The Air Force is pushing a policy change that breaks with more than a century of tradition, encountering substantial resistance in the process.
The essence of the policy shift is to integrate certain Air National Guard units into the U.S. Space Force. However, state governors, who oversee their respective National Guard units, unanimously oppose the plan. In response, the Air Force is seeking a legislative workaround to get Congress to approve the change despite this opposition.
Governors, numerous lawmakers, and both current and former National Guard leaders have warned about the dangerous precedent such a move could set.
“The main issue with [Legislative Proposal] 480 is the terrible precedent it would establish,” retired Maj. Gen. Francis McGinn, president of the National Guard Association of the United States, told the Truth Voices.
“This kind of move could lead to the Army taking a project combat team out of the Army Guard and integrating it into the active duty component,” McGinn added. “This proposal undermines 120 years of history.”
The Air Force claims that less than 600 Air National Guard members from six states would be impacted. Contrary to this, the National Guard Association suggests over 1,000 guardsmen and women in 14 units across seven states — Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York, and Ohio — will be affected, as per Gen. Mike Bruno, chairman of the National Guard Association’s space task force.
Bruno, who also serves as the director of the Joint Staff of the Colorado National Guard, criticized the Air Force’s plan as an example of “federal overreach,” aiming to “override gubernatorial authority.”
Members of the Air and Army National Guard serve as part-time reserve members usually under gubernatorial control but can be federalized in specific circumstances. Discussions about creating a Space National Guard have been ongoing for years but have yet to materialize. Certain Air National Guard units are already focused on space.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall described the situation as “unique” during a recent Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, assuring, “There’s absolutely no intention to make any other changes, moving things out of the Guard.”
Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel, former chief of the National Guard Bureau (2016-2020), expressed surprise that the Air Force would attempt to bypass governors’ authority.
“I think the Guard’s concerns are justified, as this method of operation could potentially be used by the DOD to move force structure from the Guard back into an active component service in the future,” Lengyel said.
Earlier this month, the governors of 48 states and five territories signed a letter opposing the policy. The governors of Florida and Texas, who did not sign the letter, also publicly opposed the plan.
Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT), chairman of the National Governors Association, mentioned a recent discussion with Kendall.
“I joined many other governors from both parties to express our extreme frustration regarding LP480 and urged Air Force Secretary Kendall to withdraw his support for the proposal,” Cox told the Truth Voices. “While he refused, we remain open to collaborating on a solution, but the administration must first comply with the law, requiring consultation and approval from governors before reassigning National Guard units.”
Eighty-five lawmakers from both the House and Senate recently signed a letter addressed to the House and Senate Armed Services Committee leaders, urging them to exclude the proposal from the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The proposal intends to waive Section 104 of Title 32 and Section 18238 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which mandate that no changes in the branch, organization, or allotment of a unit within a state can be made without the governor’s approval, and that National Guard units cannot be relocated or withdrawn without the governor’s consent.
Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL), head of the House Armed Services Committee, included language in his recent chairman’s mark of the NDAA to allow the Air Force to advance with limited adjustments. According to Air and Space Forces Magazine, it would cap the number of transferred personnel at 580 and require the Air Force to offer retraining and reassignment options to any service member preferring to stay in the Guard.
Rogers, a supporter of the Air Force proposal, told Politico, “Unless it becomes apparent that the proposal is going nowhere, it will remain in [the NDAA], and then someone can attempt to remove it” during the House Armed Services Committee markup process.
