Defense proposes giving Guard chief 'senior advisor' role

Pentagon officials on Wednesday endorsed promoting the National Guard Bureau chief to a four-star general and making him a "senior advisor" to the Defense secretary, according to a Defense Department document circulated at private meetings with congressional aides.

But the document also makes it clear the Defense Department will continue to reject bipartisan congressional efforts to elevate the Guard chief to a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a move that would give him a seat at the table during high-level Pentagon discussions.

The eight-page document is the Pentagon's response to a report released last month by the independent Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, which was tasked to review bipartisan legislation that would give the Guard more control over its organization, operations and budgets.

Pentagon officials agree -- at least in part -- with 20 of the commission's recommendations and reject only three of the panel's proposals.

The Pentagon's endorsement of much of the commission's work is likely to draw fire on Capitol Hill, where the sponsors of the so-called National Guard Empowerment Bill sharply criticized the panel's recommendations as a weak alternative to their legislation. The sponsors of the Guard bill, which would make the National Guard chief a member of the Joint Chiefs, have made it clear they plan to press ahead with their legislation.

"We have to give you some more organizational muscle, not just some of the watered-down proposals we've heard," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., co-chairman of the Senate National Guard Caucus, told Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, during a Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing Wednesday.

Leahy made his comments before Senate aides received the briefing from Pentagon officials. But Leahy and other sponsors of the empowerment legislation likely will consider the Pentagon's recommendations to be even weaker than those offered by the commission.

Indeed, the Pentagon rejected the commission's recommendation that the commander or deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command be a Guard or Reserve officer. Doing so "limits the pool of officers from which the president has to select" for the command's leadership slots, according to the document.

For his part, Blum has promoted changes to bolster the National Guard, but has shied away from commenting specifically on whether he should get a seat at the table with the chiefs of the military services.

The Pentagon, Blum said during the Wednesday hearing, needs to "bring some of the Cold War policy and authorities and resourcing strategies into compliance with today's reality." The Guard, he added, needs new authorities, resources and access to be effective as an operational force.

During a brief interview after the hearing, Blum said lawmakers have told him repeatedly that "if you don't have a seat at the table, you're on the menu." While Blum did not offer an outright endorsement of the legislation, he called it important for Guard leaders to have their voices heard in the Pentagon.

"Now it is up to the Department of Defense and Congress to see if they can come to some common ground," Blum added.