I am going to talk to you today a little bit about homeland security, a little bit about what is going on and a little bit about how things are done. Slide.
As we look at this we see a quote by Mark Twain that says, "history may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme." He goes on to talk about the fact that Rome may not go down and fall as it did in the past, but there will be some other civilizations that will. So if we can learn the lessons of history, then perhaps we can do a better job of predicting what will happen in the future. It is about that prediction and the informed guesses that I want to talk about today. Slide.

You see these F-15s, from the Massachusetts Guard and you are aware two F-15 Eagles, from Otis, were the first aircraft airborne en route to the World Trade Center on September 11. Unfortunately, they didn't get there in time. But they were there, standing guard over America as militiamen have done and as Guardsmen have done for 365 years.

I think it is fitting that the Massachusetts Guard was there because the Guard started in 1636 with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. And they have stood watch over America and guarded America and her interests over the years. I wouldn't be so bold as to say or suggest that that has been THE Guard or THE militia, because it is about the team. And also on September 11, when those aircraft showed up, very shortly thereafter the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine and Coast Guard were all involved because it is about the joint team. That is the way we do business in our United States military.

We are all part of that same great military organization that does so much to defend our country and its interests. As we talk about defending America's skies and we talk about that a lot in the Guard because the Guard has a significant part of the combat air patrols as General Eberhart said. They've done it since the outset. Side-by-side with the active and the Reserve-the U.S. Air Force Reserve-part of that great team.

On the Army side, which is the other half of my role, and sometimes more than half in terms of effort, they had Nike missiles. That becomes very important because, as we go down the road, they are also incorporated in part of the national missile defense. They know something about a 24/7 role, as do we in the Air Guard and in the U.S. Air Force. We will stay involved in that mission and it is important. Because it is important to the country that the Guard and Reserve be there as part of our military. We can't afford as large a military as we have had in the past and - as we downsized following the Gulf War - we have more missions in the Guard and more missions in the Reserve. Slide.
It is not just about missions, it is about doing the Air Force's business in this context or the Army's business. You can see from this slide, we had a large involvement in Desert Shield/Desert Storm. As you can see, very rapidly ramping up Allied Force and increasingly we'll be doing more as we go about the Air Force's business.

While at the same time doing the combat air patrols, the Guard is engaged - as is the rest of the Air Force - in Operation Northern Watch and Operation Southern Watch and Joint Forge and Joint Guardian. And, as I said, [in] all of the Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom missions.

But it is transformational as General Jumper talked to, too, because we are a transformational organization. We are continually getting new equipment and integrating it in and that is very key. Because we can't get rid of all of our legacy systems. We wouldn't have enough aircraft. We wouldn't have that total capability, the full spectrum of capabilities in our great U.S. Air Force. So it is about that transformational piece that I'll talk a little bit about today.

We'll have more emphasis on homeland security right out of our Defense Planning Guidance. It talks about it being a very key and important element of our national strategy. Slide.

We don't have a common definition that we've decided on yet and that is in process, in the formative stages, as is Northern Command/Homeland Security Command. But we've come to this definition - Secretary White, who is the executive agent for homeland security in the Pentagon, [has] talked to this. He said first, it is about homeland defense, the Defense Department's missions, those missions which fall very easily in there, in terms of defense of the land, sea, air and space and protection of our computer networks. The second half of it, from his perspective, is civil support when incidents happen or occur. We'll need assistance to our federal agencies and that is another very important part of it. In the counter-terrorism arena, the Justice Department will have the lead and that will be the lead federal agency. That is the concept under which we are operating. And Health and Human Services and biological.

As we talk about these two, I think I'll talk about them in the context of the sword and the shield of homeland security. Slide.

As I talk to you today, you can see we have over 50,000 folks in the National Guard who are out there on duty, Army Guard on the top line. Air Guard on the bottom line. Let me give you a context if I might. Desert Shield/Desert Storm mobilizations: Air Guard - 12,000, Army Guard- 23,000. We are a very busy Air Force, not just the Guard. The Air Force is busy and we are part of that great Air Force. When I leave here today, I will be going to Salt Lake City because we've got some folks out there involved with the Olympics. Interesting fact, there are more people in Salt Lake City on duty than we have in Bosnia. More people than we have assigned to Afghanistan. Just for a perspective. Slide.

