The Joint Force Headquarters for the National Capital Region was created for the sole purpose of preventing and responding to future terrorist attacks within the Washington, D.C. area and its surrounding cities and counties.

When the organization finally stood up in the fall of 2004—after having had a year of practice—it was fully operational and able to provide an effective answer to the NCR's growing security concerns.

[2] When called upon to assist in a regional crisis or an NSSE (national events requiring security measures outlined and directed by the U.S. Secret Service), the JTF mobilizes to respond as quickly as possible and with as many component and interagency partners as applicable to address the issue at hand.

The first crisis that required what was then the JFHQ-NCR to activate its JTF occurred on February 2, 2004, when ricin was discovered in the Capitol Hill office mail room of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

The Marine Corps' Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) assisted in the situation and helped officials safely decontaminate the area.

The JOC boasts dozens of workstations, complete with secure and non-secure capability by way of phones, computer network access, and video teleconferencing for the entire center.

MG James Jackson needed to be in two places at once much of the time to coordinate recovery efforts at the Pentagon; however, "We had no vehicle then that was capable of anything more than a non-secure telephone connection.

(Jackson) made the commitment to secure a modern mobile command center and to fund it from the MDW budget," said Col. Egon Hawrylak (USA-Ret.

[11][12] On 10 June 2010, Secretary of the Army, John M. McHugh, rescinded MDW's responsibility for the administration and daily operation of Arlington National Cemetery.