: Lessons
Learned from Fort Hood.”

The DoD will place a high priority on implementing recommendations that
will strengthen policies, programs and procedures in the following areas:

- Educating commanders about the symptoms of potential workplace violence
and the tools available to them to address it;

- Ensuring commander and supervisor access to appropriate information in
personnel records throughout a service member’s career;

- Improving law enforcement and force protection information sharing with
partner agencies and among installations to ensure that all relevant
personnel are aware of and able to analyze and respond to potential
threats;

- Expanding installations’ emergency response capabilities, to include
enabling enhanced 911 to notify dispatchers of a caller’s location, mass
notification and warning systems to guide installation personnel and
emergency responders to an emergency, and a common operating picture to
ensure that emergency responders have access to real-time information in a
crisis;

- Integrating force protection policy through the creation of a
consultative and policy-making body which will bring together the various
entities across the department with force protection responsibilities; and

- Ensuring that we provide top quality health care to our service-members
and our healthcare providers though the hiring of additional healthcare
providers - particularly in the mental health field - and ensuring that
healthcare providers receive appropriate post-deployment respite and dwell
time.

The tragic shooting of military personnel at Fort Hood in November 2009
underscored the need for the Department of Defense to review its approach
to force protection and to broaden its force protection policies,
programs, and procedures to go beyond their traditional focus on hostile
external threats.  The follow-on review final report recommends concrete
actions across a range of issues that all contribute to the safety and
health of our military forces.

The Department of Defense will track implementation of the various
recommendations contained in its final report, focusing particularly on
force protection issues.

The final recommendations of the Fort Hood follow-on review can be found at

http://www.defense.gov/news/d20100820FortHoodFollowon.pdf

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown