>> yeah, i wanted to comment on operatability within the california national guard. they worked really well within the framework that we established with cal fire and then beyond that throughout the national guard and the army, all of our aviators train to the same standards so really we're able to integrate any aircrew from any state, any component, into our program at any time because we're operating you noah cording you know, according to the same standards. back in 2008 we had a very large fire event here in california and we aircraft from 22 states responding to that. there is capability to respond within the national guard alone and we have started developing relationships with our title 10 partners, we do similar academics every year like they do so i think that helps generate interoperatability amongst the title 10 and title 32 assets within the state as well. >> well, i don't know about you all but i feel pretty comfortable going into this fire season. it sounds like we have a pretty integrated group not only within the military capability you but state and

>> yeah, i wanted to comment on operatability within the california national guard. they worked really well within the framework that we established with cal fire and then beyond that throughout the national guard and the army, all of our aviators train to the same standards so really we're able to integrate any aircrew from any state, any component, into our program at any time because we're operating you noah cording you know, according to the same standards. back in 2008 we had a very large fire event here in california and we aircraft from 22 states responding to that. there is capabili

the california national guard as mentioned is the largest in the nation under 54 states and territories. we're the largest by far. and we have a broad spectrum of capabilities that range from on the low end manpower where we can deploy troops for either security missions or firefighting hand crew missions all the way up to the high end where we have a wing, we also have space station systems we can employ and support civil authorities at the direction of the governor. we're the experienced national guard force. we do some sort of civil support emergency response system every three days in california. we support the governor, mainly law enforcement and the fire services here in the state. we tend to do more emergency missions every year than any of the 53 states and territories combined. so, we have quite a bit of experience. with that experience has come a wealth of relationship building that's key to success and any disaster response is being able to work with the inter agency. we're in a unique position because in addition to my federal responsibilities for commanding both the army an

they got to see the national guard's capabilities down there, the coast guard's capabilities. they got experience of what the marine corps has to offer. it was the smorgasbord of mill capability. as we contemplate the idea of medical surge and how do we deal with a thousand people in a hospital parking lot, we have to be creative. the only way we can do that is we have to know what are the options out there, what are the game pieces, what's the apps in the apps store? what can we ask for? by understanding some of these capabilities and looking beyond the obvious i think we're going to be able to develop some really cool medical surge plans and capitalize on the partnership between dod and the civilian world and i don't want to discount the other partners because this happens, this comes up every year and i have to say that it comes up every time we get lectured about there's the state, the state has resources, the feds, the other federal partners, they have resources, absolutely. when i say dod, please don't take it the wrong way, i'm encapsulating the entire family. when we t

we're the experienced national guard force. we do some sort of civil support emergency response system every three days in california. we support the governor, mainly law enforcement and the fire services here in the state. we tend to do more emergency missions every year than any of the 53 states and territories combined. so, we have quite a bit of experience. with that experience has come a wealth of relationship building that's key to success and any disaster response is being able to work with the inter agency. we're in a unique position because in addition to my federal responsibilities for commanding both the army and the air national guard, i also serve as a member of the governor's cabinet and with that i work on a daily basis with all of the other state level assets and resources, cal ema, cal fire, the highway patrol, health and human services and all the other state entities that would respond to support local authorities. we have a full-time liaison officer embedded in cal ema that works there 7 days a week, 5 days

we had the national guard above us in a helicopter, even though it was really foggy, they didn't see much, but they demonstrated proof of concept that they can connect the video feed. we learned there are limitations in things of band width and video feed that i'm not qualified to talk about, i'm strictly a push to talk guy. we know as a city when the earth moves, things fall, we get a lot of rubble. that's going to be one of our critical, critical things we have to do. we have to be able to move material and personnel and one of the ways we're going to be doing that is how do we actually get the debris off the road so we can put things back to work. so that was the command of control exercise. we had the marine corps, the navy, and the national guard all working with our department of public works figuring out how would they work together. we didn't give them a lot of coaching, we just kind of put them in a tent and said here is your scenario, here's some problems, and we wanted them to work it out and they did. so it was a very successful year. that's what we did as far as the fiel

