U.S. Army North up and running

Army Times
Oct. 22, 2006

U.S. Army North, the Army’s newest service component command reached full operational capability Monday, which means that it is fully manned, equipped and ready to assume its mission.

As part of Army transformation, USARNORTH was formed to become the dedicated Army service component command to Northern Command, the unified command responsible for defending the homeland and coordinating defense support of civil authorities.

Located at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, USARNORTH achieved initial operating capability in September 2005, and is responsible for specific missions, including:

• Execute homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities missions.

• Provide training and readiness oversight of certified weapons of mass destruction—civil support teams.

• Conduct the Army-to-Army portion of the theater cooperation mission with Canada and Mexico.

• Coordinate the activities of defense coordinating officers and their elements assigned in each Federal Emergency Management Agency region.

• Organize up to two task forces that, with augmentation, can become joint task forces and deploy within the operational area to command and control Department of Defense forces responding to homeland defense or civil support operations.

For the past 12 months, USARNORTH has been building its organization, readiness and mission capability. USARNORTH officially assumed the Army component command duties from Forces Command on Oct. 1.