Special Efforts

Citizen Corps

NPI’s MODEL CITIZEN CORPS PROJECT IN SUPPORT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (Funding support requested from the U.S. Corporation for National and Community Service.)

Project Description – Needful Provision, Inc. (NPI) will plan, implement, and manage a $940,000 “Special Volunteer Program Homeland Security Initiative” ---with CNCS providing a cash grant of $470,000 and NPI providing a $470,000 in-kind match. This effort, to be known as the “Gray-Protector Project (GP2)” will be undertaken by volunteers, with 75 percent or more, being age 55 or over. The GP2 volunteers will be fully trained to operate and long sustain a series of innovative homeland security projects to strengthen communities, assist with counterterror efforts, provide capabilities to help survive and recover from natural and terrorist-caused disasters ---while achieving real freedom from fear created by the threat of terrorism.

Applicant Qualifications – NPI, an Oklahoma based 501(c)(3) charity, has extensive experience in the planning, implementation, and training of homeland security projects designed to strengthen communities --while helping residents survive and recover from natural and terrorist-caused disasters. As an example, NPI is helping to plan a large biosecurity and homeland security project in Russia. NPI’s founder and President, David A. Nuttle, is a former GS-14 CIA Special Operations Officer with extensive training & experience in counterterror, biosecurity, and homeland security. Nuttle’s first homeland security project was for 60 villages and 2 (two) towns, in South Viet-Nam, during a period of intense terrorist activity. This effort, known as the Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) Program, was very successful and has since been used, by CIA, as a model recommended to other countries with terrorism problems.

Strengthening Communities – Community Watch Organizations (CWOs), and Community Corps Councils (CCCs) in NE Oklahoma will provide the primary basis of the overall plan to strengthen homeland security efforts while acting to improve communities. NPI will train two or three senior volunteers (age 55 or over), from each CWO/ CCC, in these techniques: 1) Preparations, practices, and procedures needed to help citizens survive and recover from natural and terrorist-caused disasters; 2) Defense measures needed to protect against biological, chemical, radiological, and/or nuclear attacks; and 3) Identification, observation, and reporting related to persons exhibiting tactics known to be part of typical terrorist modus operandi. Each volunteer will then work (on a sustained basis) to train, encourage, and prepare individuals, families, and businesses, in CWO/ CCC areas, in subject homeland security techniques. The media will be used to help make the public aware of the GP2 efforts. By using existing CWOs/ CCCs, the groups concerned typically have compatible backgrounds and interests. These groups have members with an established common interest in improving community security, so the needed organizational capability already exists. In addition to the above efforts, a few volunteers will be selected, trained, and equipped to form three Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) to assist area first responders in the event of emergencies. All total, GP2 and CERT capabilities will greatly increase the capacity of law enforcement and first responders in the project area.

Recruitment & Development of Volunteers -- By recruiting seniors who are already members of CWOs/ CCCs, the GP2 trainees will have a high level of motivation to help improve the security of their communities. Each volunteer will be recruited based upon confirmation of such motivation, as well as aptitude for training in one or more of the GP2 program areas. Since recruits will come from CWOs/ CCCs, they will be fully representative of the communities to be served in a homeland security capacity. Veterans will be encouraged to be the first to volunteer since they often have organizational-type abilities needed for homeland security efforts. Every GP2 volunteer shall be given the opportunities to develop leadership, acquire new skills, serve their family and community to provide freedom from fear, and enhance the quality of their own lives. Priority will be given to the long-term development and retention of volunteers, and advanced training shall be continued to upgrade performance. Several forms of recognition will be provided to help sustain morale and dedication. Training and technical assistance shall be given to project staff, volunteers, volunteer placement supervisors, and community participation groups. Cooperation and communication with local first responders will be a feature of the entire GP2 effort.

Ongoing involvement, of GP2 volunteers, will include a series of day-to-day activities to include: 1) Updating information on potential, local terrorist targets; 2) The monitoring of activities around these targets; 3) Consulting with individuals, families, and businesses as regards survival and recovery preparations; 4) Work to improve all aspects of such preparations for local communities; 5) Analysis of current, known M.O. (modus operandi) for terrorists, and reporting (to law enforcement) on individuals who appear to be engaged in such activity; 6) Regular coordination with first responders, and regular improvement of communications with first responders; 7) Mobilization of CERT units; 8) Simulated attacks for training purposes; and 9) Specific duties and roles as assigned.