This gives you an indication of where we will be and where we go. We will do the Olympics. We will be peaking here this weekend. Then we will do the paralympics afterward. So some of the challenged people in our country can have an opportunity and the Guard will be part of that, mostly in security missions, but providing some logistics. We have Air Guardsmen in there alongside the Army Guard because that it what it is all about, that team.

As we talk about the Guard and the Reserve, sometimes people get concerned about accessibility. Can we reach out and grab the Guard? Let me give you a couple of anecdotal situations. We had a requirement to have some Guardsmen forward for engineering (read: the people who put in the fiber optic networks in a forward location). We had another requirement for folks to help lay out the basis, do the layout to where do we put the comm outfit, where do we put the other things. And we needed them in a forward area yesterday.

So, with a handshake and the governors' consent - and they always consent, by the way - we sent those people forward and mobilized them in place. So they are there in place, six to eight days before they were actually mobilized.

But the requirement was there. We needed the people in place on site and we put them there. So, we talk about the Guard leadership and the governors, and I was in a briefing not long ago and one of the briefers said, "the biggest problem we have is with the governors in the states." And I said, "when is the last time you had difficulty with a governor?" They understand. They are great Americans. They understand that. They deal in that mission every day, protecting the life and property in a given state.

When a tornado comes, sometimes without warning, many times with warning, they respond. They understand urgent necessity. So we talk about military necessity and the need for that Guard capability, be it the equipment and/or the people or just the people. Then we'll pull them out there. We have them in a number of different statuses and it is a little bit complicated. At times they are in a state status, where the state picks up the tab. In about 95 percent of the emergencies we have in the states that is what happens. It doesn't reach the level of being declared a federal emergency. But at the same time, we have folks who are in Title 32 duty. A little bit complicated because they are under the governors' control and in Title 10 duty where they are either mobilized or called up on a PRC or, like I am, on a statutory tour. Regardless of status, they respond when our country calls them.

So, there should be no question about whether they will be available. When it came time without notice on September 11, hours later, we had Army Guardsman guarding the Pentagon and other key sites in Washington. People just show up. Something happens. They just put on their uniforms and show up. They don't wait for the call. This happens across the board. So it is not just the Guard. We are not super patriots. There are a lot of great Americans out there who do the same thing. People come back off leave in the active component and say, "what can I do? Where can I go? How can I help?" It is about that dedication and commitment. It is not just those of us in uniform very easy to identify, typically, as patriots. But it also about those great civilians out there, many of whom have served and are retirees. But many who have not served. I was on a TV show not long ago and a caller asked, "what can I do as an American citizen?" I said, "I am not sure what you can do. Because I don't know where you are and where you sit in our community and what your job is. But if you see something mysterious or something strange going on, talk about it. Call somebody. Don't wait until something bad happens." We know there are people out there who hate us. I almost said, "don't love us." They hate us. It is a little stronger than don't love. And because of them, you and I must maintain our vigilance, which the Air Force added to its mission statement and its vision about what we ought to do. And that is a very key part of why we are here.

But that homeland security mission is everybody's business. I think the president has articulated it very well. This is something all of us can do. The young kids got out and they raised some money for the families of those who were negatively impacted by the assaults on the Pentagon and World Trade Center and that tragic plane crash in Western Pennsylvania.

What can we do better? How can we better serve? That is the question we've got to ask ourselves in the Guard. And as we move into the 21st century, it is about a little more than muskets today. It is about our people's willingness to get on board. We've been a part of this great Air Force and we'll continue to be a part. We'll do the missions as we are asked to do. And I say asked; we don't have to be ordered. We understand when we put on this uniform. That is our commitment to the country. And we've got sisters and brothers who happened to be active component or who happen to be U.S. Air Force Reserve, but it is part of that great Air Force team, along with our tremendous civilians. So as we go into missions and missile defense as we go into missions and information operations and space, the Guard is going to be right there alongside the active component.

