Please accept this as Carbanousa's intention to run for the position of Minister of Defence.

If you have any questions concerning policies, or manifesto, please ask. I will add ideas that have developed throughout the course of this term, and the vision for these. An example of these are ideas such as a Defence Law, drawing on the existing Code Red Procedures, and formulation of a cohesive defence force for the Region, drawing on and modifying existing procedures in place. I aim to provide these by Sunday, April 17.

As promised, here is a little more detail of two of the main initiatives to be work on during, and hopefully implemented, within the next term should I be re-elected.

Defence Law
Whislt Canada already has an active Code Red Procedure, this has been in place for some time without modification or means of enforcement. The Defence Law would actively seek to update these procedures, as well as outlining courses of action should the region become a target for, or be invaded. The Law would include the existing Code Red Procedures, but offer greater flexibility and terms of use. In order for this to work efficiently and effectively, close work with both the Minsiters of Regional and Foreign Affairs would need to be cultivated and maintained to ensure no overlapping into either Foriegn or Regional Policy. The Minister of Justice, along with the Minsiter of Defence would chiefly enforce the Law, should it be passed.

Should I be relelected, a public debate shall be held on the subject allowing for maximum input from the Regions citizen's.

Defence Force
Whilst The Dogs of War Alliance still stands, it's operational remit has become slightly limited given the now greater international reputation of the Region. The Poll in this thread would suggest that some form of Military wouldbe of benefit to the Region. This could either be an adaption of modification of the existing Dogs of War Alliance, and probably include a name change, or the integration of the CIA and Dogs of War Alliance into a new Agency.

The core of the Defence Force would be the afore mentioned Defence Law and, chiefly, with the assistance of the Minister of Justice and Minister of Foriegn Affairs, the Defence Ministry would administer, train, brief, deploy, and recall the Defence Force The status of Canada's security, and need for use of the Defence Force would be gauged using the Defence Law.

It may be that the criteria for joining the existing CIA and Dogs of War Alliance may change to reflect the new Agency. As with the Defence Law, a pubic debate will be facilitated to enable issues, concerns, and recommendations etc. to be voiced.

If you have any questions or comments about the upcoming or past terms, I would be more than willing to answer or discuss them.

I agree the existing code red procedure is a bit out of date with the way system updates are currently handled; I'm not clear how lack of "flexibility" is an issue with the current system. Is there anyway you can cite an example without giving away any trade secrets?

What overriding benefit would an offical regional defence force provide over the current system of allowing private citizen participation in defense efforts? Having the region officially involved in counter-invasions greatly increases our chance of being invaded; so I feel you will need to articulate a significate benefit to outweigh that very painful cost...

The major problem with the existing procedures it that they are on or off. There is no compromise or alternate levels of alert. At the present time, if the Code Red Procedures are invoked, the Region is essentially locked-down. A sliding-scale, of sorts, would make more sense based on the percieved or actual threat to the Region.

An example could be the plight of The North Pacific, or the more recent turn of events within The South Pacific. A threat will always exist if sympathy is shown toward refugees and, thankfully, no action has yet been taken. Currently, if the Code Red Procedures were implemented, there would be no option of allowing refugees into the Region, which is something that Canada has always allowed to happen, within reason. An example of flexibility would be to arrange for refuge seeking Nations controlled entry into the Region by opening Regional borders for a short period of time - by this I literally mean seconds. Organisation would be paramount and the regional Happenings board would need to be monitored with close scrutiny. This may encroach on Foreign Policy, which my earlier point of close liasion with the Minister of Foriegn and Regional Affairs should explain.

You misunderstand HB. I never intimated that Canada as a Region should become involved in counter-invasions or liberation operations or strategies. Maybe, given time this may be the case but as far as an active military goes, it would be a first for Canada and so these first, baby, steps would need to be taken tentatively. If a group of Nations were actviely wanting to promote Democracy and remove tyrannical Delegacy's, then it may be prudent to review that scenario as it occurs, or even work in partnership with larger organisations such as The Ten Thousand Island Army (TITO), for example. What I poorly explained was the creation of military to preserve the Regions' freedom. Currently, the number of Endorsements the sitting Delegate has is finite. An example of such a defence force would be UN member Nations that are not Endorsing the sitting Delegate. Should cuase for concern be raised about invasion threats or similar, these Nations can Endorse the sitting Delegate to bolster the existing number of Endorsements that they have.

An important footnote to this is the continuation of the gathering of Intelligence by the CIA and the generation of interest in working as an Agent. A second expansion in numbers would be of great benefit, and enable the Defence Law and Defence Force, should they be ratified, to operate covertly.

An afterthought of this would be that in this instance, as in Canada deploying a number of Freedom Fighting Nations, the Endorsements that the sitting Delegate has would obviously be less. In this instance it may be necessary to invoke a security procedure to protect the Delegacy, given that the Regions International reputation would alter and may become the target of agressors.

I think that is a very interesting idea. I don't care much for the example you cited but perhaps with a cabinet brainstorming session it would be possible to establish multiple, sensible, well defined, defense contition levels.

I'm not sure how many nations you could get to agree to endorse the delegate in situations of emergency when they don't want to endorse them day-to-day. However, it wouldn't hurt to try and get as many nations to make such a commitment as possible. If nothing else it is certainly a creative idea.

Not even necessarily going as far as that. I had in mind almost 'secret' Endorsments, whereby those in agreement not to Endorse the sitting Delegate would be able to in times of need. This is one of the major problems in creating any Regional Defence force under the banner of democracy or democratic Region. It may be that the democracy allows a Region to fall under a fascist or similar dictatorship stylee delegacy - if that's what the Region's population wanted.

Almost like DEFCOM 1 through 5 ;).