. >> we heard earlier today from the national guard on their response to the coronavirus. here is general joseph lingle who spoke for about 25 minutes. morning.you, good i am glad to be here today. today we face a national emergency in this covid-19 pandemic. we are all concerned about the health and safety of our fellow americans and citizen soldiers and airmen. six members of the national guard have tested positive for covid-19. and we measures in place will keep our national guard members informed as the situation develops. we play an important part in ensuring the health and safety of communities and this is a responsibility we take their sleep. we are here to support each other and communities. i want to talk about what the national guard is doing. it is unlike any event we have faced in recent years. when there is a hurricane, you can see it on a map and you have a sense on how hard it will hit. it is like we have 54 separate hurricanes in every state and territory. some are category 5, summer category three and one. we don't no one this was going to dissipate. it dem

national guard to arrive at the capitol. the 113th awaiting capitol guardians have a proud history of protecting our nations capitol and serve our nation's leadership. nations leadership. nevertheless new jersey state police for delete one or 50 miles away it responded to the capitol before the d.c. national guard. additionally the pentagon knew there was a threat to governmental operations caused by 3:30 7:00 p.m. the pentagon send its own security forces to guard the homes of defense leaders. at 3:30 7:00 p.m. note deceit national guard forces were on the way for the capitol. throughout my subcommittee's extensive investigation into the events of generate sixth and the select committee on january 6, we have uncovered concerning and inconsistencies regarding mobilization of the d.c. national guard. phone records, first-hand accounts, sworn testimony after action reports we have gathered there appears to have been a significant delay that the the departmentof defense and dee national guard or communicating the order of deploy

national guard including the joint task force d.c. mr. brooks now works at a company that seeks to protect a national economic security from undue foreign influence for generally six, 2020 what mr. brooks was advisor to major william walker advised on all illicit matters. our next witnesses colonel earl matthews decorated with long accomplished career in government and private sector but colonel matthew served deputy assistant to the president senior director for the defense of policy and strategy on the national security council stand. he also served army acting general counsel and principal deputy general counsel as well as the deputy legal counsel to the charm of the joint chiefs of staff. generate six, 2021 colonel mathis was a chief legal advisor to major general william walker and was with him all day. our next witness brigadier general aaron dean and cruel general dean served in operation desert storm in a combat tour in iraq. he also served d.c. national guard for over 35 years. exemplifying what it means to be a capitol guardsman.

the national guard is no different. guard personnel have fought in the wars in iraq and afghanistan, aided countless civilians in natural disaster and see providing essential healthcare and support to fight the current covid-19 pandemic. and they suffer from a convoluted and understaffed system of sexual assault and sexual harassment prevention programs. complex and cumbersome reporting processes and a lack of justice. the numbers are staggering yet the data is lacking. according to the dod 2019 annual report on sexual assault in the military, the number of reported sexual assaults in the guard jumped nationwide from 173 in 2009 to 607 in 2019. more than a 300% increase. beyond that, little data exists. i've been advocating for progress more than ten years. those numbers don't tell even a fraction of the story. individual stories of guard personnel caught in a web of confusing bureaucracy are harrowing, stories like the west virginia national guard officer, then lieutenant general teresa james raped in her hotel room by

national guard. to begin, i would like to think our national guard soldiers and airmen for the hard work, swift response, and steadfast dedication. they have committed ensuring that our capitol remains secure. i am incredibly proud of our airmen and soldiers. this mission shows the breadth, flexibility, and resolve of the national guard and the service it provides our nation. i would like to think the governors who volunteered the guardsmen, our mayor in d.c., and our local and federal partners. the national guard has been requested to continue supporting federal law enforcement agencies with about 7000 personnel for the coming weeks. that will likely draw down to 5000 by mid-march. i will go through the specifics of that. we received request for follow-up assistance. the requests have come from u.s. park police, u.s. secret service, the capitol police, and the metropolitan police department of washington, d.c. all four requests have been approved. the municipal requests by myself. the national guard