It is about that team. Folks say you can't go to war without the Guard and the Reserve. I say when you conduct military operations you'll probably have a Guardsman there. I was in one of our forward stations in Southwest Asia. And as I was talking active Guard and Reserve. I got a question. Somebody said, one of our Guardsmen, "no harm intended, but," he said, "I have not noticed a Reservist here." I said, "well, I always say, active, Guard and Reserve and civilians because I am never sure who is in the group as you talk to folks forward and you never want to leave anybody out." And sure enough, as I had walked around a little earlier, I saw a thing that said SA. And I thought "senior airman." And I thought, "I don't think so, no rank on the sleeve. Don't believe so." It turned out to be a Reserve OSI, U.S. Air Force Reservist. Am I glad I didn't make the mistake of excluding them because they are part of this great team and that is what it is all about. That is how we do so well.

With civilians, they bring tremendous skills and continuity. With the Guard and the Reserve, they bring two things. They bring military skills and many of them have civilian skills on the outside. And they bring those skills. One of our people, we started an information operations unit. We got a tech sergeant, very key to that unit. What he does for a day job is a little bit different. He is the director of security for one of the major software companies in America. He makes a middle six-figure figure for salary. He is here because he wants to be here. He loves what he does. And you can see the enthusiasm in his eyes as he talks about what we do and what he contributes to our great Air Force effort. And that is what it is about. It is about doing that.

As we talk about the shield at home, as part of homeland security, being able to defend this great country, we are working our way through that as General Eberhart said, the homeland security command. Northern Command, I believe we are going to call it. A lot of work to be done there, before it is rolled out. But that will be the leadership of this great shield over our country. But we must also maintain that combat power, the sword, so that hopefully we can deter adversaries. And if deterrence doesn't work, do the job that is necessary.

The president asked us as a military to be ready. "I want the military to be ready." Two weeks later, I had the privilege of being at a White House ceremony. The President signed a resolution about employers. And those of you who are out there, thank you for the great support you give to our Guard and our Reserve personnel who work for you because that is very key to their livelihood. So he reached out to me and he said, "General, how are you doing?"

I said, "I am doing fine, sir." I had the privilege of meeting him in the Pentagon and I said, "I want you to know that our Guard is ready." But the Guard is not just ready. We are ready as part of a great Air Force team and a great Army team.

And if I asked any of you, I think you would give that answer. If the President asked you, I think you could also give that answer. We are prepared as we were in 1636 to do our missions at home and abroad. Next slide.
Just a couple of things here to show you - an indication of what we've done during the year 01. And we are about as busy now at the same rate. We are doing business with all of the CINCs, as you can see. An awful lot of our people are out there and they are busy working side-by-side as part of that great team. That is how we make our money in this business. We make our money not by going out and doing solo things as the Guard, but by being part of the Air Force team and the Army team.

I want you to know that your National Guard is ready, willing and able. Your Air National Guard is working pretty hard at this homeland defense mission and as General Eberhart said, we'll do it as long as we are required or needed. There are a lot of folks who think, "well, it would be nice if we could stand down that commitment," but as he said, "it is about the threat." It is about the requirement.

Air Force Reserve has been incorporated as part of that mission. So as we talk about history repeating itself and we look back over the millennia and see how history has tended to repeat itself, particularly with some of the despots of the world, and we've taken specific actions to neutralize that. If we have to, we will continue to do that. It is part of our destiny, I think, as a country. But it will not be without its challenges, challenges to people. Challenges to our military. But we are taking time to get it right. And I know that whatever actions we take as a country, the U.S. Air Force will be out there leading the way, Mr. Secretary. And the Air National Guard will be one its contributors.
I thank you very much.

Q. How does the public perceive the increased presence of the Guard in local communities, specifically at airports? Also, comment on the degree of employer support thus far for Guard deployments.

General Davis: If I might start at the airports. We are being very well received in airports. People walk up to our young people, shake their hands and thank them for being there and I think we've got the message out there. We are there as part of the U.S. Air Force or the U.S. Army. There are many people who didn't recognize or realize that there were folks out there from the Air National Guard. They are there. And very key because when the adjutants general, the folks who run the Guard in their respective states, and somebody says, "how can you run the Guard when you've got 54 different Guards out there?" Actually, it's108. We've got an Army Guard and an Air Guard, but don't worry about that. That is what the TAG's job is-he or she takes care of that.

