National Guard troops from four states are now on
the US -Mexican border following President Bush’s announcement that
National Guard forces will help bolster homeland security and border
patrol activities along the 1,950-mile border.
No immediate takings have been assigned to the
Georgia National Guard for the mission now called, “Operation Jump Start.”
However, the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas have more
than 420 Guardsmen currently working border operations.
While no units, dates, or destinations have been
suggested for the use of the Georgia National Guard for “Operation Jump
Start,” Georgia Guard officials maintain that if the state is given
requirements, volunteers will be used to the greatest extent possible.
They added that members from units returning from deployment will not be
tasked directly to support this mission, unless they wish to
volunteer, should that become an option.
Guard officials say there may also be cases where
some Georgia units may support the border security operations as part of
regular annual training periods, but no such missions are on the horizon
at this point.
The plan is to use the National Guard along the
border to provide surveillance and reconnaissance, engineering,
linguistics and transportation support. National Guard forces will perform
these missions under the command and control of the Governors of the
affected states, and under the funding of the federal government. Border
security is a civilian law enforcement responsibility and the National
Guard will play no direct role in apprehension activities.