in california, we would go to the national guard from other states and that may be 1500 miles away. and that capability could be right down the road or down in san diego in one of the reserve components or in the active components of the marines or the navy and we need to sort through that so we can better respond. with that also will come changes that may need to be statutory changes so we can better accept the title 10 forces in particular the reserve forces. it is very frustrating during fire season when our black hawk helicopter company flying its rotors off down in los alamedos is sitting on the same ramp as army reserve helicopters we can't access because of staff problems and other issues we're going to have to work through to fight those same fires, those are the kind of things we'll probably have to take back to our elected leadership and change -- make some changes to be able to better serve the people. >> i was at chief sur, and i was glad to hear him say that we really rely on the communities to be their responder for the first 72 hours. this topic of community res

or air national guard or the department of public works acu one thousand van and they pretty much made up the backbone of that network. the point i'm trying to make is we had redundancy at each site and then small unplanned events were not a factor. one way or another we were able to send our reports through. this is a starting point for working in san francisco. we could have probably done more analysis of the terrain that we're working in terms to identify those black holes for cops, those black areas. so we learned a lot. i think a lot of this has been captured in the afteraction and i think if we have another iteration next year to definitely have a good starting point. >> we brought from the california national guard, we brought our quick reaction area force and we brought our ic for you so we had 3 different com spans that are cross banded, which is an opportunity that not all dod assets have. they have civilian internet and that is their primary mission, is to cross band between the military and civilians. it worked very well because the command and control element were on

. >> controls ingels, california national guard. i'm one of the airmen and soldiers, almost 21,000 strong, that answers the governor's mission. it's available to all civil providers out there and emergency responders and it is in california the substantial or the equal of many third world countries in terms of military force that can be applied to a disaster. >> i'm lynn wilder, i'm the emergency management coordinate roar at san francisco general trauma center and i'm also representing the san francisco council of emergency partnership which is the group of emergency management coordinators from each of the hospitals throughout san francisco who mead regularly with dph and dem to plan and prepare for our medical response. >> as rob mentioned earlier, one of the primary reasons for the medical exchange is to get an understanding of the capabilities, what can the military bring and what are some of the challenges that we as civilians are going to face when we have this large number of casualties. so what i'd like to hear from our civ

or air national guard or the department of public works acu one thousand van and they pretty much made up the backbone of that network. the point i'm try

we've also got the national guard again apparently more than 400 massachusetts national guard they're probably continuing to secure the area, continuing to look for any suspicious devices. >> yes, but it gives us a sense of complicated it is to decide where to go, which packages to check, how do you deploy the 400 national guard and the 2,100 police all called in. >> especially, diane, when you had no idea this would happen. you have all these national guards men, all the massachusetts state police, they're there for an event that's supposed to be wonderful, that's supposed to be the boston marathon. they're trying to keep order there. but again it is also a real blessing that all of them were there and the emergency medical personnel to go into action immediately. and they were of course waiting for anyone who might have trouble in the race, instead they had trauma on their hands. >> i want to go back to peter brown, another eyewitness on the scene now moved to one of the hospitals in the area. peter, first of all i've been told you're not injured, correct? >> that is correct. and wh

the texas national guard issued a statement of support for the massachusetts national guard and theirboston. the national guard often on the front lines in so many commun y communities in times of trouble. chris, john. >> right hand us. >> standing right behind us as they have been, on extra long shifts, keeping the perimeter secure. we'll be back to you, barbara. >> we're learning more about the fertilizer plant where the explosion happened and some potential safety issues. >> this plant is right in the middle of town. so many homes and businesses right in the vicinity. we know this plant was cited in 2006 for a lingering smell of ammonia. a local television station is reporting that this plant was fined in 2006 by the epa for not having a risk management plan in place that met federal standards. we know now officials from the chemical safety board are en route from washington, to look at the overall safety, history and the protocol in place here at this plant. we know this morning, "the dallas morning news" said it filed with federal and state officials, it had no risk of fire. that

the california national guard has air and land assets that are substantial and can be rapidly deployed to assist the civil responders in their mission to move people, to get things set up, to establish common security. it's a partnership that really needs to happen and is natural. the governor controls the california national guard, he can make forces appear very rapidly in support of a regional disaster, a local emergency or wherever they are needed, and transportation, communication, security logistics capabilities that come to the table really augment the medical care that's being provided in the disaster scene. >> like colonel ingels, i was impressed by the robust, defined chain of command and a large response capable of being produced. however, in an overwhelming disaster things don't always go as planned and certainly our experiences in combat has showed us there and prior experience with disasters have outlined that even though there's a well-defined system of response it doesn't always work out. what i defined yesterday was that logistics problems may get in the way and interfe

