It sat on her desk for over a week, but yesterday Governor Jan Brewer (R–AZ) finally signed S.B. 1495 into law. The new law takes an important step and allows the governor to mobilize the Arizona State Defense Force (SDF) “for any reason” she sees fit. Arizona’s constitution has long allowed for the creation of an SDF. This latest law, however, removes many of the restrictions on mobilizing this force. No longer is the governor required to wait for the Arizona National Guard to be physically located out of state …
The last time I traveled to Louisiana to observe the oil spill response, I spent a good deal of time with state and local disaster response officials and the state’s National Guard. On this visit I got to see the problem from the perspective of the federal responders, particularly the Coast Guard. Under the Oil Spill Act of 1990, the Coast Guard is responsible for coordinating the national response to major oil spills. They work with the company responsible for the spill, in this case BP, to affect the clean-up, …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQiTMnt4ebw[/youtube] America’s Air Reserve Component has shifted to an operational reserve engaged around the world and essential to today’s fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the pace of combat operations continues unabated, Pentagon resources are rapidly declining. Unfortunately, defense budget cuts tend to disproportionately affect the National Guard and Reserves. Pentagon leaders often overlook the tremendous capabilities provided by these men and women at a relative bargain to the nation. For example,
