The Council of Governors is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

council of state and

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

officials that was established to "advise the

Secretary of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the

White House Homeland Security Council The Homeland Security Council (HSC) is an entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States tasked with advising the President on matters relevant to Homeland Security. The current Homeland Security Advisor is Elizabeth S ...

on matters related to the National Guard and civil support missions" and to "strengthen further the partnership between the Federal Government and State Governments to protect

he United States He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

against all types of hazards". The Council is tasked to review "such matters as involving the National Guard of the various States; homeland defense; civil support; synchronization and integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States; and other matters of mutual interest pertaining to National Guard, homeland defense, and civil support activities." The Council was authorized and required by 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 fundin ...

, enacted by the

110th Congress The 110th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the Presidency of George W. Bush. It was composed of ...

and signed by

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 ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

on January 28, 2008. It was officially established by , issued by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

on January 11, 2010.
/ref>

Composition

The Council of Governors is composed of 10 members, selected by the

for a term of 2 years from among the Governor (United States), governors of the several states and

territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

of the United States and the

Mayor of the District of Columbia The mayor of the District of Columbia is the head of the executive branch of the government of the District of Columbia, in the United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce district laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed ...

. No more than five members may be from the same

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

. Two members of the Council, of different political parties, are designated by the President to serve as Co-Chairs of the Council. The work of the Council is coordinated by an Executive Director designated by the

Members

Former members

Federal officials

Scope of activities

Topics for review by the Council of Governors include synchronization and integration of state and federal military activities and other matters related to state National Guard organizations, homeland defense, and civil support.

Meetings

Meetings of the Council are called by the Secretary of Defense or the Co-Chairs. The inaugural meeting was held on February 23, 2010, in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, at the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

. A second meeting was held July 11, 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts. A third meeting was scheduled for November 2010.http://www.nga.org/cms/home/news-room/news-releases/page_2011/col2-content/main-content-list/general-content-1.html

References

{{reflist

External links

FEMA Regions
United States national commissions 2010 establishments in the United States