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The National Guard Bureau is the federal instrument responsible for the administration of the
National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...
established by the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
as a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and the
Department of the Air Force The United States Department of the Air Force (DAF) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Department of the Air Force was formed on September 18, 1947, per the National Sec ...
. It was created by the Militia Act of 1903. The
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 is a law in the United States signed by President George W. Bush on January 28, 2008. As a bill it was H.R. 4986 in the 110th Congress. The overall purpose of the law is to authorize fundi ...
, elevated the National Guard to a joint function of the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
. The 2007 NDAA, from the previous year, elevated the
chief of the National Guard Bureau The chief of the National Guard Bureau (CNGB) is the highest-ranking officer of the National Guard and the head of the National Guard Bureau. The position is a statutory office (), held by a federally recognized commissioned officer who has serv ...
from a
lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
to a four-star
general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
.


Militia Act of 1903

United States Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the President of the United States, U.S. president's United States Cabinet, Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's Presidency of George Washington, administration. A similar position, called either "Se ...
Elihu Root Elihu Root (; February 15, 1845February 7, 1937) was an American lawyer, Republican politician, and statesman who served as Secretary of State and Secretary of War in the early twentieth century. He also served as United States Senator from N ...
militated for reform of the militia, in annual reports of 1901 of 1903 and in public letters. He argued that state militias should be more like the Army in discipline, uniforms, equipment, and training, to mitigate problems that arose in the
U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states t ...
and the recent
Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...
of 1898. The
Militia Act of 1792 Two Militia Acts were enacted by the 2nd United States Congress in 1792 that provided for the organization of militias and empowered the President of the United States to take command of the state militias in times of imminent invasion or insurr ...
was posited to be obsolete. The resulting Militia Act of 1903 (or Dick Act) became law. It gave federal status to the militia and required the organized militia of the States to conform to
Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregulars, irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenary, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the ...
organization and standards. It dramatically increased federal funding of the militia: between 1903 and 1916, the federal government spent $53 million on the Guard, more than the total of the previous hundred years. The 1903 act authorized the creation of a separate section responsible for National Guard affairs. Located in the Miscellaneous Division of the
Adjutant General An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...
's office, this small section, headed by
Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
James Parker, Cavalry, with four clerks, was the predecessor of today's National Guard Bureau. This section remained under the supervision of the
Adjutant General An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...
's Office until War Department Orders on February 12, 1908 created the Division of Militia Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of War. The Division remained a part of the Office of the Secretary of War until July 25, 1910 when the Chief was directed to report directly to the Army Chief of Staff. The Division continued to perform under the direct jurisdiction of the Chief of Staff until the passage of the
National Defense Act The National Defense Act of 1916, , was a United States federal law that updated the Militia Act of 1903, which related to the organization of the military, particularly the National Guard. The principal change of the act was to supersede provi ...
of June 3, 1916. Then the Division of Militia Affairs became the Militia Bureau of the War Department, under the direct supervision of the Secretary of War.


