Growing Concern about Absent Guard Units as Hurricane Season Approaches (5/17/07)

Washington DC-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chair of the Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Subcommittee will hold a hearing entitled: "Assuring the National Guard is as Ready at Home as It is Abroad," Friday, May 18 in Room 2167 Rayburn House Office Building to respond to issues that increasingly are being raised by governors, the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves and many others about whether the states are ready to respond to disasters and emergencies at home with so many Guard units now in Iraq and Afghanistan. Witnesses will include FEMA Administrator David Paulison and representatives of the Missouri National Guard and the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management.

Norton said that as the hurricane season approaches, the subcommittee is obligated to investigate increasing reports that cast doubt on the capacity of some remaining Guard units to respond adequately to natural and terrorist attacks. Many National Guard units and their equipment, that would normally be used to respond to disasters at home, have been sent overseas to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Norton said that even more troubling are reports that some Guard units are being told to leave their equipment overseas for other military units, thus depriving those units of that equipment for disasters at home.

The National Guard is the mainstay of disasters response, whether natural or terrorist events, for more than 3,000 communities throughout the United States. Norton said, "The indispensable role of the National Guard in hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornados, and other natural disasters annually, as well as civil disorders, is as important at home as the role the Guard is performing in Iraq and Afghanistan today. After four years at war where the Guard has participated in unprecedented numbers, it is time to inquire whether the National Guard is available and prepared to do the necessary job at home."