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| Defense Act to Place National Guard Bureau Chief on Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| 2012-01-01 |
| The new National Defense Authorization Act among other things places the chief of the National Guard Bureau on the Joint Chiefs of Staff despite the opposition of other military brass. The Senate Armed Services Committee held the only hearing on the subject on Nov. 10, where the Joint Chiefs of Staff uniformly express their admiration for the chief of the National Guard Bureau but flatly dismissed the idea that he should join their ranks. Among the reasons for rejecting the idea, the top officers of the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps, along with the Joint Chiefs chairman Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, argued that National Guard forces already were represented on the Joint Chiefs as part of the total force for both the Army and the Air Force. They contended that the National Guard Bureau chief had no real budget authority and placing him on the Joint Chiefs would create confusion as to the Army and Air Force chain of command. But Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley patiently refuted the arguments of his fellow officers and said chain of command would remain clear and that he really did have billions of dollars at his command. Advocates also pointed to the increasing workload of the National Guard in responding to natural disasters and terrorism domestically, asserting that putting the national chief on the Joint Chiefs of Staff would improve coordination of national resources to meet the requirements of those catastrophes. McKinley applauded his pending promotion to the Joint Chiefs in a statement released along with Graham's statement Wednesday. I am deeply suspicious of this, likely as an effort to permanently federalize the National Guard. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #1 Can we please get this idiotic administration OUT of Washington? November can't come soon enough. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2012-01-01 21:38 |