Staying with the National Guard for a moment, do you believe any other changes need to be made to make the state-controlled Guards more effective on a homeland security level, as well as their Department of Defense warfighting and state disaster relief responsibilities?

From my personal experience and talking with others on the Council of Governors and National Governors Association, I think there is a high level of satisfaction with the way the National Guard operates in our respective states.

One issue that has come up is the integration between the Guard and full-time military units on joint missions. I know in Wyoming that has been a high priority of the National Guard and our local Air Force base [Warren AFB, home to the 90th Missile Wing and 150 Minuteman III ICBMs], which they have done extremely well. It is important to all the governors not to draw a line in the sand, saying, ‘This is us and this is you,’ but to have a cooperative working agreement to maximize and leverage each other’s talents and assets to the benefit of homeland security.

What impact have National Guard combat experience and new equipment during the past decade had on state needs?

Some of that is good, depending on how it might be used, as is the training, but there are limited numbers of Guard members. And when you have problems at home, such as the floods we experienced in Wyoming this year, it creates issues for commanders on how to take care of the state when you have an X-number of the Guard overseas.

Our National Guard adjutant general keeps in mind at all times how many of his people are overseas and how many men and women he may need in Wyoming at any given time if a natural or man-made disaster occurs.

Things are starting to draw down in Southwest Asia now, but has the extensive use of the Guard there led to any move among the governors to increase the size of their state National Guards, so there will be at least some contingent at home while others are overseas?

I can’t speak for the other governors, but the NGA and council have not requested an increase in individual state Guard sizes. However, we do want to ensure we keep the state Guards as strong as possible and properly trained and equipped.

The National Guard has performed very well in both domestic and overseas missions alongside the federal military. And while our goal is to keep the Guard as strong as possible, that does not necessarily mean more people so much as taking care of the people we have.

Do you see any need to change the ratio of full-time and part-time members of the Guard?

All this is subject to change, of course, if there are major changes with regard to the ongoing drawdown in the federal military leading to more being asked of the National Guard in terms of overseas or other out-of-state duty.

I think it is up to the commanders in charge of each state National Guard to maximize the people they have, both full time and part time. I think the balance we now have in Wyoming is pretty good and I haven’t heard any concern about that ratio from other governors.

All this is subject to change, of course, if there are major changes with regard to the ongoing drawdown in the federal military leading to more being asked of the National Guard in terms of overseas or other out-of-state duty.

Because we have been at war and the role of the National Guard continues to change, it doesn’t matter if they are full time or part time – the people in the Guard today are highly professional. Even those who are not full time, what they do outside Guard work in their civilian lives often complements their expertise in their Guard jobs.

Another issue now before Congress that has NGA support is the creation of a dedicated radio spectrum for emergency response units; what is the impetus behind that and why do the governors consider it important?

It’s important for a couple of reasons. One, for the most part, first responders now have to rely on commercial networks for mobile data services. When I was U.S. Attorney in Wyoming, we heard from the U.S. Attorney in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina that the first problem there was no one could get in touch with anyone else to find out what was going on. So a dedicated radio spectrum for firefighters, police officers, emergency medical personnel would enable those first responders to get and relay the information they need and have real-time communication with each other.

A nationwide network, where people could receive and forward text messages and get real-time information on anything, such as a hostage situation, would make a tremendous difference. In a disaster or national security situation, it just makes good sense to be able to do that. And, generally, there seems to be a pretty good reaction to this in Congress; we haven’t heard of any major stumbling blocks, so we remain optimistic.

In a post-9/11 world, as a country, it is important to look at those things that make a real difference in terms of our first responders having as much information and communications capability as possible. This dedicated spectrum, the so-called D-Block, would be a great tool we do not currently have and would be appropriate to have for national security.

What role do state organizations – such as the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) – play in national security issues in-state?

In Wyoming, we have local police, sheriffs deputies, and a statewide law enforcement organization called the Division of Criminal Investigation, which coordinates with … local, state, and federal law enforcement on a daily basis. They collect and help disseminate criminal intelligence information to local, state, and federal partners, have their own electronic surveillance equipment, the capability for forensic analysis, and work hand in hand with our Wyoming Homeland Security Office, which is not law enforcement, but integrated with the DCI and other agencies to disseminate information on homeland security issues.

DCI also trains with … local, state, and federal folks, such as tabletop exercises on man-made or natural disasters. One of the benefits of being small in population is you don’t accept as an option not being able to coordinate and cooperate with each other, so we get everyone at the table who needs to be there and make sure we share what needs to be shared.