WASHINGTON, March 1 (UPI) -- The Pentagon should take a direct hand in running the U.S. National Guard, a new congressional panel said Thursday.
The Commission on the National Guard and Reserves recommended in a new report released Thursday that the U.S. National Guard Bureau should be run as a "joint activity" with the DOD rather than through the U.S. Army and Air Force, as is currently the case, the Army Times reported.
The 13-member commission was set up by the Republican-controlled 109th Congress in 2005 to find ways to speed up and streamline the response of the National Guard and military reserves to both natural and man-made disasters within the United States.
The commission also recommended that requests for the use of the National Guard and military reserves should be made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and sent by it to the DOD. It also recommended that U.S. Northern Command should work out plans that anticipated the use of National Guard and reserve forces as first responders in emergency situations, the Army Times said.
The general thrust of the recommendations envisioned closer coordination of National Guard and reserve forces with the DOD for emergencies within the United States than is currently the case.
