Homeland Security Hearing on National Guard Readiness
Maj. Gen. Robert P. French, Deputy Adjutant General, Army, Joint Forces Headquarters, Pennsylvania National Guard gives testimony:
| Maj. Gen. French: "We don't know what kind of emergencies, what kind of contingencies, may arise in the future, we do know that the current lack of equipment degrades our ability in certain catastrophic scenarios. As we have in the past, the Guard stands ready to perform both its war fighting and homeland security missions. We need the same commitment to equipping our units for homeland security that we have to sending our units to war." |
UPDATE: From this morning:
Guard to tell lawmakers it's ill-equipped
Ana Radelat, Gannett, May 24, 2007
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken their toll on the National Guard's readiness, leaving some units with insufficient equipment to respond to a domestic catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, top Guard officers will tell lawmakers Thursday."While most adjutant generals believe they have sufficient equipment to deal with single disasters common to their states, they fear ... having to send equipment to support a regional disaster such as Katrina," Air Force Maj. Gen. Roger Lempke, president of the Adjutants General Association of the United States, said in testimony submitted to Congress.
Lempke, who also heads the Nebraska National Guard, and other Guard officials are scheduled to testify at a House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on National Guard readiness Thursday.
State Guard units have suffered equipment shortages because of overseas deployment. Units often lose hardware in combat or are required to leave equipment behind when they return home. That has resulted in a loss of dual-use equipment that can be used both in combat and to respond to domestic emergencies.
A General Accountability Office report released earlier this year said the Mississippi Army National Guard has only about 50 percent of the dual-use equipment it needs.