Report: Guard needs more homeland security funds

National Guard, Nov 2002

America is still vulnerable to a catastrophic terrorist attack, an independent report by a Council on Foreign Relations task force warned last month.

Among its recommendations to mitigate such an event is to "fund, train and equip the National Guard to make homeland security a primary mission."

Co-chaired by former senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman, the task force says in "America Still Unprepared-America Still in Danger," that casualties from the next attack on the United States will dwarf those of Sept. 11, 2001.

Although the report acknowledges homeland-defense efforts since the attacks, it urges the creation of the Department of Homeland Security-- legislation still bogged down in Congress.

While not criticizing a possible war with Iraq, the report also suggests focusing on the resource drain caused by such an effort.

With a particular focus on weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, the report stresses efforts to defend the country's infrastructure against such an attack.

The Guard is particularly summoned to assume this task.

"The National Guard has highly disciplined manpower spread throughout the nation in 5,475 units. The men and women who make up its ranks often come from the local community in which their unit is based," it says. "When called up by governors, the National Guard can be used to enforce civil laws-unlike regular forces which are bound by posse comitatus restrictions on performing law enforcement duties."

In addition, the report says Guard medical, engineer, military police and transportation units would prove "indispensable" in the event of a WMD attack. Primarily, the report says Guard units' capabilities must be funded and trained for work with civil authorities and support homeland security plans designed by individual governors.

As a start, it says Guard Civil Support Teams (page 24) should triple to 66 teams and increase their training against urban WMD threats.

The report also takes issue with some ways the federal government has used the Guard since Sept. 11.

"Move away from using National Guard resources where their deployment has minimal impact," the report said. "National Guardsmen are too valuable to be assigned to borders and airports where they are limited in the functions they can perform."

Instead, the Guard should train and be available for inevitable chemical, biological and nuclear attacks.

The report also recommends redressing pay and job-protection discrepancies between state and federal mobilizations. Currently, most Guardsmen on state active duty receive no protection that allows them to return to their jobs as provided on federal activations. In addition, some Guardsmen on state active duty receive as little as $75 a day.

The task force's recommendations and conclusions are similar to those in a pre-9/11 commission study also cochaired by Hart and Rudman.

"Road Map for National Security: Imperative for Change" released Jan. 31, 2001, by the United States Commission on National Security/21st Century, also concluded the United States was vulnerable to attack due to the growth of international terrorism.

The commission recommended a homeland security agency responsible for planning and coordinating homeland-security activities.

It said the Guard should redistribute resources away from overseas fights to instead support civil authorities-- particularly against WMD threats. And it recommended the Defense Department reduce dual-mission forces.

To view the complete task force report, visit www.cfr.org. The January 2001 report is also still available at www.nssg.gov/phaseIII.pdf.