. >> oh, i mean, just the whole -- the whole route, the national guard does a great job. and then also the law enforcement of, you know, shutting down the streets, keeping spectators back. because there are just so many people that line the course, especially those last few miles, that it's just -- it's really amazing to be out there running it and they need those people to keep the crowds back. yeah. there's definitely a large presence out there. >> josh beisel who ran the race today. thank you very much. we want to tell you, we're getting information now about what might have caused this. a small improvised explosive device apparently in the preliminary estimate, a small ied is what is behind the explosion. this is at least the assessment of three separate law enforcement officials who have expertise in explosives. important to caution, this is still extremely early in the investigation. forensic evidence is far from complete. this only happened a little more than an hour ago. and while there are reports of multiple explosions, and that's not been ruled out, there are o

in fact, the national guard has put away his rifle. occasionally you can probably hear in the background there's still some sirens that are blasting. there's a fair number of residents who have gathered out here trying to sort of assess what's going on, curiosity. and, of course, everybody has the same question which we can't answer right now, is there a connection between the bombings at the marathon and the shooting at m.i.t. which led to the death of an officer and the chase here that was followed by booms and gunfire? so those are the pieces of the puzzle that are yet to be put together. mara? >> yes? kerry? are you there? >> i wanted to make sure we're still together. i had a call coming in and i was checking to see if it was perhaps somebody from the boston police department. >> no, i can still hear you. and this is nbc news' kerry sanders on the phone. you're hearing kerry's live reporting on the scene in watertown, massachusetts, and what you are seeing is the live video coverage from our boston affiliate whdh, i want to take a

national guard troops have set up a command post on the boston,. boston police have with a grant >> pam have dramatic video showing the first explosion right there and then you can hear the second explosion about 15 seconds later. this was shot by claude boston globe photographer. that photographer was position that the finish line. we want to warn you some of the images are quite graphic. --boston globe photographer. >> oh my god. oh my god. oh my god. >> you did that voice, that was the boston globe photographer. once that smoke started clearing, he saw how many victims there were, how bloody the scene was. but your chaos after the blast. now i want you to watch and listen to the second explosion shot by a race spectator and the stand across the street. >> (screaming) >> smoke immediately billowing up, running for safety. hysteria. for thousands at the boston marathon >> pam: imagine being there, kron4's justine waldman has been monitoring witness accounts for those who were nearby when the bombs went off >> i want to start off right now with one

local platforms, whether it was katrina or other events we've actually been able to bring in national guard platforms to provide 911 systems for cities that have lost those systems. we recently in the joplin tornados and also tuscaloosa tornados we brought in dod equipment to replace what was destroyed. from the fire side i know there's a lot of things you are doing to work around the interoperatability issues with regard to communications between fire and dod and maybe if ray or anybody else wants to speak to that. >> our communications challenges still exist. we have excellent telecom communications, we have a layered effect of our radio systems. we have mobile command posts that we can exercise. so we're prepared for power outages, reduction of telecoms, we have a layered effect for our communications. but as everybody here said, we need help. if somebody here can help me get a navy or marine corps aircraft to talk to my guys on the ground tactically, i need that and i don't have that today. i use a command control helicopter, a civilian helicopter, to handle that and transfer that to an

maybe we can talk about how is the national guard and dod resources and capabilities integrated into the command and control at the fire and also the supporting ops centers whether it be the gac or other centers down there. maybe our military personnel can talk about that, or ray. >> it's important to note that we are the supporting effort to cal fire and we get called in when they are basically out of assets. we are working for cal fire, they are the incident commanders, we follow their coordination, typically we're the last ones in and the first ones out. we do have an on-going relationship with cal fire, i'm in contact with cal fire all the time. we have good situational awareness what's going on in the state of california. they normally put us in an alert stat us so we're prepared to respond in an attack mode. i don't often work with chief chaney in southern california, about a month ago we had 9 aircraft at our peak working fires throughout northern california if that answers your question. >> any other responses? >> i wanted to touch -- can you hear me now? i wanted to touch on

