By Charles Hoskinson
SASC THURSDAY TACKLED THE THORNY QUESTION of whether the National Guard should have a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It’s a proposal that has come up several times since the Sept. 11 attacks as the number of Guard members fighting – and dying – in foreign wars has dramatically increased, but DOD has always opposed it. The proposal is back again this year as part of the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill.

DEMPSEY AND THE OTHER JOINT CHIEFS opposed the idea in their historic joint testimony to the panel, with Dempsey saying “There is no compelling military need to support this historic change” and noting that it would undermine the Joint Chiefs’ “unity of effort.” But NGB chief McKinley said it’s an idea whose time has come, noting that he and his successors are the only people advocating for the Guard’s domestic mission at the highest levels of DOD.

WHERE YOU STAND DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU SIT – It’s interesting to see how lawmakers stack up on the issue based on their personal histories. SASC members Scott Brown – a Massachusetts Army National Guard officer – and Lindsey Graham – an Air Force Reserve officer – support the idea as the citizen-soldier’s due. So do former governors Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. But Jim Webb, a former Navy secretary and ASD for reserve affairs who worked on the total force concept while at the Pentagon, opposes it, saying it’s unnecessary.

DURING THE 2008 CAMPAIGN, Obama supported the proposed change – a fact pointedly noted by Graham during the hearing. When asked at the Pentagon news conference if he shared the president’s opinion, Panetta gestured to Dempsey and said, “I stand with this guy.”
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