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Levels of mobilization
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AP
File Photo
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| US Army Special Forces Staff Sgt. Eric Benoit of Louisiana trains a Ugandan Army soldier in close quarters force self-protection field methods during peacekeeper training exercises in Kalama, Uganda, in this Aug. 14, 1997, file photo. |
The authority to order federal mobilization of the Army Reserve resides in the National Command Authority (NCA) and the U.S. Congress. The NCA consists of the president and secretary of defense, and must authorize both movement of troops and the execution of military actions. By law, no one else in the chain- of-command has the authority to take such action.
The
Secretary of Defense, with the advice of the military service secretaries and
Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommends to the president and Congress the level of
mobilization.
There
are four levels:
• Presidential Selected Reserve Call-up: The President has the authority to involuntarily call up 200,000 members of the Selected Reserve (from all the services) for up to 270 days to meet mission requirements within CONUS or overseas. PSRC authority does not require the president to declare a national emergency, nor does it require a report to Congress within 24 hours, as required for larger mobilizations.
•
Partial mobilization: Mobilization by the president of not more than 1,000,000
Ready Reservists (units and individual Reservists from all services), for 24
months or less, and the resources needed for their support to meet the requirements
of war or other national emergency involving an external threat to the national
security.
•
Full mobilization: Call-up of all forces in the current force structure,
including the Army Reserve and National Guard units, Individual Ready Reserve,
Standby Reserve and members of the Retired Reserve, and the resources required
for their support for the duration of the emergency plus six months. Congress
must declare that a state of national emergency exists.
• Total mobilization: An extension of full mobilization by activating and organizing additional units beyond the current approved force structure. Total mobilization brings the industrial base up to full capacity to provide the additional resources, equipment and production facilities needed to support the armed forces of the nation, as done in World War II.
SOURCE: U.S. ARMY RESERVE