Political Quotes

“as cochairman of the Senate National Guard Caucus, I join with my colleague, Senator Bond, to thank my good friend Senator Stevens and his ranking member Senator Inouye for including our amendment prohibiting the use of appropriated funds to inactivate any units of Special Operation Forces of the Army National Guard in the managers amendment. This issue has just been brought to Senator Bond's and my attention. From all indications, the U.S. Special Operations Command has decided on their own to inactivate two Army National Guard Special Forces battalions by September 1998. This inactivation represents a loss of 802 individuals--or one-third of the Army National Guard Special Forces structure. This is not only a complete surprise to me and Senator Bond, but also to the Department of Defense. Upon hearing of this plan, I asked my staff to check with the Pentagon to see if they knew of this proposal and had given their approval. Much to my dismay, I found out this was new to them as well. The Special Operations Command tells us that these National Guard units are excess. However, a closer examination of the facts indicates that the actual motive behind this proposal is to harvest moneys to be spent on active forces. It is my understanding that the Special Operations Command did not even bother coordinating these proposed reductions with the leadership of the National Guard Bureau, the Army National Guard, or the active duty Army.”