>> thank you for the question and thank you, sir for your service in the national guard as well. women look at the army guard in particular, last year we were able to start realigning the eight divisions of the national guard with a supportive brigades, brigade combat teams, combat aviation brigade tenth maneuver enhancement brigade. we're trying to provide our nation not only ten active duty army divisions but also ate national guard divisions. that's where this specific case comes into play. when you look at it the station level as so we noted we need to modernize affirmations and we work very closely to make sure whatever the army modernizes we have the same equipment in the national guard so we're an operable on the battlefield. when we look what the army under long-term work with that program, we want to be part of that to make sure we look, act and operate the same. >> mr. rogers, i don't know if are having a technical issue. you had about 20 seconds left. it looks like we're having a technical difficulty, and if your staff gets hold of our staff we will add that on to your

we currently have 29,000 army national guard soldiers mobilized. last year in fy-'11, 45,000 army national guardsmen were deployed in support of ongoing missions around the world. as an operational force, the army national guard provides a cost-effective solution to meet the new strategic guidance. for 12.43% of the army's budget, the army national guard provides 39% of the army's operating forces. our soldiers represent nearly every zip code in the nation. they play a vital role as the department of defense first responder for natural disasters and terrorist attacks on our soil. today's army national guard soldiers continue the pride tradition of service to their states and to our nation. in 2011 alone, it was the citizen soldiers who provided 900,000 duty days of support across our nation. that's the second largest domestic response since 9/11. since hurricane katrina. we are attracting skilled soldiers and future leaders. with the nation at war as a backdrop, our year to date enlistment rate for fy-'12 is in excess of 95%. but our retention rate

not by the national guard, the national guard is not doing that. as i speak to you today, there are 782 national guard soldiers on the border assisting them in the border security role. and the preponderance is in texas and arizona it is unknown what it will grow to be and if it is capped to a level of no higher of 4,000 total soldiers in support of the mission. in regards to funding, the funding is unknown. exactly how long it is going to last or how big and what the total funding operations are required to support it will be. in the secretary's of defense action memo on the sixth of april tasking the comptroller to ascertain sources of funding to support the effort. to make him aware of issues with respect to funding that may impact the mission sets. and if required to notify him of any reprogramming actions that may be necessary to a lot proper funding into the right places to conduct a mission and maintain the readiness of the force. and you know, i would ask that this committee look favorably on reprogramming action that would come this direct

second, the army national guard responds rapidly. the past dozen years of war have demonstrated that even the largest guard formations can be deployed well within the timelines required by combatant commanders. the experience of deploying repeatedly over the past decade has honed this training regiment and significantly reduced postmobilization training time. the army force generation cycle provides a rotating pool of about 55-60,000 army guardsmen in their ready cycle available for employment each year. most companies and company-size units complete their postmobilization training in approximately 30 days. brigade combat teams take a little longer, averaging 50-80 days of training. and, again, it all depends. the active army takes about that long as well depending on what level you go into that training regiment. if you go in at platoon, the it takes a little longer. if you go in at company, it doesn't take quite as long. and while predictability of scheduled deployments is preferable for soldiers, families and civilian m employers,

what is the national guard the national guard is that, the same military unit that is also tasked onfront line , and that's the mortar, and that's the artillery, that's again the drone operators, actually in essence, we are the same units as any other unit of the armed forces of ukraine. our specialty and our difference is the possibility of so-called rotations. what is it about, that is, it is, in my opinion, the biggest and the first. argument if one chooses whether the armed forces or the national guard: rotations allow you to go to the front line for 3 months. after returning from a three-month stay on the front line , working out, a person undergoes a certain decompression, psychologists work with them, then there is time for vacation, for recovery, and then preparation and training for the next departure, that is, three in 3 months, this is how most of the national guard units work, unlike... unlike the armed forces of ukraine, well, i can’t say what they have such an opportunity, and this is our great advantage, yes, this is a very important point, and if, for example, we talk

and an advocate for the national guard. aren't higher reserve component makes an indispensable contribution to our national security. throughout our nation's history and certainly in the decade since 9/11, we've depended on our citizens, soldiers and airmen to help defend us, our allies and interests. at home and abroad, the national guard service with courage, discipline and skill and distinction. i'm proud to be their chairman. the chairman of the total joint force, active and reserve, civilian and a family coming and i take seriously my responsibility to give voice to their achievements and to their needs. i ensure their voice, including the voice of the chief of the national guard bureau is heard. this said, i joined the secretary of defense and the service chiefs and counseling against making the chief of the national guard a statutory member of the joint chiefs of staff. there is no compelling military need to support this historic change. two primary concerns lead me to this conclusion, representation and accountabili

