WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- Top Pentagon and Bush administration officials Tuesday portrayed the use of the National Guard at the Mexican border as simply an expansion of a mission U.S. troops have already been carrying out for two decades.
"The National Guard missions will be substantially similar to the annual training missions executed as part of our counter-drug program along the southwest border during the past two decades. The difference is that the size of the force and the commitment of resources will be far greater than anything we have done in the past," said Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, at a White House press conference.
The military will deploy some 6,000 troops over the next year, starting in June, and no more than 3,000 in 2007, according to McHale. There are now 400 assigned to the counter-drug support mission.
Most of the positions will be filled by National Guard troops from the states where they will serve - California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas - and they will be under the direct command of the state governor.
Most will deploy for two or three weeks, essentially substituting their border mission for their annual 15-day training requirement, meaning that as many as 150,000 or one-third of the National Guard will be tapped for border duty. Some soldiers may be required to deploy longer to maintain continuity of the mission.
"We're talking about people that have jobs and people that have families. And we are trying to balance that," said Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, the chief of the National Guard.
The troops are expected to be assigned to duties related to their regular military functions -- engineering, interpretation, helicopter support, maintenance, intelligence and surveillance, for instance.
"Instead of having them perform annual training just for the sake of practicing their skills in some wilderness area, we'll put them to operational use on the border," Blum said.
The troops won't necessarily be limited to National Guard only.
"There is a possibility that in certain niche capabilities we would use active-duty Title 10 military forces, and obviously there would be costs involved in the utilization of those active-duty personnel as well," said McHale.
The Defense Department expects to be reimbursed 100 percent for the costs incurred by the border deployment, McHale said. What that cost will be is not yet clear. By Wednesday the Homeland Security Department and the Pentagon will have drawn up a list of tasks and will know better their associated price tag.
"We don't know exactly what those costs are going to be, but they'll relate to the pay and allowances for the soldiers who are involved, the unanticipated costs related to operations and maintenance, to include equipment replacement, because of the wear and tear on equipment that inevitably will occur during the execution of these missions," he said.
The Homeland Security Department is likely to be tapped for the money.
The challenge for the National Guard will be keeping "three glass balls" in the air for the next two years, Blum said -- that is, maintaining combat readiness and deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan for the global war on terror; being prepared for another natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, and taking on an expanded role at the border.
"I think what you also need to know that your National Guard will not do this at the expense of its global mission that we're performing in the global war on terrorism around the world," Blum said. "And we will certainly not do this in any manner that does not make us at least as prepared as we were for Hurricane Katrina last year."
McHale and Blum said the troops will not be expected to capture or detain illegal migrants. The actual enforcement mission belongs to the border patrol.
"DOD -- I want to emphasize this -- will play no role in the direct apprehension, custodial care or security associated with those who are detained by civilian law enforcement authorities. Law enforcement along the border will remain a civilian function," said McHale.
However, sending troops to the border even in a support capacity carries with it the possibility of the use of lethal force.
In 1997, a detachment of Marines were sent to the Texas border on a narcotics surveillance mission. During one of those missions, a Marine shot and killed an 18-year-old male in Redford, Texas, who was herding goats and carrying an antique rifle. The Marines claimed self-defense, saying Esequiel Hernandez, Jr., had shot at them. The Marine who fired the shot was not charged because it was determined he operated within the confines of his rules of engagement.
"The four attorney generals of the affected states are working with the judge advocate and my general counsel and the Department of Defense general counsel and others to make sure that we have a rules of use of force and a rules of engagement that are appropriate and are consistent across all four states, even though we will be very sensitive to the state laws," said Blum. "We have done an early examination of the state statutes, and so far we see no disconnects, we see no contradictions, and we don't see -- we don't anticipate any problems in this area ... It's very important that soldiers know what the expectations are and what the rules are for the area they're operating in."
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the Bush administration plans to grow the Border Patrol from its current level of 12,000 agents to 18,000 by the end of 2008.
