Senator Leahy’s National Guard Empowerment Reforms Clear Congress

Give Guard A Voice In Key Decisions On Equipment, Missions And Manpower; Leahy Also Wins Repeal Of Year-Old Law That Made It Easier For President To Take Over Guard And Declare Martial Law

WASHINGTON (Friday, Dec. 14) – The U.S. Senate Friday passed and sent to the President’s desk a defense policy bill that includes key victories for the National Guard, including giving the Guard more bureaucratic muscle at the Pentagon in decision making about the Guard’s missions, equipment and staffing. The President is expected to sign the bill, which also cleared the House earlier in the week.

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The bill also will repeal the so-called “Insurrection Act Rider,” attached to last year’s defense policy bill, which has made it easier for Presidents to take control of the National Guard from governors and to use the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement. Earlier this year, key national military and law enforcement officials testified against last year’s changes in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing organized by Leahy. Both the “Guard Empowerment” provisions and the legislation to repeal the changes to the Insurrection Act are drawn from two bills introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), the co-chairs of the Senate National Guard Caucus.

The defense policy bill includes a variety of organizational reforms from the Leahy-Bond bill, including elevating the Chief of the National Guard from the rank of Lt. General to the rank of General; making the Chief the prime military advisory to the Defense Secretary and to the Joint Chiefs; raising the status of the National Guard Bureau; forging a stronger relationship between the Guard and the Northern Command; and directing the Pentagon to work with the Guard in planning on homeland defense.

“The National Guard is a 21st Century military organization, coping with a 19th Century Pentagon organization chart,” said Leahy. “These reforms will clear away organizational cobwebs to give the Guard a bigger say about the Guard’s future. Right now the Guard has to beg and scrape and rely on the tender mercies of others for every piece of equipment they need to do the jobs they are asked to do. These reforms will begin changing that.”

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Statement Of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy

Fiscal Year 2008 Defense Authorization Bill Conference Report

National Guard Empowerment

December 14, 2007

Mr. President, the Conference Report on the Fiscal Year 2008 Department of Defense Authorization Bill now before the Senate includes some significant mileposts of progress for the National Guard. Those sections of the bill come directly from the National Guard Empowerment Act of 2007, a bill that I sponsored along with Senator Kit Bond of Missouri, my fellow co-chair of the U.S Senate National Guard Caucus. Well over half of the Senate -- a significant portion of the National Guard Caucus -- cosponsored the Empowerment Bill. Working with the Nation’s Governors, key National Guard-affiliated organizations, and the Adjutants General of the United States, we make notable headway in this bill on several issues that go to the core of the Guard’s missions, preparedness and our national defense.

This legislation clears away organizational cobwebs in the Department of Defense and changes the Pentagon’s structure to better reflect the vital role and responsibilities of the Guard. More importantly, we direct the Department of Defense to begin the urgently needed process of tapping into the National Guard’s extensive experience in homeland defense issues – expertise the Defense Department has previously ignored.

To give the Guard more bureaucratic muscle, especially in decisions affecting the Guard, the legislation elevates the Chief of the National Guard from the rank of Lieutenant General to the rank of General, making the Chief the prime military advisor to the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The National Guard Bureau becomes what is called a Joint Activity, still closely affiliated with the Department of the Army and the Air Force, but now more like other joint agencies like Combatant Commands and the Defense Intelligence Agency, capable of communication across the Department.

To focus the Defense Department more on homeland defense, the bill requires that the Deputy Commander of the U.S. Northern Command come from the ranks of the National Guard, and it requires the Department of Defense to develop a plan in conjunction with the Guard to deal with homeland defense situations.