your guard airmen continue to make significant contributions to the nation's defense both here and home and around the globe. last year guard airmen filled 54,000 requests for manpower. 91% of these requests were filled by volunteers. international guards responsiveness and daptablity was clearly demonstrated a year ago when on 17, march, 2011, as the united nations security council passed resolution 1973 authorizing a no fly zone over libya, air national guard kc 135 in tennessee and the 168th aerial refuelling wing alaska were diverted en route to florida operating bases. these guard airmen began flying missions 48 hours later. clearly demonstrating that the international guard is accessible and ready to serve. last year national guard airmen spent half a million men days providing support missions. this included ordinance disposaling helping with security at special events. and helping victims of floods and other natural disasters and helping to save lives by assisting in search and rescue efforts. guard airmen spent an additional million man days in homeland defense. this included h

national guard at the time of the attack. then an update from president biden on troops withdrawing from afghanistan. later, remarks by new york governor andrew cuomo during the national governors association meeting. announcer: nearly two months after the january 6 attack on the u.s. capitol, major general william walker, who served as commander of the d.c. national guard at the time of the attack, gave lawmakers a time of events that happened that day. also testifying, representatives from the pentagon, the fbi, and the homeland security department. they told lawmakers about their intelligence gathering and sharing process. this is about four hours. chair klobuchar: i call to order this second joint hearing of the rules and homeland security and government affairs committee on examining the january 6 attack on the united states capitol. at today's hearing, we will continue our committee's important work to get answers that will lead us to solutions following the horrific events at the capitol on january 6. last week we heard

as part-time force, the national guard is a proven, affordable defense option for america. during a time of constrained budgets, we should be continue to be used as an operational force to ensure the nation is getting the most defense capability at the lowest cost. as an operational force, the national guard is ideally suited to meet the new strategic guidance, to meet steady state demands and act as a strategic head for unforeseen world events. at any time the national guard can and will augment the active duty, both the army and the air force to surge and regenerate forces. the nation also counts on the national guard to protect the homeland. your home states, commonwealths, territories and the district of columbia. the national guard is the best and primary military force to respond to complex catastrophes and contributes to our security by protecting our airspace and borders. while representing only a small portion of the guards' response capability, last year federal and state authorities called on one of our 57 civil support teams to use their unique weapons of mass de

national guard without objection. the governor of your state was told they were going to move one of their guard units, your governor would be upset d significant challenge to that. correct? the correct -- the secretary of the army is supposed to be our governor and defend th national guard from losing its capability to support and defend the capitol of the united states. that has been neglected for decades. he needs to change. the d.c. national guard should be the elite unit it was designed to be under president thomas jefferson. it is responsible for the seat of democracy. it's not responsible for a state, territory, it's responsible for a city. is the only guard responsible for a city. just happens to be the capitol of the most powerful nation in the world. and i think that is significant. and if that change does not come, if this happens again, and unfortunately, in our political environment i think there's a chance. >> i appreciate that response and i most -- almost out of time. leading up to january 6, recognizi

by 2019, national guard will have over 30 cyber unit in 34 states to support these services in u.s. and. the more deeply committed they become, the better paired the nation becomes. the presence, the skill and the readiness of citizen warriors across the company give us the agility and flexibility to handle unexpected demand at home and abroad. an essential component of the total force and a linchpin of our readiness. that is one of the reasons that position of national guard was elevated to the joint chiefs of staff in 2012 and is the first national guard bureau chief serves a full term in the tank, general frank rast has led this historic transition with character and skill. work -- the good building on the good work of his right assessor, general grass worked tirelessly to form the most integrated and total force in our history. he has helped increase our rapid deployment capability to respond to any crisis and respond to the local, state and international levels. steadybeen a strong and voice at the table for the men and women of the national guard because for his entire career,

we're here today to hear from the california national guard, the national guard bureau and the office of the secretary of defense on an issue we must get right in fairness to not only the california guardsmen this affected but for all service members going forward. compensation, whether it say bonus for a service agreement or regular pay is an obligation to our service members and their families that they should not have to worry about. i find it unacceptable we'd place the additional burden of years of concern about the legitimacy of a bonus payment or student loan repayment on those who volunteer to serve. the armed services committee has taken action in the 2017 national defense authorization act to address this issue and the subcommittee is taking every opportunity to thoroughly review and discuss the way forward so that we can prevent such a widespread problem or abuse in the future. our purpose today is to gain an understanding from those involved on why this happened and what we can do to prevent it going forward. before i introduce our panel, let me offer the congresswoman dav

