JTF 2 West Coast base to be set up

For equipment, not personnel (links added):

Elite anti-terrorism units to get $10M site in B.C.
Special forces depot will speed response time on West Coast

The Defence Department is building an equipment depot in British Columbia to improve how the Ottawa-based Joint Task Force 2 counter-terrorism unit responds to threats on the West Coast.

The $10-million depot, located at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt, in Victoria, will allow equipment for special-forces units to be pre-positioned, decreasing the amount of time it would take for JTF2 or other elements of the country's special operations command to respond to a terrorist incident.

"What you're seeing in terms of the West Coast is really an efficiency measure to make sure that I'm doing a better job every year of being able to respond in a manner that the government of Canada requires," said Col. Mike Day, head of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, known in the military by the acronym CANSOFCOM.

CANSOFCOM, based in Ottawa, has under its umbrella JTF2, also in Ottawa, the Canadian Special Operations Regiment and the 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron, both at CFB Petawawa. The command also includes the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit located at CFB Trenton. That unit deals with weapons of mass destruction.

Col. Day said his command does not have a problem with transporting special-operations personnel by aircraft across the country. But moving some of the unit's equipment is another matter.

CANSOFCOM units can quickly get to the Great Lakes area with their maritime equipment and, if need be, transport large equipment by road to the East Coast, he added. But obtaining enough aircraft at short notice to move such gear -- ranging from boats to other maritime counter-terrorism equipment -- to the West Coast by air could be a problem.

Col. Day said the depot initiative is not linked to the 2010 Winter Olympics, an event that CANSOFCOM units are expected to play a major role in by providing security [more here]. "I'm not blind to my 2010 responsibilities, but we were launched on this well before 2010," he said...

A 2006 plan by the Defence Department to create a maritime special forces group was shelved because of a lack of money and naval personnel. At the time, CFB Comox, on Vancouver Island, was being considered as the home for the new unit.

The main maritime targets for any terrorists on the West Coast are considered to be ferries or cruise ships. JTF2, which has a cadre of scuba divers and other maritime specialists, as well as a fleet of high-speed rigid inflatable boats for its naval missions, has practised nighttime assaults on ferries near Victoria.

Over the years, JTF2 has honed its maritime counter-terrorism skills, conducting exercises in Victoria and Halifax, as well as on offshore oil rigs on the East Coast...