Senator Coons calls on Chief of the National Guard to be elevated to Joint Chiefs of Staff

Cosponsors legislation to give the Guard more authority and influence at the Pentagon

March 04, 2011

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) today announced his support for a bill that would give the chief of the National Guard Bureau a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“To me this comes down to the level of respect this nation shows its citizen soldiers,” Senator Coons said today. “I’m cosponsoring the Guardians of Freedom Act of 2011 to honor the brave Delawareans who have stood side-by-side with the active-duty and reserve members of the armed forces. They have shed the same blood in the same mud, and the Guard’s position in the Pentagon should reflect that.”

Despite the long-term and multiple deployments to combat theaters endured by National Guard members since the terror attacks of 9/11, the Guard’s leadership has lacked the authority within the Department of Defense to provide appropriate direct input on its planning and budgetary process. S.242 – The Guardians of Freedom Act – would give the Chief of the National Guard Bureau a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“If there was ever any question about whether the mission of the National Guard measures up to the missions of the other branches of our armed forces, I’d think the service and sacrifice of our Guard members in Afghanistan and Iraq these last ten years would put it to rest. The National Guard deserves this seat at the table,” Senator Coons said, who this afternoon will honor deploying Delawareans at the 166th Operations and Maintenance Group Call of Duty Ceremony in New Castle.

Major General Frank Vavala, who has served as the Adjutant general of Delaware’s National Guard since 1999, added his support for the effort to elevate the Guard’s role with the Joint Chiefs: “We, the National Guard, provide more than 30 percent of the Air Force’s critical flying capability, more than 40 percent of Army’s combat capability, and nearly all of the U.S. military’s domestic-response capacity,” General Vavala said Friday. “We do all this for less than 10 percent of the defense budget, yet we have no voice in final resource decisions in the Pentagon. The half million men and women of the National Guard have earned a seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. More importantly, they need that critical voice to continue doing all that they do for our nation."

The Guardians of Freedom Act was introduced on January 31, 2011 by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.). It was cosponsored by Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD), Pat Leahy (D-VT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

While campaigning for the White House in 2008, President Obama pledged to “give the Guard a seat at the table by making the chief of the National Guard a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”