The state of Florida appears to need a very small fraction of the level of military support generated for Hurricane Katrina, although the Pentagon geared up numerous forces for a quick response. So far, the Air National Guard has airlifted hospital patients from the Florida Keys and has provided communications teams, whose primary benefit to state and local responders has been to enable disparate communications equipment to communicate.
The U.S. military is carrying out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions along the southern border and off the coast of Mexico using U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft as part of the Pentagon’s effort to secure the southern border at the direction of President…