Program Management – GP2 program management will be under the direction of a GP2 Command & Control Center (C3) established by NPI. The C3 staff, recruited and trained by NPI, will have responsibility to manage volunteers & partner relationships. In addition, the C3 staff will evaluate GP2 volunteer performance while acting to assure that GP2 goals and objectives are met. Information, efforts, and individual volunteer performance will be evaluated monthly, and semi-annual reports shall be used to determine and publish actual impacts achieved by GP2 volunteers and CERT units. The C3 staff will have ultimate responsibility to ensure accountability as well as efficient and effective use of available resources. Both NPI and the C3 staff will act to secure resources to sustain and expand the project. Overall management is designed to make the GP2 effort relatively easy to replicate in communities throughout the U.S.

Organizational Capacity – NPI, founded 12 June 1995, has a staff experienced in homeland security efforts and project development using volunteers. Over the years, NPI has developed an extensive network of volunteers, and has cooperative projects with other nonprofits, for-profits, universities, labs, and others. NPI is currently engaged in the planning of a large homeland security and biosecurity project in Russia. Our Russian volunteers add to NPI’s overall capabilities in these areas. NPI has an affiliated for-profit,

Preparedness Systems Intl., Inc. (PSI), engaged in the manufacture and marketing of very unique homeland security products such as Group Shelters w/ Hepa filters ---to provide protection during biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear attacks. For other needs, in developing homeland security systems, NPI has a network of companies who provide special technologies and equipment. An example is TraceTrack Technology, Ltd., an Israeli company that manufactures an innovative trace detector for explosives. NPI’s President, David A. Nuttle, is considered (by CIA) to be one of the world’s leading specialists in homeland security networks formed by volunteers. You can see many of NPI’s projects on our website: www.needfulprovision.org.

NPI has a 50-acre training facility, located in NE Oklahoma, which will be used for training GP2 volunteers. In the past, NPI has administered and directed federal grants, and NPI has the means to effectively manage these grants. Nearly all NPI projects are planned and operated by volunteers trained by NPI. Nuttle’s very first homeland security effort, the CIDG Program, had over 12,000 volunteers. Each member of NPI’s staff will have specific roles to assure the effective planning and preparation of GP2 efforts, in addition to training and resource/ equipment support for GPS volunteers and CERT units. The main management team consists of David A. Nuttle, Charles A. Gourd, Ph.D. and Karen M. Lees (resumes are attached). NPI has established and effective procedures for management, accounting, fund raising, and procurement. Using established levels of performance, from prior homeland security projects, NPI will conduct evaluation and self-assessment with a view toward sustained improvement.

Other Requirements – In rural areas, the prevention of agro-terrorism is a very special requirement. In these areas GP2 volunteers will be given special training to include identification of plant and livestock indicators of a bioterrorist attack directed at agriculture. Innovative air and water sensors will also be employed, by GP2 volunteers, to help detect bioterrorist attacks in rural areas. Not less than 15 percent of the GP2 volunteers will be youth given unique training to undertake information collection and “spotting” intended to help identify possible terrorist operatives engaged in activities typical of terrorist M.O. (modus operandi). In brief, terrorist operatives (of various types) engage in certain types of known activities undertaken in certain places associated with potential targets. Youth are needed to have natural access to the classrooms, gyms, and other places frequented by terrorist operatives. These youth will be known as “spotters,” and they will take no direct action against suspects --the goal is to provide valid and effective reporting (on possible suspects) to law enforcement.

In addition to the above, there is a requirement to create a GP2 homeland security model that may be formalized and easily replicated throughout the U.S.

Historical Inputs – NPI’s staff has planned, implemented, and helped to manage a number of homeland security projects overseas. The lessons learned from these projects will provide useful inputs for homeland security efforts in the U.S. Our very successful overseas projects typically had the following features:

Self-sufficiency to enable populations to provide their own basic needs and thus “speed” recovery from any attack or disaster.

Potential target maps to identify the types and locations of every target terrorists could attack by any means of attack.

Report & Incident Maps to show known and suspect terrorist activity in relation to targets, potential targets, and homeland security activities.

Block & Target Groups of trained and organized volunteers who work to protect their assigned geographic areas and/or potential targets.

Citizen informants (“spotters”) who are trained to seek and identify suspect terrorists prior to an attack.

