STATEMENT BY
LIEUTENANT GENERAL H STEVEN BLUM
CHIEF, NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, UNCONVENTIONAL THREATS AND CAPABILITIES
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
UNITES STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
REGARDING
THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ROLE
IN HOMELAND SECURITY
MARCH 4, 2004
Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to update you on our progress in transforming the National Guard for full-spectrum operations to include those here in the homeland. We remain fully committed to our proven role as an essential partner in the Total Force ready to deploy rapidly overseas to fight our nation's enemies, help her friends and accomplish the mission any time, any place.
Clearly, being dispersed throughout the nation and under the command and control of governors, the National Guard is uniquely suited for operational missions inside the US to help protect both the American people and our critical infrastructure. This includes physical and information as well as economic structures. The National Guard has the flexibility and potential to span the full spectrum of actions ranging from assessment of vulnerabilities to the fielding of reaction forces, as well as all of the attendant training and exercises to support such a capability.
In my testimony I would like to briefly outline four concepts under development at the National Guard Bureau which I believe will pay significant dividends to the security of the nation, here at home and abroad.
JOINT FORCE HEADQUARTERS (STATE)
On October 1, 2003, we consolidated 162 separate stovepipe Army and Air National Guard headquarters organizations in each state into 54 Joint Force Headquarters - creating a single standing joint force headquarters in each state for all Army and Air National Guard activities. The synergy of jointness provides the states with a unity of effort otherwise unavailable if the elements worked separately. In times of emergency, these standing Joint Force Headquarters will provide state Governors with rapid response and better integration of National Guard assistance coming from neighboring states through existing Emergency Management Assistance Compacts. Additionally, these organizations could provide a means for achieving unity of effort by reception and integration of any federal forces which the President might employ in an incident. These headquarters could also, themselves, be federalized. Finally, the this headquarters transformation will create efficiencies by consolidating the three separate existing headquarters in each state under one commander, using the manpower saved to fill shortages in lower-echelon units. The concept plans required to formally establish joint headquarters at the state level should be submitted within the next year.
MODULARITY AND THE NGCERFP
The Chief of Staff of the Army has directed a greater focus on increasing the modularity of our forces. One application of this idea we have applied to National Guard domestic operations is the concept of the National Guard CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Package (NGCERFP). This is a capabilities-based force package of existing National Guard units which can be employed along with a Civil Support Team for a more robust capability in response to a WMD incident.
Thanks to Congressional support there are currently 32 certified National Guard WMD Civil Support Teams. More are on the way. These 22-person teams are jointly manned by highly trained Army and Air National Guard specialists equipped with cutting edge technology, and able to detect and identify chemical, biological or radiological hazards and help facilitate follow-on actions.
Under the NGCERFP concept, a Civil Support Team would be augmented by existing medical, engineer and security forces from either the Air or Army National Guard bringing an enhanced capability to secure an incident area, conduct technical search and extraction, and to decontaminate, treat and evacuate casualties. We need create no new units. We need only to leverage the force structure we already have and work with the Services to consider modest adjustments in organization or equipment.
JOINT CONUS COMMUNICATION SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT
We are proposing to the Secretary of Defense this information infrastructure concept. It will capitalize on existing NGB computer network connectivity throughout the 54 states and territories. If implemented, such a structure could be an important link between the United States Northern Command, the United States Pacific Command, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and other federal and state stake holders. This concept is still under development and discussions are ongoing, but it is indicative of the new ideas we are exploring to meet state and federal requirements in the new homeland security environment.
REBALANCING AND FULL SPECTRUM AVAILABILITY
The battle lines between Homeland Security and Homeland Defense are indistinguishable at the state level. Governors count on the Guard to be the first military responder. Thus the National Guard must be able to support state requirements on a no-notice, immediate basis, and respond with the right capabilities.
Governors have told me that they want to ensure that they have sufficient forces and the right capabilities in their National Guard to meet the requirements of both the Federal warfight and a wide array of potential State missions.
Nationally, today, approximately 25% of the National Guard is called to duty as part of the global war on terrorism. As we meet here today, over 129,000 citizen soldiers and airmen are currently supporting the global war on terror. Some states, however, have had as much as 75% of their National Guard deployed at one time. Both Governors and Adjutants General have expressed concern about their ability to respond to state missions, Homeland Defense or support to homeland security operations when that much of a state's Guard is away.
We have developed a predictive deployment model with an end-state goal that ensures the force is managed to permit approximately 25% to be deployed to the warfight; with up to another 25% training to replace those already deployed. Our objective in this model is to attempt to make a minimum of 50% (and up to 75%) of the Guard forces to remain in-state and available to the Governor for state missions, Homeland Defense, and support for Homeland Security operations.
For our Army Guard soldiers, our families, and our employers, this model establishes a goal of no more than one (1) potential deployment every five or six years, and for our Air Guard airmen, one shorter potential deployment every fifteen (15) months. This is important to maintaining a ready, reliable, and accessible National Guard. It allows us to ensure that we can sustain the National Guard for State or Federal missions now and in the future.
Beyond sheer numbers, the states have also made it clear that, to meet their emergency response requirements, they need to have certain key capabilities. These include: Joint Force Headquarters, Civil Support Team, Maintenance, Aviation, Engineer, Medical, Communications, Transportation, and Security forces.
We cannot deliver the predictive availability model or the ideal state-required capability mix today. Guard force structure is not properly balanced. It is not properly balanced in the states or among the states. Nor, is it properly balanced among the active, Guard and reserve.
As the National Guard Bureau works with both the Departments of the Army and Air Force to rebalance the active and reserve component mix, we will consult closely with Adjutants General and be ever mindful of the states' need for certain capabilities as we work decisions about the stationing of units across the nation.
It is important to note that we do not foresee a reduction in the number of people in the Guard.
We do see a National Guard with enhanced capabilities to perform all of its missions. We see a Guard with ready and relevant forces. And, finally we see a force that is right for America, right for the States and loyal to the principles on which the Guard was founded.
CONCLUSION
We are transforming the National Guard in every domain -- the way we fight, the way we do business, and the way we work with others -- to be the National Guard America needs for tomorrow, for missions at home and abroad.
The Secretary of Defense has noted in previous congressional testimony that the National Guard's existing duty statuses - state active duty, Title 32 duty, and federal Title 10 duty - have all worked well in the past. He has challenged us to leverage these for the new security environment. We are doing precisely that through the development of concepts such as those outlined above.
2120 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
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