that is both air national guard and army national guard, rotary wing assets. in terms of rescues -- i want to be careful when i talk numbers. these are very fluid. there is a great deal of rescues occurring around by the minute. but those that the national guard is directly involved includes over 3500 personnel rescue. most of those you see have been by some type of boat but also include almost 300 hoist rescues. they are technically difficult in terms of hoisting people up where they are unacceptable by any other method. almost 300 animal rescues have occurred. not only the humans associated, but the pets as we continue to alleviate the pain and suffering that the citizens of texas are experiencing right now. i don't want to leave louisiana out of the equation. as the storm moves across thegulf of potentially being made what is called a third landfall, louisiana, currently 400 in louisiana. there are anticipating large flooding across the southwest portion of louisiana and preparing. the governor has not requested a dual status commander, but the louisiana na

since september 11th, the men and women of the national guard have answered the nation's call to deployover, get this, 787,000 times. and as a result, today's guard is battle tested, agile, flexible, with combat experience and a broad range of skills, gain on the battlefield and civilian life. the national guard is a critical component of our total force bringing to bear the experiences of citizen wars -- warriors wherever needed and we've got them, today our nation faces and the guard is helping us to meet no fewer than five major immediate and evolving challenges. first countering russia personal swri in europe. historical king in china pacific. china is rising, which is fine but behaving aggressively, which is not. strengthening our deterring and defense forces to north korea's missile and provocations, checking iranian aggression and malign influence in the golf and confronting terrorism including accelerating the certain defeat of isil and its parent tumor in syria and wherever it metastizies. it perfectly shows the opposite of that, we must be flexible and agile and preparing for

wisconsin national guard was the critical capability for our nations defense. i have questions about that. the cutie and supports a significant number of jobs. what are the economic benefits for the local community that we can anticipate from hosting the f 35 fighter wing? >> the community and their that establishes such a fantastic unit. the benefits is there are aerial ranges, gun ranges, aerial refueling units, and airspace that made it a good choice. when you look at the community, you have a state-of-the-art aircraft, that will be there for decades. the number of folks that employees and are going to be there to support the unit are going to make a huge difference to the local community. and having been there, the coordination between the unit and the local community makes a huge difference. >> while i am very grateful that my home state is making a significant contribution to national security, i would say that neighbors are concerned about the impact of increased noise in the area surrounding the airport. i helped secure resources in a previous appropria

in the early 1990s which the national guard's in a number of physicians in the united states and around the world. sometimes in more of a guarded capacity or part-time capacity. sometimes full-time and for the last eight years has been at the leadership of the national guard here in washington. were really privileged to have him today be prepared for his very well earned retirement and getting back to the rotc great country into the air force in the graduation from the program and it was 1981 so he's been serving his country long and very well despite his youthful appearance, he has been it at it quite a while. we wish him well. and we look forward to rich conversation today at the end of which we will be able to handle some of your questions if you wish to these events at the d brookings .edu protect first were going to hear from him with opening thoughts on the state-of-the-art. and also on its admirable and much appreciated help in responding to the covid-19 crisis in the united states. will not be our only topic but also an opportunity to think broadly in the nation. with the return

the best use of the national guard is to use the national guard for the unique authorities that it has, and that is to remain under the command and control of the networks in the states. every state has a different way to deal with disasters. and the national guard is uniquely qualified and postured to act under the governors. if you were to federalize them, you would lose that ability. one unique attribute is that we can operate as law enforcement to assist the state and local law enforcement. and if you were to federalize the national guard, then you lose that ability to do that. certainly, the president can mobilize the national guard. it would be my advice, and there are no plans to take the national guard and put them in a federal status there. much better used under a state status. >> thank you. >> general, you talked about the tennessee guards moving those half-million swabs to memphis. i guess fedex will distribute them across the country. walk us through what the role will be after that. after the tests are done, do guard members get them from the -- to the labs? what do you e

