Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

You Are Here: Home » E-Government, Government Documents » Report From the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves

Report From the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves

by on
  • Commission on the National Guard and Reserves: Final Report to Congress and the Secretary of Defense, January 31, 2008 (448 pages, PDF)
  • Executive Summary, Final Report to Congress and the Secretary of Defense, January 31, 2008 (95 pages, PDF)
      • “The Commission concludes that there is no reasonable alternative to the nation’s continued increased reliance on reserve components as part of its operational force for missions at home and abroad. However, the Commission also concludes that this change from their Cold War posture necessitates fundamental reforms to reserve components’ homeland roles and missions, personnel management systems, equipping and training policies, policies affecting families and employers, and the organizations and structures used to manage the reserves. These reforms are essential to ensure that this operational reserve is feasible in the short term while sustainable over the long term. In fact, the future of the all-volunteer force depends for its success on policymakers’ undertaking needed reforms to ensure that the reserve components are ready, capable, and available for both operational and strategic purposes. In reviewing the past several decades of intense use of the reserve components, most notably as an integral part of operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the homeland, the Commission has found indisputable and overwhelming evidence of the need for policymakers and the military to break with outdated policies and processes and implement fundamental, thorough reforms in these areas. The members of this Commission share this view unanimously. We note that these recommendations will require the nation to reorder the priorities of the Department of Defense, thereby necessitating a major restructuring of laws and DOD’s budget. There are some costs associated with these recommendations, but the problems are serious, the need to address them is urgent, and the benefits of the reforms we identify more than exceed the expense of implementing them.”

      • Press release, Sen. Patrick Leahy: “Several recommendations in the final report of the National Guard and Reserve Commission released Thursday, if implemented, would undermine the National Guard and hamper the Defense Department’s ability to respond to domestic emergencies, according to the leaders of the 87-member Senate National Guard Caucus.”
        • LinkedIn

    Sorry, comments are closed for this post.