close to home, in new york city 1000 officers have been assigned to duty and national guard soldiers have been stationed around the airport and security is tighter around bridges and tunnels. extra officers are patrolling union station and extra stops. there are no known threats to either city. >> we way have to wait until tomorrow. a group of senators that crafted the bill was supposeded to unveil it today. john mccain is a part of that group. he tweeted last night that tonight's news conference could happen tomorrow instead. stay with us right here on news four today. coming up in 30 minutes tony tull will join us in boston. let's go to the live desk. >> reporter: u.s. helicopter crashes near north korea. et was taking part in a u.s. flight training drill. 21 people were on pord including 16 marines. but in stable condition. right now an investigation into what caused this crash is underway. news4. >> a tribute six years later. this morning how loved ones are remembering the victims of the virginia tech massacre. >> on monday, tom and danella are back with weather on the one's. wat

>> well, the way i would answer it, i think the national guard and reserves are key components of our military force structure and will continue to be. and i think that, i think that has become quite obvious the last few years. and without going into a long oration of this, marty dempsey can handle it better than i can, i don't think we can have the force structure we now have counting on the assets we have and adequately managing those assets without a strong national guard and reserves. if for no other reason than the professionalization that has occurred in our reserve and national guard components over the last 12 years. i think it's been probably historic. we now have a member of the joint chiefs of staff who sits there who's a national guard representative. i mean, i think that tells you something. so i'm a strong supporter of our national guard and reserves. >> and my third question is two-parking lot, but to the extent -- two-part, but to the expent you can clarify if you need to. do north korea and iran currently possess the ability to reach the united states with long-range

we've also got the national guard again apparently more than 400 massachusetts national guard they're probably continuing to secure the area, continuing to look for any suspicious devices. >> yes, but it gives us a sense of complicated it is to decide where to go, which packages to check, how do you deploy the 400 national guard and the 2,100 police all called in. >> especially, diane, when you had no idea this would happen. you have all these national guards men, all the massachusetts state police, they're there for an event that's supposed to be wonderful, that's supposed to be the boston marathon. they're trying to keep order there. but again it is also a real blessing that all of them were there and the emergency medical personnel to go into action immediately. and they were of course waiting for anyone who might have trouble in the race, instead they had trauma on their hands. >> i want to go back to peter brown, another eyewitness on the scene now moved to one of the hospitals in the area. peter, first of all i've been told you're not injured, correct? >> that is correct. and wh

the nation aal guard patrolling the streets.y different federal agencies all trying to figure out what happened. costing a very need yet. collecting cell phone data. all types of closed circuit televisions. but as we said in the beginning, this is about what happened to the people. the people who are still fighting for their lives. we have poppy harlow, she's at one of the hospitals that's been treating people all night, overnight, to make sure they stay alive. poppy, thank you for joining us again this morning. what's the latest from there? >> good morning, chris, as you said the people fighting for their life. i was just looking and i watched a young man and a young woman cross the street and walk in to brigham and women university and i thought god bless them. because they are going to help some of these people today. 144 people. that is the current count of those injured from this devastating attack. three fatalities. 17 in critical condition. another 25 at this hour seriously injured. the beautiful young boy that you mentio

the national guard bureau surgeon's office reports 5,269 open cases.and the average adjudication time, the average adjudication time for minnesota cases is currently four and a half years from the date of injury, and that's about the national average. it is an awful situation, and for the reserve components of the guard, these soldiers have to travel to a base where there's an active duty medical doctor that can make the december. it is a blow to morale. it is incred credible we have allowed this system to deteriorate in this way. so my question is, what are you doing about and it what can we do to help if you need legislation? i'll be happy to take it for the record but i don't want to let it slip win. i'm astonished it could have gotton to the point that soldierses are being literally jerked around and have to travel across at the country to be evaluated and then turn around and go back again and take years to get the question answered and this affects their able to be retained and it's an important part of the process. on another subject, because we

boston police, firefighters, and first responders, as well as the national guard, responded heroically and continue to do so as we speak. it's a reminder that so many americans serve and sacrifice on our behalf every single day, without regard to their own safety, in dangerous and difficult circumstances. and we salute all those who assisted in responding so quickly and professionally to this tragedy. we still do not know who did this or why. and people shouldn't jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. but make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this, and we will find out who did this, we'll find out why they did this. any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will fill the full weight of justice. today's a holiday in massachusetts, patriots day. it's a day that celebrates the free and fiercely independent spirit that this great american city of boston has reflected from the earliest days of our nation, and it's a day that draws the world to boston's streets in a spirit of friendly competition. boston is a tough and resilient town, so are its people. i'm supr