the guard's commitment to our nation is always ready, always there. e american people. the guard has played a pivotal role in every major conflict since the revolutionary war and have performed a vital function in rapid response to natural disasters, civil unrest, and public health crisis. the guard founded one of our most successful initiatives, the state partnership program. for over 30 years, the state partnership program has sponsored long-term lily -- long relationships and enhanced global security cooperation. 96 partnerships with 106 countries around the world. today we are honored to have representatives from our state partnerships in attendance. showcasing program success and general hokanson's many contributions to the national guard. his tenure has been marked by exceptional leadership, transformative accomplishments. these efforts led to the passage of 50 legislative initiatives focusing on core priorities. modernization and reform. under guidance the national guard responded with 1900 incidents per year, including historic wildfires of two

national guard during an emergency. that's one of the reasons i've worked for years with congresswoman to support the national guard washington, d.c. next question, chief contee, in your testimony you highlight a request for d.c. national guard assistance at the d.c. capitol on january 6 would have had to have been made by the u.s. capitol police with the consent of the u.s. department of defense. would you take a minute to explain that process and why mayor bowser is not able to request d.c. national guard assistance when federal property as well as human lives are threatened in the district that she leads? please go ahead. >> thank you for the question. so the mayor does not have full authority over the national guard to include their activation or deployment. when the mayor makes a request to the district of columbia, we send that to the federal government. ultimately the secretary of the army who sees that request, there is a whole approval process that that request has to go through in order for national guard reso

national guard. according to the former chief of capitol police and acting chief of police, it was due to the optics of the national guard at the capital. we need to know what role if any optics played in the delay to provide much needed assistance to protect the capitol. by hearing from represented as of the federal agencies responsible for the intelligence and the national guard, today we expect to get clear answers to these open questions. answering these questions is critical to understanding where the breakdowns occurred on and before january 6. only by understanding this can we make sure that something like january 6 never happens again. and that's our objective here with this oversight mission. again, i appreciate the fact that we have been able to keep the politics out of this and be objective. i look forward to another instructive hearing today. thank you to the witnesses for being here. i look forward to your testimony. >> recognizing ranking member blunt for your opening statements. >> tha

, the day of the troops of the national guard, distinguished national guardsmen were awarded courage crosses of the fourth degree of the medal for courage, the medal of the order for merit to the fatherland, second degree and the medal of luka krymsky immediately leave home, the long-awaited continuation beloved sagi i will train and educate teenagers. in the spirit of love for life. perhaps we will save. bima, new episodes from tuesday at 20:00 on ntv deposit the best percentage in sberbank is a reliable investment. let's make repairs, make repairs more profitable to do on credit, take it from the shore. let's not do anything, arrange for ourselves or sabantuy will be something to remember justice. let them lie to themselves and lie correctly, open a deposit in sberbank accumulated and everything will be fine deposit the best percentage in sberbank up to 9.5% annual unpack the cottage with yandex.markets. i allow it, it means you can chew gum, season 3, look from may 4 only to the premier in honor of the may holidays we will play 30 country houses for 2 million rubles each. four dra

national guard remains at the forefront of building enduring partnerships with local, state, federal,globe federal, global partners. although we are proud of our heritage and our past and more excited about her future. the guards evolution is it operational force of the chapter in a nation scaredy at home and abroad that is written through the incredible skill and devotion of americans. the development are most in port and asset our people, will be a foremost task. if confirmed, i will strive to grow and train leaders who innovate and motivate force. we must ensure that ethical behavior goes from the top down, act to demoralize readiness and kings such as sexual assault and discriminate can never be tolerated. in short time comes for the national guard will strive to be ready and be the most diverse and inclusive force that we can be. thank you again for allowing me to be here today. i would look for to working with congress, the department of defense, the interagency of the governors, the generals, governors, the generals, and all stakeholders to ensure that we were maintained the mo

we have the national guard in syria and we have the active army on the southwest border. and what really came to defend that was all the other comments from, hey, the guard is ready. they're trained. they're a different force than people think of them back in the vietnam and pre-era of our exist tense and they're ready to do it. we are without a doubt a different force all together. we still have some limitations on -- when i read the reports too of deployed capability in the war zone and most of the ones i've read said that the national guard formations performed great. they did a great job. there was no difference between what they were doing and others will tell you, that's an apples -- not an apples to apples comparison. but still, i think, you know, we have proven ourselves as viable combat capability that can -- and i believe this to be true -- enable investment in the national defense strategy such that you can use us as credible combat forces, such that you can invest money in buying new things which is very expensive to do. i hope that answers your questions. >> t