Counterfear tactics to help reduce the level of fear associated with any one type of terrorist attack. (Counter measures are prepared for all possible types of attack.)

Political action to assure support for essential homeland security efforts. Exchanges between homeland security groups to promote security innovation.

Hunter Teams composed of groups of law enforcement, paramilitary, and military personnel with special training and equipment as needed to eliminate terrorists.

Intelligence operations to identify the terrorists and determine their plans as well as possible intentions prior to an attack. (Hunter Teams depend upon this intelligence.)

Deception operations to make terrorists uncertain about the reality of what they see and hear. (Such operations cause increased terrorist activity and exposure.)

Agit-Prop (agitation and propaganda) activities to cause the terrorists to have real doubts in their leadership and cause.

Personnel security to assure that “key” homeland security leaders are protected from any terrorist attempt to eliminate them.

- Sustained innovation for development of new homeland security techniques. - Funding development to find ways and means for sustaining homeland security.

Citizen Corps & Homeland Security
by David A. Nuttle
For many types of conflict situations, man has been forced to find ways to improve the odds of survival. Centuries ago, African tribes learned that protective fences, gates, and guards were needed to help protect villagers from attacks by predators and hostile neighbors. During the course of nine Chinese invasions, and three Mongol invasions, the Vietnamese developed and perfected techniques for construction of various types of underground shelters ---with hidden entrances--- for each family. For over four decades, I have continued the age-old effort to find better survival solutions, with a focus on helping mankind survive terrorism.

In 1960, I was in South Vietnam helping to resettle Vietnamese refugees who had come from North Vietnam. At the same time, I was working with nearby tribal groups, known as the Montagnard, on food security projects. By mid-1961, these tribal groups were experiencing increasing attacks by communist Viet-Cong forces attempting to take control of the strategic highland area where they resided. U.S. Ambassador, Fredrick Nolting, and CIA Station Chief, William E. Colby, asked me to assist Army Col. Gilbert (Chink) Layton in organizing a village defense or Citizen Corps project for over 60 Montagnard villages. This was my first attempt at helping to create a so-called Citizen Corps project, and it came to be known as the Civilian Irregular Defense Group or CIDG project.

While the CIDG program was being formulated, the first U.S. Army Special Forces A-Teams (of 12 men each) were being assigned to South Vietnam. U.S. Army commanders, with the Military Assistance & Advisory Group (MAAG), delayed giving assignments to the A-Teams because the U.S. Army opposed President Kennedy’s creation of Special Forces. As a result, Col. Layton obtained the services of these teams to train CIDG recruits. Col. Layton coordinated efforts in Saigon, and I coordinated efforts in the field with Montagnard tribal chiefs, and with local Vietnamese officials as well as area ARVN (Army of the Republic of Viet-Nam) commanders. In addition, I directed implementation of an array of health, education, agricultural, and community development programs desired by the Montagnard.

As a result of a combined defensive, offensive, and motivational approach, CIDG forces were very successful in defeating the Viet-Cong and in securing their village areas. The CIDG project was so effective, that South Vietnam’s President Ngo Dinh Diem ordered its discontinuation and the drafting of most CIDG forces into the ARVN. President Diem feared that the CIDG program would make the Montagnard too powerful, and he believed the Montagnard would not support his very corrupt regime for any length of time. (There was also a historical lack of trust between the Vietnamese and tribal Montagnard.) Thus, the CIDG project was soon ended primarily because it was too successful. (Despite this fact, some Montagnard continued to work with Special Forces.)

The CIDG model has since been used as the basis of successful Citizen Corps efforts in several Third World nations. Needful Provision, Inc. (NPI), the charity I direct, has improved the CIDG model for use in helping to create Citizen Corps movements, in several areas of the world. Many of these new local defense efforts will also include the use of Radio Schools as explained below.

One of the better Radio Schools I’ve evaluated was Radio Puno, which operated in Peru during the mid-1960s. Radio Puno was organized to broadcast health, self-help, development, and cottage industry skills to the Quechua Indians in remote villages of the Andes. Some broadcasts also included music, local news, and Spanish language instruction. The staff, at Radio Puno recruited and trained two Radio School organizers for each Quechua village in the broadcast network. Each organizer was given crystal radios that were designed to only receive Radio Puno. All of this effort was undertaken at a time when Peruvian insurgents were trying to recruit the Quechua to provide safe areas of operation in the Andes. It was clear that the insurgency failed because Radio Puno demonstrated the government’s concern for the welfare of its Quechua populations.

