Senator Webb: Adding National Guard to Joint Chiefs "Unnecessarily Divisive"

Statement

Senator Jim Webb, who served as the first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs and later Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration, today opposed legislation which would make the Chief of the National Guard Bureau (CNGB) a permanent member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The legislation is opposed by the Secretary of Defense and all members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The National Guard is by statute a reserve component of the U.S. Army and Air Force.

"I believe this legislation is unnecessary," said Senator Webb. "Anyone who is saying that citizen soldiers are not at the table right now is being unnecessarily divisive and I think unfair to the stewardship and leadership of the Army and Air Force. Citizen soldiers are at the table. They have been respected throughout the entire history of this country.

"The Army National Guard has a history of being trained and equipped as part of the United States Army; the Air National Guard has a history of being trained and equipped as a part of the United States Air Force," said Senator Webb. "I don't believe that the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been failing to represent the interests of the Army Guard in the Army, or the Air Guard in the Air Force.

"I think particularly since the Total Force Concept was announced--and I had the privilege of being the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs at a time that we were really working these matters out--the National Guard has really been able to have an input in a very measurable way," said Senator Webb.

In 2007, the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves recommended against making the CNGB a permanent member of the Joint Chiefs because it "would run counter to intra- and inter-service integration and would reverse progress toward jointness and interoperability."

Background:

The National Guard's dual federal-state missions provide for: (1) Under Title 10, providing trained units and personnel for active duty in time of war, national emergency, and other times as national security may require, and (2) Under Title 32, providing federally funded service under the command of state governors for traditional training, major domestic emergencies, and homeland security special events. The Guard also provides state-funded active duty service under command of the governor, usually for state emergencies. The Fiscal Year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act designated the CNGB as a principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense, through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on matters involving non-federalized National Guard forces and on other matters as determined by the Secretary of Defense; and the principal advisor to the Secretaries of the Army and the Air Force on matters relating to the National Guard. The CNGB was elevated to four-star rank in 2009.

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