all members of the guard are members of oath state and national guard and the federal national guard of the united states. the army and air national national guard of the united states are two of the six reserve components of the department of defense. the army-navy air force and marine corps reserves or the other for reserve components. members of the national guard conserved in three distinct statuses each of which has differing responsibilities and authorities. first, national guard members may serve in what is known as state active duty. state law dictates when guard members assumed the status. typical state active duty missions include first responder responsibilities after a natural disaster. the state pays for and the governor of that state commands the national guard when it is on the state active duty. the department of defense placed no direct role in that status. second, national guard members may be ordered to duty under title xxxii of the united states code which i will call title xxxii. when the card performs a title xxx to duty it is performing federally funded military

and to have over 2000 national guard personnel deployed. so what about that capacity? and then to have those different nations and then those observations to enforce the treaty between israel and in afghanistan and in kuwait and iraq to send a helicopter company very shortly and in a year and a half with those apaches and every year we continue. we have one in every region of the world supporting america. >> chief, you talk about your duties in aviation support. and to clear vegetation what else are they involved in? >> we want to make sure the stories are not accurate. >> repairing infrastructure with those improvements that are down there. so they are doing different support roles working in dispatch centers where we have the greatest personnel. >> what about those assigned to you are accurately involved ? >> the vast majority had a have a percentage at the top of my head but those two areas right now that consumed the largest rd aviation piece and the surveillance. >> and to have no contact with any of the families. >> and very quickly with my last minute that i have

our national guard forces remain near and dear to my heart. whenever americans are needed in a time of crisis it is our national guardsmen that step up to that call. i applaud them for their service and dedication. how many national guard troops have been mobilized this month alone? >> when we look at the height around june 6 and june 7 we had over 120,000 and that includes not only the -- 120 thousand national guardsmen, could he tell us about the various mission sets our national guardsmen are involved in? we look at that time flame we have 40,000 working on the covid-19 at the time and we had close to 40,000 with civil unrest and we are mobilized for tropical storm cristobal. we have guardsmen on the andhwest corridor remediation in some states with respect to previous natural disasters and we have many in support day-to-day. if we look at air control alert sites around the nation as well as ground-based midcourse defense -- counting thenly folks deployed, 20,000 at that time. that isst: extraordinary and beyond those missions you listed, th

we are kind of a family in the national guard. we grow up together we work up , together, and we keep an eye on each other. if there are any indications we address it to the chain of command or law enforcement the appropriate level of agency. but i am not concerned as a large part of our organization for it if you like 25000, we have had 12 identified. some of those they are just looking into may be unrelated to this. but we want to make sure out of an abundance of caution that is stated earlier that we do the right thing. until that gets cleared up. >> i do not win to get into the actual vetting and what the organizations have found, but much of the information that the general mentioned is unrelated to the events taking place of the capitol or teak at the concerns that many people noted on extremism. these are vetting efforts that identify any questionable behavior in the past. or any potential link to questionable behavior, not just related to extremism. but as the general mentioned we , are not asking questions right now but w

national guard dated january 5th ruling those national guard restrictions. former house sergeant of arms, paul irving, concurrent resolution expressing support for law enforcement officers that explicitly have united states capital police, a copy of amendment offered in the rules committee by ranking member to the capital police, who protected the capital on january 6. a copy of the vote tally and amendment which was to needed 8-3 vote all republicans voting against, a tweet by representative matt gates december 14, 2023 he pledges to hold speaker mccarthy to his promise to release the full january 6 tapes, dated september 18th, 2023 which demands full release in exchange for funding the government, finally a letter from capital police chief, tom manger in which he renews his request to review all video footage request received by the committee addressing security sick -- concerns without objection. >> without objection, now recognize the gentleman from new york, mr. esposito. >> i just want to make it very clear that i think all of our colleagues, republica

