{"id":2248340,"date":"2024-05-20T04:17:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T08:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/air-force-national-guard-space-force-plan-flies-in-the-face-of-precedent\/"},"modified":"2024-05-20T04:20:45","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T08:20:45","slug":"air-force-national-guard-space-force-plan-flies-in-the-face-of-precedent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/air-force-national-guard-space-force-plan-flies-in-the-face-of-precedent\/","title":{"rendered":"National Guard&#8217;s Space Force Plan Defies Tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fair-force-national-guard-space-force-plan-flies-in-the-face-of-precedent%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2248340&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Air Force&#8217;s proposal to merge Air National Guard units into \u200bthe U.S. \u2063Space Force faces backlash from governors and lawmakers due to concerns about\u200c precedent and usurpation of state authority. The plan, affecting over 1,000 guardsmen, has sparked fears of federal overreach and potential shifts in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ukraine-is-waging-a-peoples-war-against-russia-how-will-it-end\/\" title=\"Ukraine Is Waging a \u201cPeople\u2019s War\u201d Against Russia: How Will It End?\">force structure<\/a>. Governors and military figures express apprehension about the \u200bimplications of this \u200bmove.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/air-force\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Air Force<\/a> is promoting a policy shift that effectively goes against more than a hundred years of precedent, and is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mccaul-denounces-tubervilles-paralyzing-military-blockade-national-security-problem\/\" title=\"McCaul criticizes Tuberville's 'crippling' military blockade: 'Threat to national security'\">facing significant opposition<\/a> to it.<\/p>\n<p>The crux of the policy change is that the relevant Air National Guard units would be folded into the U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/space-force\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Space Force\">Space Force<\/a>, but governors are the heads of their state\u2019s National Guard, and not one of them supports this plan. Instead, the service is attempting a legislative end around by seeking to get Congress to pass it despite gubernatorial opposition.<\/p>\n<p>The governors, dozens of lawmakers, as well as current and former National Guard leaders in opposition to it have warned about the precedent it could set.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe crux of the issue in dealing with [Legislative Proposal] 480 is just the terrible precedent it\u2019s going to set,\u201d retired Maj. Gen. Francis McGinn, president of the National Guard Association of the United States, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Army could say we\u2019re going to take a project combat team out of the Army Guard and put it into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/national-guard-could-stay-in-d-c-at-least-through-fall-2021-report\/\" title=\"National Guard Could Stay In D.C. \u2018At Least Through Fall 2021\u2019: Report\">active component<\/a>,\u201d he added. \u201cSo for us, the crux is the very bad precedent. It goes against 120 years of history.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Air Force has said less than 600 Air National Guard members from six states would be affect. The National Guard Association includes a unit in New York and another in California, which the Air Force says don\u2019t apply, and so they believe more than 1,000 guardsmen and women in 14 units across seven states \u2014 Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York, and Ohio \u2014 will be affected, according to Gen. Mike Bruno, chairman of the space task force at the National Guard Association of the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Bruno, who is also the director of the Joint Staff of the Colorado National Guard, labeled the Air Force\u2019s plan to \u201coverride gubernatorial authority\u201d as an example of \u201cfederal overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Members of the Air and Army National Guard are part-time reserve service members who can be federalized in specific instances but are normally under gubernatorial control. Lawmakers and military leaders have discussed the possibility for years of creating a Space National Guard but that hasn\u2019t happened to date. Specific units within the Air National Guard focus on space.<\/p>\n<p>Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall called the situation \u201cunique\u201d during a hearing last month in front of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee. \u201cThere\u2019s absolutely no intention to make any other changes, moving things out of the Guard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel, who served\u00a0as chief of the National Guard Bureau from 2016-2020, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> he was \u201ca little surprised\u201d the Air Force would seek to work around the governors\u2019 authority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that was something that the Guard should rightly be concerned about, as a method of operations there for dealing with states and force structure and the National Guard to begin with all of it,\u201d he argued. \u201cI think that some in the Guard are fearful that DOD could use this authority, if granted, in the future to move pieces of force structure from the Guard back into an active component service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0governors\u00a0of 48 states and five territories signed onto a letter earlier this month expressing their opposition to the proposal, while the\u00a0governors\u00a0of Florida and Texas, who did not sign that letter, have also publicly opposed the plan.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT), who serves as the chairman of the National\u00a0Governors\u00a0Association, recently spoke with Kendall last week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI joined many other\u00a0governors\u00a0of both parties to share our extreme frustration about LP480 and pressed Air Force Secretary Kendall to withdraw support for the proposal,\u201d he told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> in a statement. \u201cWhile we\u2019re disappointed in his refusal to do so, we stand willing to collaborate on a solution in good faith, but the administration first needs to comply with the law, which requires consultation and approval from\u00a0governors\u00a0before taking National Guard units.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eighty-five lawmakers from the House and Senate signed on to a letter earlier this month addressed to the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee and they urged those congressional leaders to reject the inclusion of the proposal in the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. <\/p>\n<p>Technically, the proposal would waive Section 104 of Title 32 and Section 18238 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which states that \u201cno change in the branch, organization or allotment of a unit located entirely within a state may be made without the approval of its governor\u201d and that National Guard units cannot \u201cbe relocated or withdrawn under this chapter without the consent of the governor of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL), the head of the House Armed Services Committe, released his chairman\u2019s mark of the NDAA earlier this week, and it included language that would allow the Air Force to go ahead with their plan but with some compromise, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airandspaceforces.com\/draft-2025-ndaa-space-force-guard-units\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><em>Air and Space Forces Magazine<\/em><\/a>. It would limit the number of personnel that could be transferred to 580, and it would require the Air Force to provide retraining and reassignment to any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President Trump\u2019s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">service member<\/a> who prefers to stay in the Guard.<\/p>\n<p>Rogers, who supports the Air Force proposal, told <em><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/connorobrienNH\/status\/1788180572323360931\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Politico<\/a><\/em>, \u201cUnless it becomes apparent to me that it\u2019s not going anywhere, it will be in [the NDAA] and then somebody can just try to take it out\u201d during the House Armed Services Committee markup process. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Air Force&#8217;s proposed policy change challenges over a century of tradition, sparking strong resistance. It involves integrating Air National Guard units into the U.S. Space Force, where governors typically lead these units, adding complexity to the transition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2671,"featured_media":2248341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23326059913285-1024x686.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2248340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP23326059913285-1024x686.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2671"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2248340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2248341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2248340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2248340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2248340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}