Division becomes a bureau

The
National Defense Act of 1916 The National Defense Act of 1916, , was a United States federal law that updated the Militia Act of 1903, which related to the organization of the military, particularly the National Guard. The principal change of the act was to supersede prov ...
stated that all units would have to be federally recognized, and that the qualifications for
officers An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...
would be set by the War Department. It increased the number of annual training days to 15, increased the number of yearly
drills A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to i ...
to 48, and authorized pay for drills. The 1916 act transformed the Division of Militia Affairs into a separate Militia Bureau, increasing its autonomy and authority. Eight new civilian positions were authorized, something which the various Chiefs had been requesting for years; the number of military assigned to the Bureau had grown to 13. The National Defense Act also authorized the
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
to assign two National Guard officers to duty with the Militia Bureau. The inclusion of National Guard officers in the Militia Bureau was an important step towards creating a centralized planning organization for the National Guard headed by its own officers. The first National Guard officer assigned to the Bureau was
Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Louis C. Wilson of
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
in 1916. On September 11, 1917, War Department General Order 119 stated that the jurisdiction of the Militia Bureau includes "coordination through the office of the Chief of Staff, of the organization, equipment, and instruction of the National Guard under department commanders in a manner similar to the coordination by the
Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
of the organization, equipment, and training of the Regular Army under department commanders." Thus the National Guard Bureau was charged with the responsibility of maintaining high standards in the National Guard. Prior to 1910 the Chief of the Militia Bureau was a
Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregulars, irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenary, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the ...
officer. This situation changed on June 4, 1920, when Congress passed an amendment to the National Defense Act of 1916. One of the amendment's conditions stated that effective January 1, 1921, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau would be selected from lists of present or former National Guard officers. The act reads:
The Chief National Guard Bureau shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, by selection from the lists of officers of the National Guard of the United States recommended as suitable for such appointment by their respective Governors, and who have had ten or more years commissioned service in the National Guard ... The Chief of the National Guard Bureau shall hold office for four years unless sooner removed for cause, and shall not be eligible to succeed himself ... Upon accepting his office, the CNGB shall be appointed a Major General in the National Guard of the United States, and commissioned in the Army of the United States, and while serving shall have the rank, pay, and allowances of a Major General.
The act was later amended so that the Chief could succeed himself. The first appointee under these provisions was Major General George C. Rickards of
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The amendment also provided for the creation of a
General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...
committee of National Guard officers, which could recommend policies affecting the Guard. The Bureau was known as the
Militia Bureau The National Guard Bureau is the federal instrument responsible for the administration of the National Guard established by the United States Congress as a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. It was crea ...
until it was designated as the National Guard Bureau by an amendment to Section 81 of the National Defense Act on June 15, 1933. Furthermore, this amendment worked towards settling the issue of the National Guard as a reserve component. It stated that there would be two National Guards: the National Guard of the several states, and the National Guard of the United States. The former would be the individual state militias, employed in local emergencies and national defense. The latter would be considered a deployable reserve component of the regular United States Army.


National Guard Bureau during World War II

The National Guard began mobilization on September 16, 1940, and a total of 18 National Guard Divisions (plus one more assembled from National Guard units), as well as 29 National Guard Army Air Forces observation squadrons saw action in both the Pacific and European Theatres. The National Guard Bureau also experienced changes during the war years. The first of these changes occurred on March 2, 1942, under War Department Circular number 59. This order reorganized the War Department and Army under the authority of the first War Powers Act. It specifically affected the Bureau by designating it as a part of the Adjutant General's Office. On April 27 of the same year, General Orders No. 9, Headquarters, Service and Supply, established the National Guard Bureau as an "independent administrative service of the Services of Supply," under the jurisdiction of the Chief of Administrative Services. The third major order affecting the National Guard Bureau was
Army Service Forces The Army Service Forces was one of the three autonomous components of the United States Army during World War II, the others being the Army Air Forces and Army Ground Forces, created on 9 March 1942. By dividing the Army into three large comman ...
(ASF) circular No. 118, which came on November 11, 1943. It stipulated that the Chief of the National Guard Bureau was directed to report to the Commanding General, Army Service Forces. Finally on May 17, 1945, General Order No. 39 stated that the National Guard Bureau was removed from the jurisdiction of the Commanding General Army Service Forces, and established it as a war Department Special Staff activity. With the entire National Guard on federal service, the mission and functions of the Bureau were reduced. A large part of the Bureau's wartime work consisted of managing the State Guards which in wartime took over a great deal of the Guard's state mission, and keeping up the personnel records of federally recognized National Guard officers on active duty. The number of military officers assigned to the Bureau declined sharply, and the number of the Bureau's civilian personnel went from 140 in 1940 to 49 in 1945. There were practically no promotions awarded to National Guard Bureau civilians, which did not compare favorably with other War Department agencies. This made retaining those few key civilian employees needed in maintaining good relations with the States and working towards planning the post-war reorganization of the National Guard extremely difficult.


