09.30.06

Cantwell Plan to Help Keep National Guard Equipped Clears Congress, Heads to President’s Desk

WASHINGTON, DC – Early Saturday morning, Congress gave final approval to a proposal by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to address National Guard equipment shortfalls. The measure was included in the final version of the Defense Department Authorization Act for 2007, which has now passed both the House and Senate and is headed to the president for his signature. The measure, based on Cantwell’s “National Guard Equipment Accountability Act” introduced in April, mandates a system to track and replace equipment left in the theater of operations by National Guard units.

“Washington’s National Guard has been forced to leave millions of dollars in equipment behind when returning home from deployments,” said Cantwell. “My legislation will make sure the Pentagon has a plan to replace vital equipment and Congress has more tools to hold the administration accountable. We depend on the men and women of our National Guard to help us through emergencies here at home and support military missions overseas, and they depend on us to get them the resources they need to do the job. Making sure they have the right equipment must be a top priority.”

In recent years, the loss of equipment overseas has hindered training capabilities and limited the National Guard’s ability to respond to potential civil emergencies and natural disasters. For example, at the Pentagon’s direction, the Washington Army National Guard’s 81st Heavy Brigade Combat Team left approximately 1,400 items—including weapons, radios, and vehicles worth a total of more than $32 million—in Iraq for other units to use.

Cantwell’s measure, supported by Adjutant General Timothy Lowenberg of the Washington State National Guard, requires a system to track transferred equipment and mandates the development of plans to replace the equipment in question. For the next five years, the Department of Defense will be required to submit quarterly reports to Congress detailing all National Guard equipment diverted to other units as well as an equipment replacement plan. Reports will have to be completed within 90 days of the equipment’s diversion. The legislation mirrors a current Defense Department policy that, according to a Government Accountability Office report, had not been followed. According to the report, the Army could not account for more than half of all items left behind at the time and has not committed to an equipment replacement plan.

In June, the Senate decided unanimously to include Cantwell’s legislation in its version of the defense authorization bill. Cantwell then worked to make sure her proposal was included in the final version of the legislation.

Since September 11, 2001, more than 6,000 members of the Washington Army and Air Guard have been deployed around the world—all but 800 of them to Iraq. During the past four years, the Washington National Guard has aided federal military missions overseas, responded to local civil emergencies, and supported recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.

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