national guard soldiers. the defense secretary ash carter has ordered the pentagon to suspend such efforts. >>> i want to welcome everyone to the sub commit yes on the national guard repayment issue. we are here today on hear from the national guard bureau and the office of the secretary of defense on an issue that we must get right. in fairness to not only the california guardsmen this effected but all service members going forward. compensation, whether a bonus or a service agreement or regular pay is an obligation to our service members and their families that they should not have to worry about. i find it unacceptable that we would place the additional burden of years of concern about the legitimacy of a bonus payment or a student loan repayment on those other volunteer to serve. the armed services committee has taken action in the 2017 national defense authorization act to address this issue. and the subcommittee is taking every tounlt thoroughly review and discuss the way forward so we can prevent such

the future of a force that traces the history back to 1636, is the first four star chief of the national guard, general craig mckinley. we're honored to have you on the show. >> thanks, vago, it's a pleasure to be here. >> over the past ten years the guard has endured something it was never designed to do, which was to sustain operational deployments to iraq and auvergne a back to back basis. what is the impact of these deployments on the guard? >> most of us are looking at the guard from a cold war model. most of us grew up in the cold war. the size was set for a large conflict with the former soviet union. i'm not sure that the guard wasn't designed for these conflicts that we are in today. the founding fathers believed we needed a community-based force, which the guard has been for, as you say, almost four centuries now. but these two wars have created a climate by which most guardsmen have served, over half have served now, and at the force of about 460,000 are continuing to serve at a rate that is unprecedented it. hasn't created any types of gaps or weaknesses in our forces. we still pro

2022, footage was published on the internet of a clash during which the heroic soldiers of the national guardd hand-held anti -tank grenade launcher video footage shows that in that battle the russian guards were opposed by western mercenaries, among whom was the son of a member of the british parliament during the search activities in the luhansk people's republic special forces of the russian guard found documents confirming the participation of american structures in destabilizing the situation in the region. this is not the first of its kind. finding a whole library of such brochures, we found in severodonetsk and also in many other, uh, settlements of the lugansk region. the same publications. we found in mariupol the lion's share of the handbook of reference books was published at the expense of the us agency for international development as part of the economic support for eastern ukraine project , everything taken was intended for use as additional literature in propaganda work with the heads of local administrations with the population of the eastern regions, as well as with youth. l

africa command in the national guard. a national group is senators propose a gun regulation bill they testify at the hearing committee. >> at a senate confirmation hearing, the nominee of the u.s. military africa command they discuss libya's civil war and u.s. strategy in the region. committee members also question the national guard bureau chief nominee, senator john mccain chairs the armed service committee, this is one hour, 15 minutes. >> good morning senate the armed service committee meets this money to consider the nominations of lieutenant general waldhauser to be commander of u.s. africa command and lieutenant general joseph ling gal to be chief of the national guard bureau. i welcome both of our nominees and thank them for their continued willingness to serve our nation. general waldhauser, africa has reemerged as an active front in the global war on terror with isil, al qaeda, boko haram, and al shabab. to commanding territory and launching successful attacks are at the and threatening her interest in those of o

in the last three years alone the national guard has rescued or saved 18,826 individuals. in the midst of all those events our formation met every one of our overseas deployments, this included the nation's final days in afghanistan where national guardsmen helped at the kabul airport, activated dotage evacuated refugees and assisting with operation allies refuge. one of our other missions is the joint multinational training group ukraine. in concert with california's 30 year state partnership with ukraine our guardsmen helped establish a training center in ukraine after russia's first invasion in 2014. focused on combat arms and lessons learned, national guard trainers were some of the last to leave ukraine before russia's unprovoked invasion. a few months after the war began we reestablished our training group and been training our partners every single day since then. today, every combatant commander leverages our state partnership program which was recently mentioned, now includes 100 nations around the globe. always ready always there is not just our motto, it's a prom

the national guard presence we have here now, as a result of the riot, but the national guard that'sp the fencing and all that. steven sund: okay. that began to be developed the evening of the sixth. when we made the request, we got the national guard in, we started looking to the future, what was going to be next. we started talking about bringing in the first section of global fencing, which basically went right around capitol square, which is constitution, independence, first to first. we got that, that in place. steven sund: then we started looking at what necessary national guard resources working with the national guard representative, so that was developed with capitol police working with, i believe, sergeant at arms at the time, in the evening, going into the seventh, that we developed that. sen. scott: okay, were you the only one involved or were the sergeant at arms involved? steven sund: i believe so. iâd have to go back and pull that information. we were working on a number of different aspects of it at the time, but i had my general counsel as well as our operations peop