Post-war National Guard Bureau

During the war years, annual leave was restricted for all War Department civilian employees. National Guard Bureau civilian personnel certainly could have been spared, since their workload had been greatly reduced. When the freeze on annual leave was limited in 1945 civilian employees were compelled to use their leave or lose it. At the war's end the National Guard Bureau desperately needed full military and civilian staff, for the task of reorganizing the National Guard in the states. However, the number of personnel was not expanded quickly enough to facilitate such activity. The frantic post-war reorganization of the National Guard was coordinated by an under-staffed Guard Bureau. In addition to the reorganization of the National Guard, the Bureau also had to deal with internal reorganizations. The most important of these was the creation of the Air Force and consequently, the Air National Guard. Under the National Security Act of July 26, 1947, Congress approved the creation of a separate division within the National Guard Bureau for the
Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
, thus transferring the functions, powers, and duties from the Department of the Army and the Secretary of the Army to the Department of the Air Force and the Secretary of the Air Force. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the National Guard Bureau and the Army Air Forces jointly prepared a plan for the Air National Guard. Among the foreseeable problems were supplies of aircraft, type and distribution of units, training, recruitment of trained personnel, and strength in relation to the Air Force and Air Force Reserve. In 1946 a plan calling for the creation of 12 wings, 27 groups, and 84 fighter and light bombardment squadrons was authorized and tendered to the States. June 30, 1946 saw the federal recognition of the first post-war Air Guard unit, the 120th Fighter Squadron, based at
Buckley Field Buckley Space Force Base is a United States Space Force base in Aurora, Colorado named after United States Army Air Service First Lieutenant John Harold Buckley. The base is run by Space Base Delta 2, with major units including the U.S. Space Fo ...
,
Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
. Although the projected date of July 1, 1947 for organizing all Air Guard units could not be met due to drastic cuts in federal funding (the Air Guard only received $154 million instead of the requested $536 million during FY 1947–1949), by May 1949, 514 units had been organized and federally recognized. In 1949 the Army and Air Force Authorization Act (Public Law 604, 81st Congress) formally established a legal existence which provided that the Air Force of the United States shall consist of, among other components, the Air National Guard of the U.S., composed of federally recognized units and personnel of the several States. This Act established an independent relationship for the Air Guard, separate from the Air Force. It ensured that the Air Guard would remain state controlled. To facilitate the dual function of the National Guard Bureau, the Departments of the Army and Air Force, along with the NGB, reorganized the latter agency on October 1, 1948. This reorganization established the NGB as a Bureau of the Department of the Army and an agency of the Department of the Air Force. The reorganization of the NGB included the creation of the Legal Adviser, the Information Office, the Administrative Office, and the Planning Office. It also established the Chief, National Guard Bureau (CNGB) as the head of the two component divisions, the Army Division and the Air Division. It provided for a major general of the appropriate service, commissioned in the National Guard, to be appointed as Chief of each of the respective Divisions. The Army and Air Force Authorization Act also stipulated that the National Guard Bureau would perform similar functions and duties for the Department of the Air Force as it performed for the Department of the Army and would be a formal channel of communication between the Department of the Air Force and the several States on matters pertaining to the ANG.


Modern National Guard

As of 2017, the mission of the National Guard Bureau is to participate with the Army and Air Force staffs in programs pertaining to the National Guard. The NGB is responsible for administering programs for the development and maintenance of Army and Air National Guard units in the 50 states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. There are many programs administered through NGB that serve youth populations, including the
Youth Challenge Program The Youth Challenge Program is a program for at-risk youth run by the National Guard of the United States, which consists of Youth Challenge Academies (known as YCA's) in each participating state. The stated mission of the Youth Challenge Program i ...
, Partners in Education, HUMVEE School Program, YOU CAN School Program, and Guard Fit Challenge. As of December 31, 2011, the
Chief of the National Guard Bureau The chief of the National Guard Bureau (CNGB) is the highest-ranking officer of the National Guard and the head of the National Guard Bureau. The position is a statutory office (), held by a federally recognized commissioned officer who has serv ...
is a member of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
.


See also

*
National Guard of the United States The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the reserve components of the United States Army and the United States Air Force when activated for federal missions.Army National Guard of the United States *
Air National Guard of the United States The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...


References


External links


Globalsecurity.Org: History of National Guard


{{Authority control National Guard (United States)