December 2023 – Antiwar Oregon: Defend the Guard
Defend the Guard is state-based legislation which would prohibit the deployment of a state’s National Guard units into active combat without a formal declaration of war by Congress, as required by Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.
Active combat is colloquially defined as a situation where American soldiers are shooting and being shot at. Defend the Guard would have no effect on either deployments to other states in the union or overseas training missions.
This legislation intends to use the American principle of federalism to realign and correct the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. Its purpose is to require a shift in American foreign policy, and curtail the federal government’s ability to wage endless war without congressional oversight or accountability.
Nineteenth century American statesman and Secretary of State Daniel Webster advised, “It will be the solemn duty of the state governments to protect their own authority over their own militia, and to interpose between their citizens and arbitrary power [by the federal government].”
As long as Washington DC—heavily influenced and corrupted from contributions by foreign governments and the military-industrial complex—seeks to use the National Guard for extralegal warfighting, state legislators have a responsibility to enforce federal law and block such action.
Members of the National Guard in the individual States maintain a unique “dual status”—both State and Federal—that no other branch of service or component has. This dual status is rooted in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, which specifies that “Congress shall have the power…To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.”
Serving both state and nation in times of need, soldiers and airmen in the National Guard swear an oath to protect and defend not just the Constitution of the United States, but also the state in which they serve. In peacetime the Guard is commanded by the governor of their respective state, assisting these civil leaders during natural disasters, state emergencies, and civil unrest.
National Guardsmen may be mobilized into active federal service through invocation of either Title 10 or Title 32. When mobilized under Title 10 U.S.C. Guardsmen are directed by the president to report for active duty in an official capacity where they are under the command of the president of the United States and the federal government will provide budgetary funding.
Title 10 allows the president to “federalize” National Guard units for the lawful purposes of national defense,overseas training, and enforcement of federal authority.
When mobilized under Title 32 U.S.C. Guardsmen remain under the command of the governor, who is the commander in chief of his or her respective state’s National Guard. Service under Title 32 is primarily state active duty, or what is commonly referred to as “State Call Up.” These missions can be in response to natural or man-made disasters and homeland defense, and where individual states will provide budgetary funding.
Defend the Guard legislation gives no impediment on the ability of the president or a governor to activate the National Guard under Title 10 or Title 32 authority, respectively. The bill clearly defines the governor’s authority to command the National Guard within the state.
When Congress votes and approves a formal declaration of war, as required by Article I, Section 8, the National Guard will have the legal approval to perform combat operations beyond the borders of the United States and under the command of the president as outlined by Title 10 U.S.C.
The National Guard forms the backbone of the U.S. Armed Forces, possessing close to 450,000 combined members of the Army National Guard and Air National Guard. Since 2001, around
45% of the troops deployed in the Global War on Terror have been Guardsmen, and those units have incurred over 18% of the casualties. As recently as December 2020, more than 57,000 Guardsmen were deployed overseas in both combat and “peacekeeping” operations.
As of 2022, Defend the Guard has been introduced in twenty-one state legislatures representing every region of the country. Bill sponsors have included conservative Republicans, progressive Democrats, and elected Libertarians.
The Defend the Guard movement has been endorsed by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, ret. Brig. Gen. John Bahnsen, whistleblowers Daniel Ellsberg and Matthew Hoh, and former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, among others.
Defend the Guard legislation has been profiled on PBS Newshour, NPR, The Hill, The Washington Times, Military.com, The National Interest, and Reason, among others.
For years, polling has consistently demonstrated that U.S. veterans favor military withdrawals from our wars in the Middle East at even higher percentages than civilians. This included Afghanistan, where over two-thirds of veterans supported a withdrawal, and Iraq and Syria, where thousands of soldiers remain stationed, enduring regular missile attacks and other hostile actions.
Following the end of conscription during the Vietnam War, most Americans have successfully insulated themselves from the costs of war and foreign policy has become an afterthought. But for veterans, many of whom return from back-to-back deployments feeling socially isolated and losing their marriages, homes, career prospects, and even lives to suicide, the domestic consequences of endless war are daily realities.
The continued overuse and abuse of the National Guard, from unconstitutional deployments into warzones, extraneous deployments like Washington DC following the January 6th riot, and all-around poor treatment in housing and care, is contributing to a growing recruitment crisis in the military and decreased rates of retention.
The motto of the National Guard is “Always Ready, Always There.” But as long as they remain tools for undeclared war fighting and unmonitored global policing, they will be unable to fulfill this mission statement.
When the Louisiana National Guard is constructing dams and levies in Iraq, they can’t respond to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. When the Kentucky National Guard is guarding oil derricks in Syria, they can’t respond to tornadoes ravaging eleven counties in western Kentucky.
When the Florida National Guard is training Ukrainians for a proxy war against Russia in Europe, they can’t respond to hurricanes on the Gulf Coast. When over 1,000,000 acres of Oregon burned in 2021 and the Oregon National Guard and their heavy-lift Chinook helicopters were assisting in the efforts, they were uprooted and relocated to a quarantine tent in Afghanistan and their helicopters grounded.
Critics of the bill claim that the federal government will enact retribution by defunding a state’s National Guard, and remove bases, equipment, and other resources. Such an acrimonious repercussion would result in disastrous political consequences for those responsible.
Federal funding allocated to the states for readiness, training, and equipment is not addressed or affected by Defend the Guard legislation. In Kansas, where Defend the Guard was introduced in January 2022, the Director of the Budget found the bill “would not have a fiscal effect.”
About the Author
Discover more from Right Now Oregon
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
All this history is for not. Military laws control first over the constitution. We are currently under Federal Continuity Directive Orders Plan 1 issued June 12, 2015 and Plan 2 issued on June 13, 2017, and the military is under control of the Commander and Chief, which is separate from the President under this continuity of government. The point is, congress can pass this but it won’t change anything since they don’t have authority to change it.