ABSTRACT
A number of the national armed forces in the transatlantic area have created highly specialized military units for the specific purpose of supporting civil authorities in times of crisis. In addition to the kinds of specialized forces discussed here, there is another kind of military force that is being developed to deal with a specific kind of contingency such as the consequences of an intentional or inadvertent release of a highly dangerous substance. The French national crisis management center, called the Centre Operationnel de Gestion Interministrielle des Crises (COGIC) is the full-time interagency crisis management center located near Paris. Clearly, France and Spain have gone beyond what most European military forces have done with respect to creating specialized military units for civil security and integrating them into the national crisis management structures. The requirement for security and law enforcement often found in domestic contingencies is another key requirement.
