Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) said the warning by the National Guard's senior uniformed officer that about half of all National Guard equipment is now tied up in the Middle East "should set off alarm bells" and needs to be heeded by the White House and the Pentagon.
Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, told a gathering of Guard adjutants general from across the country, meeting this week in Anchorage, Alaska, for their annual consultation, that Guard units have only 53 percent of the equipment they need to handle state emergencies - an all-time low.
Bond said that even though the National Guard has been assigned expanded missions in recent years, the Pentagon's budget for Guard allocations have not kept up.
Sen. Bond is teaming with Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy to push forward with their National Guard Empowerment Act, which would give the Guard a more effective "seat at the table" as decisions about missions and budgets are decided at the
Pentagon.
While Leahy's criticism of the Bush administration is not a surprise, Bond's tone on the issue has gotten increasingly pointed.
"There is no question that the Guard's equipment stocks for domestic response are low. This shortage is a result of decades of inadequate funding for Guard equipment," said Bond. "The Guard needs a boost in funding now to help alleviate the shortfalls in equipment. The $1 billion we successfully added in the supplemental is just a down payment. It is past time that the White House and Pentagon begin considering the Guard's critical dual role mission and ensure these men and women have the equipment they need to do their jobs."
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