i joined the national guard because it seriously if they could join. right i'd say it's go time. i found out right before i left i was going to be station a great prison. i never in my life thought i would work in a prison facility especially not one that was mentors for abuse and torture. i was so young when i was there so frayed and i wanted to get home so badly that i just tried to do it i was ordered to do and i guess just deal with it when i go home and it's been pretty rough. i knew i had a problem when i got home running relationships giving illegal trouble and i knew i was drinking the tragic forget things that happens and i showed up at the v.a. made an appointment and they smear p.t.s.d. and put me on so often hydroxyzine that their. so did i have here i was taken here the v.a. has these contracts with certain pharmaceutical companies and if there's a medication that can help you or even maybe save your life you might not get that medications to them they use other medications for uses that they're really intended for just because they don't have as big a selection if i

we love the national guard and our service members who brought valor to our streets.olunteers in the baa jackets in their vests. the doctors and nurses. the victims and the gravely injured arrived. this was the strength of our city at work. we have never loved the people of the city -- the world and our great country more for their prayers and wishes. and, yes, we even love new york city more. "sweet caroline" played at yankee stadium and our city's flag flying in lower manhattan. it gives us even more strength to say prayer after prayer for the victims still recovering through the hospitals, at home. it gives us strength to say good-bye to the young boy with the big heart, martin richard. we pray for his sister and his mom, his brother and his dad. it helps us to say that we'll miss krystle campbell and celebrate her spirit that brought her to the marathon year after year. it helps us to mourn lu lingzi, who came to the city in search of education, and found new friends. we'll never forget her. i'm telling you, nothing can defeat the heart of the city. nothing. nothi

the national guard is securing the crime scene.eads the investigation and the search for suspects. >> a massive effort under way this morning to find out who was responsible for the deadly attack. >> fragments in the exploded bombs will be key to determining how these crude device were put together. abc's senior justice correspondent pierre thomas following the investigation. >> reporter: it is dramatic videos like this and this, captured at the scene of the horrific blast that investigators will be combing through for clues of what happened. two bomb bombs exploding within seconds of each other and only 100 yards apart. the bombs were small, portable devices that could have been carried in a backpack, he's lis concealed among the thousands of spectators. that's what makes this investigation so difficult. authorities say there are no suspects, the bombs caused terrible injuries and hospitals reported seeing shrapnel wounds. >> there's a lot of small metal debris. some people have -- have asked already about whether these were bbs o

one other question i have about the national guard and reserve. i appreciate your response earlier, secretary hagel but i would like to turn to general dempsey and drill down deep are. we understand how important the reserve has been in the missions they have been on. we understand how important they are for domestic responses, tornadoes, earthquakes, all the rest. if you could, general, talk about little more about the coming years and how you see active duty versus reserve components and to keep those reserve folks in the event -- i assume we're going look at them as an operational force. how does that play out moving forward? >> hopefully, it won't be active versus reserve. >> we have a concern about that with respect of the air national guard. >> i keep it in mind -- i absolutely have it in mind. the idea here is we take a look at the total force. i really believe in the total force. we determine which capables have to be immediate available and those that have to be in the active component. those that can wait, we migrate those elsewhere. the

without a strong national guard and reserves. if for no other reason than the professional is asian -- that hasnalization occurred in our guard units in the last 12 years. we have a member of the joint chiefs of staff who is a national guard representative. that tells you something. i am a strong supporter of our national guard and reserves. my third question is in two parts, but to the extent you can clarify the need to -- to north korea and iran possesses the capability to reach the united states with long-range missiles? with a conventional warhead or with a wmd warhead? >> of want to be careful with this answer because it might be up to some intelligence year, but i don't believe either of those countries has that capacity right now. havethat mean they won't it or can't have it or are not working on it? no. that's why this is a very dangerous situation. add and i would ask general dempsey for his thoughts, this company is capable of dealing with any threat and an action by any country, including iran or north korea. >> i have