| Homeland Defense Called For | |
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To defend against what it identifies as a growing threat from potentially "catastrophic" attacks by terrorists, the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century recommends that the National Guard be "given homeland security as its primary mission, as the U.S. Constitution itself ordains."
The
U.S. Constitution actually ordains a
"Militia" in Article
I, Section 8, clause 16:
"To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing
such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the
States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the
Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;" And,
in the Second Amendment: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of
the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
Tracing its history back to the first English colonies in North America, the
365-year old National Guard is the oldest
component of all U.S. Armed Forces and considered the modern equivalent of the
constitutional militia. Sweeping defense reforms needed Among these
reforms, the commission's report calls for the creation of a new assistant
secretary of defense to oversee homeland security, along with supportive
committees in Congress. In addition, the commission issued stinging criticism
of the State Department, which it found to be a "crippled institution"
lacking effective organizational structure, accountability and leadership. (The
report was issued prior to the confirmation of Collin Powell as Secretary of
State.) The commission also recommends that the office of National
Security Adviser, take a less active role in defense policymaking and work
instead to coordinate America's combined security efforts. Finally, the
commission highlights the growing importance of global economics in foreign
policy and peacekeeping, and recommends that the Secretary of the Treasury (now Paul O'Neill)
be made be added to the National Security Council.
• Roadmap
for National Security: Imperative for Change
• More
downloadable reports from the commission
Finding that "Clear goals and priorities are rarely set. Budgets are prepared and
appropriated as they were during the Cold War," the commission also calls
for major reforms within the U.S. defense establishment itself.
View or download the entire phase III report. (Requires the free Adobe Acrobat pdf
file reader)