These reforms are tangible progress for the Guard, and there is a pressing need for them. The National Guard is a keystone to our nation’s defense, ready to carry out missions at home and abroad. The Guard is ready to serve as the primary reserve to both the Army and the Air Force, while taking the lead in providing military support during emergencies situations at home. It would take a long time even only to list the missions accomplished by the National Guard since September 11th in carrying out their assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan or to respond to natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

Despite all the Guard’s achievements on our behalf, the force often has gotten second-class treatment in the Department of Defense. The Guard has to beg and scrape and rely on the tender mercies of others for every piece of equipment they need to do the jobs they are asked to do, and they have to fight to be included in the long-range planning and budget and policy discussions that directly affect the Guard, its missions, its people, its equipment and its other needs. The Guard works extremely closely with state emergency responders, and they have special authorities and experience in working within the domestic United States. But despite this special expertise and these special authorities, does the Pentagon listen to and learn from the Guard’s ideas and knowledge about domestic defense? Sad but true, the answer is no.

I wish we could have gone even further in this legislation. Dropped during floor debate here in the Senate was a section of the Empowerment bill make the Guard Bureau Chief a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That would improve the quality of advice to the Secretary of Defense and the President on domestic defense matters. Another provision, removed in conference with the House, would give the Guard a separate budget for procuring homeland defense-related equipment, as well as the ability to work with states to identify gaps in emergency response capabilities. Another clearly warranted section of our bill would have ensured that our Adjutants General, who command units from the both the Army Guard and the Air Force Guard, receive joint credit for their experience. That would create a greater pool of candidates for the senior positions that we have opened up in this bill. The institutional objections we heard to these provisions ranged from the weak to the unreasonable. But regrettably, in this case they carried the day.

We did make clear progress. The Joint Activity provision, to take a less prominent example, is highly significant. The phrase “Joint Activity” means exactly how it is used in the Goldwater-Nichols Act: an organization that performs joint missions under the auspices of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or the commander of a Combatant or a Combined Command. The National Guard Bureau has now basically been given a legal license to work not only with the two services -- the Army and Air Force -- but also with a variety of unified commands, the Joint Staff, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The National Guard Bureau now will have similar organizational standing as that granted to other joint activities such as, among many other organizations, the Joint Staff or the Defense Logistics Agency.

This coalition of National Guard supporters -- which goes far beyond the sponsors and co-sponsors to the Governors, the Associations, and many others -- must keep pushing. If we are to have a national security structure that is as effective as the American people need and deserve it to be, we must ensure that the Guard’s voice is heard loud and clear in key deliberations. We must ensure that the Pentagon takes the military support mission seriously. We should consider re-introducing the portions of the Empowerment legislation that have not yet been enacted. To keep a laser-like focus on domestic defense, we must take a careful look at other Defense Department organizations involved in domestic defense, like U.S. Northern Command.

I know that Senator Bond joins me in thanking the Nation’s Governors for their stalwart support of the Empowerment Bill, as well their unstinting energy in working with us on another successful effort on behalf of the Guard, the similarly successful effort to repeal the recent changes to the Insurrection Act, turning back an unjustifiable expansion of a President’s power to use the military for law enforcement. This provision of this Defense Authorization Bill was drawn directly from legislation that I introduced with Senator Bond, which this year was the subject of a hearing by the Judiciary Committee.

Associations like the Adjutants General Association of the United States, the National Guard Association of the United States, and the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States were there every step of the way, keeping their members informed and bringing enormous energy to this effort.

Special thanks go to Representatives Gene Taylor of Mississippi and Tom Davis of Virginia who led a vigorous, companion effort on the House side, as well as Senators Carl Levin of Michigan, John McCain of Arizona, and John Warner of Virginia for leading the Senate negotiations.

We owe the deepest thanks to the almost 500,000 members of the National Guard. Their ability to balance their full-time jobs with their family responsibilities and Guard commitments is simply remarkable. They are indispensable to our national security structure, at home, and abroad. Their sense of pride, professionalism and duty represents the very best qualities of our military and our country. I am simply in awe of what they have done to protect this Nation, and I know the whole Congress and the country share this heartfelt gratitude.

Throughout this whole process, we have been guided by the fact that the Guard is always there for the people of the United States of America. Our part is easier than theirs: We cannot afford to let our Guard down. The Guard Empowerment provisions of this bill will help us honor that commitment to the men and women of the Guard.

Source: Senator Patrick Leahy