NPI’s staff is seeking help from USAID (U.S. Agency for Intl. Development) in an effort to plan Radio Schools for Iraq and Afghanistan. Such Radio Schools could be used to teach self-help, redevelopment, and homeland security skills at the village or block level (in urban areas). This technique would avoid the security risks associated with having outsiders travel to teach these skills. Moreover, those participating in the Radio Schools would know that there is a daily effort to improve their health, well-being, and safety. Radio Schools also have an advantage because the very best technicians, programmers, and interpreters can direct the efforts from a secure location or locations.
By teaching homeland security and Citizen Corps skills via radio broadcasts, the local citizens can be empowered to better help themselves provide for their own security. In the process of delivering this message, the terrorists and insurgents may be exposed for what they really are: fanatics intent on absolute control at the expense of others. (The fact that Radio Schools have not already been started, in Iraq and Afghanistan is a major failure on the part of the U.S.)

In the U.S., most people seem to view Citizen Corps organizations as a means to support first responders during an emergency. Often, a Citizen Corps will sponsor one or more CERTs (Certified Emergency Response Teams). When it comes to using Citizen Corps in a more offensive role, the only instruction given is to “report anything unusual.”
From past experience, we know that this instruction is seldom very effective. Members of any Citizen Corps need to be given training on observation and reporting, along with sustained instruction on the modus operandi of terrorists or insurgents known to be operating in their areas. In addition, Citizen Corps members need to be given a list of probable terrorist targets in their area, along with the probable actions terrorists might take to attack those targets. NPI has created a Citizen Corps model designed to facilitate more aggressive actions to identify possible terrorists before they can strike.
(I regret to say that such models have not received substantial support, and may not be fully supported unless and until we have further terrorist attacks in the U.S.)

NPI has been working with the Russians on the planning of a biosecurity system that combines elements of a Citizen Corps along with controlled agricultural production facilities. The resulting biosecure farms would not use any outside inputs, and the food output would be delivered fresh for local customers. Monitoring systems were designed constantly test the air, water, and soil while also observing plants and animals for any symptoms of disease. Although the plan has been developed, we do not predict any extensive use unless terrorists attack food supplies. NPI’s staff believes that bioterrorism
is a real threat, and for this reason NPI continues its work on biosecure food production techniques.

Each Citizen Corps or village defense effort must be designed to take advantage of local resources, and other resources are added as needed. In the U.S., Citizen Corps units must coordinate with local fire, rescue, and law enforcement personnel. In the event of a major attack, advance arrangements should be made for support from state police and National Guard units. For overseas locations, the additions required will depend on availability of local resources and nature of the threat. During the CIDG project, communist forces elected to impede our efforts using large forces. For this reason, we had to add a gunship and special commando units (volunteers) known as Strike Forces. These Strike Forces had better training and weapons, and they were deployed using troop helicopters so they could quickly come to the aid of any village under attack. CIDG forces also developed a very extensive intelligence network to help discover when and where communist forces were planning to attack. Every Citizen Corps will have somewhat different needs.

In Africa, NPI is working with local groups to implement a Citizens Corps project that will also include a Radio School plus an AIDS prevention program. In many areas of Africa, HIV/ AIDS is the primary killer in rural and tribal villages. The prevention effort will include sanitation and potable water systems, as well as the means to provide local production of nutrient supplements to improve overall health. A promising, new AIDS treatment will also be extensively tested. Most of the major security issues result from one tribal group attacking another tribal group. To help defend against such attacks, NPI will work with friendly military forces to develop an audio-video “psychological intervention” system to be delivered with the aid of an aircraft. During initial field tests, NPI established that military personnel could be trained to use such unique intervention techniques to quickly stop tribal conflicts in Africa.

For reasons of security, NPI does not publish information on its current Citizen Corps projects. You may see NPI’s basic Citizen Corps model on NPI’s website (www.needful provision.org). I hope that this model, and the above background information, will now provide evidence of the potential Citizen Corps have as regards improving our homeland security. My great disappointment is that we have all been too slow to learn from past lessons for which so great a price was paid. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact NPI. Our contact information is on NPI’s website as given above.


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