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Pentagon Training Commanders To Take Control Of NG Units - Conservatives Extremely Dubious
The Pentagon is training "dual-status commanders", able to command both active duty federal military units and take charge over State National Guard units under presidential declaration situations.This requires special training and authority because of legal restrictions on the use of federally controlled armed forces on U.S. soil. The reason cited for this is that no one commander had that authority in the aftermath of Katrina, and military and civilian experts say the lack of coordination contributed to the nightmarish delays, duplications and gaps in the huge rescue effort, as the governor refused to obey or act on presidential directives. "It was just like a solid wall of authority and control between the two government entities," said Georgia National Guard Col. Michael Scholes, who was part of the Katrina response. Likewise it could be compared to when Eisenhower sent in federal troops to overwhelm the resistance of National Guard troops in Arkansas, who would only obey the orders of their governor. Top Defense Department officials believe dual-status commanders are the key to reducing at least some of those command and control failures. Importantly, a dual-status commander controlling both active duty military and National Guard personnel already took over from National Guard commanders during the 2004 G8 Summit on Sea Island, Ga, to protect internationalist foreign dignitaries discussing global initiatives. This was apparently a command and control exercise, as Sea Island is only accessible via a causeway, so there was no apparent need for the use of National Guard forces. The U.S. Northern Command, with headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., began training dual-status commanders last year. Northern Command was created after the 2001 terrorist attacks to defend the U.S. homeland and help civilian authorities handle domestic crises like Katrina (and stuff). The goal is to have at least one officer in each of the 50 states and in four U.S. territories qualified and ready to be a dual-status commander to take charge of a State's National Guard units under federal command along with active duty federal units on a moment's notice, said Admiral James Winnefeld, commander of Northern Command. "There's always been, I would say, a gentlemanly (constitutional) disagreement between the States and the federal government, at least for the last decade probably (or maybe 20+ decades) , on who would actually have the responsibility for commanding federal(ized) forces responding to a disaster in a state," he said. Winnefeld, who is also commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, called the dual-status program "one of my proudest accomplishments since I've been here." He will be leaving the two commands to become vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pending Senate confirmation later this summer. Needless to say, conservatives are looking at this program with inspired skepticism and cynicism. Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-07-04 |
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