Senate Guard Caucus Leaders:
Commission’s Report Falls Short
On Prescriptions To Improve
Guard’s Intra-Pentagon Role
Leahy And Bond Will Press Forward With
Guard Empowerment Bill
WASHINGTON
(Thursday, March 1) – Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Kit Bond
(R-Mo.), the leaders of the Senate’s 80-member National Guard Caucus,
Thursday said they will forge ahead with their bill to empower the
National Guard in Guard-related decision making within the Pentagon,
noting that the long-awaited report from the Commission on the National
Guard and Reserves acknowledged the problem but ducked the solution.
In its report
released Thursday, the commission agreed that the National Guard lacks
input on key policy and budget deliberations that directly affect its
missions at home and abroad. The commission also found that the
Department of Defense has paid insufficient attention to the mission of
providing support to civilians during emergencies at home, despite the
Guard’s enormous expertise and capabilities. The panel also agreed with
the central thrust of the National Guard Empowerment Act introduced in
February by Leahy and Bond – the co-chairs of the Senate National Guard
Caucus -- while suggesting only halfway measures to achieve the bill’s
goals.
The
National Guard
Empowerment Act (S.430) directly addresses these needs by, among many
provisions, placing the National Guard Bureau Chief on the Joint Chiefs
of Staff at the rank of general and making National Guard commander the
deputy commander of the United States Northern Command, which is
responsible for overseeing the domestic military support mission. The
Leahy-Bond bill also would give the National Guard the ability to budget
and purchase equipment related to homeland defense, and it would offer
governors greater input on domestic defense related matters through the
National Guard.
While agreeing with
the central tenets of the Guard Empowerment Bill, the commission was
tepid in its recommendation, Bond and Leahy noted. The commission
concluded that the National Guard should not have a place on the Joint
Chiefs and that the Northern Command Deputy Commander slot should not be
explicitly held open for a National Guard general.
“The commission
recognized the structural problems that work against the Guard, but
their recommendations are thin soup,” said Leahy. “The Guard is a 21st
Century organization, stuck in a 19th Century bureaucracy.
The Guard deserves a place at the table when decisions at the Guard are
made that affect its readiness, its missions and its effectiveness. The
Guard deserves more than lip service to these structural problems. They
deserve action. We will move forward with the solutions we have offered
in the National Guard Empowerment Act.”
“Senator Leahy and I remain committed to
passing every facet of the Guard Empowerment Act. The measures the
commission did not support remain a vital part of our legislation,” said
Bond. “The National Guard is critical to our security at home and in
assisting America's military abroad. Despite the Guard's importance,
they are being left out of the decision making process. Our legislation
will give them the muscle they need.”
Leahy and Bond also released a letter of
support for the legislation from the
National Governors Association,
which held its annual winter meeting this week in Washington.
# # # # #
Remarks Of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, Introduction
Of The National Guard Empowerment Act
Text of Legislation
Summary Of Legislation
Letter Of Support From The Adjutants General Associated Of The United
States
Letter Of
Support From The National Governors Association
Letter Of Support From The
National Guard Associated Of the United States
Letter Of Support
From The Enlisted Association Of The National Guard
