EMERGCON

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EMERGCON (emergency condition) is a state of readiness that is separate from DEFCON, or defense readiness condition used by the United States, in that it incorporates civilian measures in addition to the DEFCON military measures.[ citation needed ]

The defense readiness condition (DEFCON) is an alert state used by the United States Armed Forces.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Contents

Overview

Generally, EMERGCONs are a state of readiness following an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) attack. Other forces go to DEFCON 1 during EMERGCONs. There are two types of EMERGCONs:

Aircraft machine that is able to fly by gaining support from the air other than the reactions of the air against the earth’s surface

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Missile self-propelled guided weapon system

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Canada Country in North America

Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.

Although the United States military has gone into defense readiness at various times (such as the Cuban Missile Crisis), it has never had a major EMERGCON.

Cuban Missile Crisis The conflict between the US and Cuba over nuclear missile threats from communist Cuba.

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis of 1962, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.

See also

In United States military doctrine, LERTCON is an abbreviation of alert condition, and is a measure of the level of action and readiness to be taken in a given situation. LERTCON is used by US and Allied forces who are assigned to NATO. There are specific procedures laid out for responses to changes in LERTCON. LERTCON levels can be broken down into high-alert emergency condition levels (EMERGCONs) and the more common Defense Condition levels (DEFCONs).

In the U.S. military, the term REDCON is short for Readiness Condition and is used to refer to a unit's readiness to respond to and engage in combat operations. There are five REDCON levels, as described below in this excerpt from Army Field Manual 71-1.

An alert state or state of alert is an indication of the state of readiness of the armed forces for military action or a state against terrorism or military attack. The term frequently used is on High Alert Examples scales indicating alert state are the DEFCON levels of the US military, South Korea's "Jindogae" system, and the UK's UK Threat Levels. High alert states are synonymous with red alert.

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