In November 1944, Japan launched thousands of balloons carrying incendiary bombs across the Pacific, aiming to set fire to American forests and divert resources from the war effort. While the campaign caused minimal damage and few casualties, it highlights the vulnerability of the U.S. homeland to attack. To discuss lessons from this historical event, the current state of homeland defense, and how we might better prepare for the future, George Schwartz and Bert Tussing sat down with host Darrell Driver. Their conversation emphasizes the need for a whole-of-nation approach to preparedness and the importance of collaboration between government, military, and private sectors.
There are what we refer to as seams of ambiguity that doesn’t clearly define itself as either a defense or a law enforcement issue, and our adversaries have discovered the seam and they’re playing along that seam. And that’s what thrusts us into the gray areas that we’ve been talking about for for at least two decades now.
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George Schwartz, Ed.D., is a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and currently serves on the faculty of Immaculata University. He is a visiting professor for Homeland Defense & Security Issues at the U.S. Army War College’s Center for Strategic Leadership (CSL).
Bert Tussing is Director of the Homeland Defence and Security Issues Group at the U.S. Army War College’s Center for Strategic Leadership (CSL). He joined CSL in October 1999, following nearly 25 years in the United States Marine Corps. He is a distinguished graduate of both the Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the Naval War College and holds master’s degrees in National Security Strategy and Military Strategic Studies. In May of 2014 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters by Northwestern State University in recognition of his work in Homeland Security, Homeland Defense and Educational initiatives surrounding those topics.
Darrell Driver is Professor in the Department of Military, Strategy, Planning and Operations at the U.S. Army War College.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense.
Photo Description: Japanese balloons, Fu-Go, found in California with weight release mechanism shown. The incendiary bombs are in same positions as originally found; the sand bags are suspended from the proper plugs not in the same order as found. Three incendiaries and six sand bags are shown. This picture is marked with explanations showing the “Brain Center” of the balloons. It should be borne in mind that after the balloon was released from Japan, it rose to about 30,000 feet, then it carried westward by swift currents which prevailed at high altitudes during Winter 1945. It was necessary for the balloons to hold these altitudes for more than three four days, the time required to make the trip to North America. This device was designed just for that purpose, and, in addition, dropped its bombs at the end of the journey, setting off on a self-destroying mechanism.
Photo Credit: U.S. Army Air Force (Air Force) photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives via Wikimedia Commons