Collins backs report urging Guard changes

WASHINGTON – With more than 95,000 National Guard and Reservists serving overseas, Sen. Susan Collins, R- Maine, says there is a gap in the country’s capability to respond to national disasters or attacks at home.

The Senate Armed Services Committee, of which Collins is a member, heard Thursday from members of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, which issued a report last week calling for better training and support for members of the National Guard and Reserves.

“We have put too much stress on the National Guard and reservists, their families and their employers because of repeated and lengthy deployments overseas,” Collins said in an interview after the hearing. “I’m proud of our National Guard and reservists, but I think we’ve unfairly placed too much stress on them.”

In Maine, 210 Army National Guard soldiers are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maine has sent more than 2,000 members of the National Guard and Reserves to fight overseas since the Sept. 11 attacks, one of the highest percentages of deployment in the United States.

Last March, Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro, chairman of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, said 88 percent of Guard units in the United States were not ready for a major disaster. The situation today is worse, he said at Thursday’s hearing.

With their soldiers and funding being drained from overseas fighting, Punaro’s report says, the National Guard and Reserves are due for a change in mission and structure to assure their future sustainability.

The 400-page report offers 95 recommendations to improve the way the National Guard and Reserves are “organized, trained, equipped, compensated and supported.”

Largely disagreeing with Punaro’s report, the Defense Department held a press conference last week defending the capability of the military.

“We want to communicate to our adversaries that we have superb capabilities, the best in the world,” said Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense. “And they will respond heroically and effectively in the event of such a catastrophic event, but not as fast, not as close to perfection as we human beings would like to achieve.”

McHale also said the Punaro report called for the National Guard and Reserves to exclusively protect the home front and not aid in the war against terror. Members of the commission said at Thursday’s hearing that this was not true. The report calls for the National Guard and Reserves to lead in protecting the home front, while also serving to support armed forces overseas.

The report emphasizes the necessity of the National Guard and Reserves as long as there is a volunteer army. But while they play a vital role overseas, the report said, the need for them at home continues to grow.

“Today, the homeland is part of the battlefield, and the federal government must use all elements of national power to protect it,” Maj. Gen. Gordon Stump, a member of the commission, said at the hearing. “Dangers to the homeland include traditional military threats, such as conventional attacks on people and property, and more unorthodox ones, such as terrorist attacks. As a result of these threats to the homeland and the new awareness of the danger, protecting the homeland has become a greater priority for all levels of government.”

Some of the changes the Punaro report suggests include altering the personnel and funding structure and enforcing more realistic training. The report also calls for improvements to the pay scale, health care and retirement system for National Guard and Reserve members to aid in recruitment retention.

The report comes after lawmakers contemplated ways to prepare the nation for a terrorist attack or a natural disaster like hurricane Katrina.

During Katrina, active-duty soldiers and National Guard troops often did not know what the others were doing, according to Collins, the senior Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Coordinating the two and authorizing one person to control both branches during a crisis would eliminate such confusion, the report said.

“The lack of coordination between our active-duty officers and our National Guard and reservists is a real concern,” Collins said.

The report recommends giving state governors this authority, but Collins and other lawmakers oppose this. Collins said the Department of Defense would be likely to “fiercely oppose” having a governor, not ranking military officers, leading active-duty personnel.

The Department of Defense is evaluating the report and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs will hold a hearing on it next week.