And the governors did a conference call with the President. The governors responded through their adjutants general and we had people in airports. Very well received. We've had a little bit of negative feedback. One of the folks said, "they look bored." And I said, "try standing around an airport all day long."

But we go out. We have challenged our senior enlisted advisors, both Army and Air, and ourselves as key leaders. I was in Long Beach attending a conference and went out to look at the C-17 factory, but I also spent some time with our young people at the airport. And every time I travel… We'll be in Salt Lake City later today. I am going to go see the folks I believe Sunday morning on our way out of Salt Lake City, just to thank them for what they do.

I would encourage each and every one of you, as you go through airports, please thank those people for what they do. That is not the most fun mission we have. But it is a very key and important mission that our country has asked us to do and we are responding. And it is being done very well.

Challenges for the employers? Yes, we've had some of those. Not really bad, but it is difficult when we put people on a mission like that and we don't have an end state and I think we are creating one now and we've got a game plan, not fully announced and all. They may not be out of there in March. That is our plan in the Department of Defense right now but if they are not, we've got a back-up game plan, as we always do. We've got plan B, C, and D as typical military planners do.

So, it is creating some problems with employers because they don't know when the young people are coming back. But we do have the ability to, if they are extended beyond that point, we do have the ability to remove them, substitute them individual for individual. So we keep the same number and we will continue to work with FAA in our country as long as we are needed.

Q. How is the flow of volunteers holding up? Is it still at the same level as in the Fall?

General Davis: No Sir, it is not at the same level it was in the fall. I think volunteerism holds up very well on short duration. As it gets a little longer, we have called up some people as part of the partial mobilization. It has gone down. I think we started out early on, I want to say around 11,000 in the Air Guard and I think now we are around 6,000. That will go up because what we are allowing people to do is, in lieu of their drill weekends, they can do that sometime during the week. A lot of them will come out on weekends and we have the ability in the Air Force at least to give them work days so we can balloon that up and they can volunteer.

Most would prefer to be volunteers if we can sustain the effort and fulfill the mission requirements. That is the great driver. Do it in volunteer status because that way they can program the time away and it makes it a little more predictable. But we are finding with the longer-range commitment, particularly in the combat air patrol, as it impacts on the fighters as well as on the tankers, we've had to call up some of those folks and we've had a great partnership relationship with the rest of the Air Force and so we are able to make that happen. On an individual basis we've been able to pretty well work it.

Q. Do you foresee any further integration of Guard and Reserve efforts or even some melding of the two?

General Davis: Well, we are doing a lot of integration, probably, of the services. The Coast Guard does it slightly better, but they don't have organic equipment in the Reserves so it makes it a lot easier. But I think we in the Air Force have probably done it better than any of the other services. Not being parochial. But I think there is a lot of opportunity.

One of the things we have is a center out in Tucson, where we work actually with the active as well as Guard and Reserve. But we've got the Guard and Reserve working together on technology. A lot of the things that came out in terms of EPLRS and SADDLE and some of the upgrades we have on our F-16s, that was done out there and in conjunction with the active Air Force and the testing community in the Air Force. It really is truly an integrated effort.

We do an awful lot of things together. We share equipment. One of the things that we found - at least it was my experience - when we work with the Reserve, I was right next door and ran into the commander of the wing at Andrews. Right next door we had a C-130 in it. When we couldn't get a C-130 to take us and do things we wanted through the normal system, I said, "hey Skip Jones, how about some help?" So we work together.

The folks up at Milwaukee, they are on the same base, different equipment, but they work very well together. The Selfridge folks up there with the Guard and F-15s and C-130s and we also train the Navy, Mr. Secretary, talking about Navy Reservists. The Navy has a lot of Reserve maintainers out there who show up at P-3 units. The same people who built the P-3s, built 130s, and a lot of similar systems and so they come over and work. That is a great partnership we work hand-in-hand. We loan people back-and-forth, certainly good ideas are shared. We do an awful lot of meeting with their leadership.
We had breakfast the other morning with all the Reserve Component chiefs, just a meeting where we said, "why don't we get together once a month and talk about it?" So we do. An awful lot goes on, more informally than formally. But there are an awful lot of things that go on formally. The way the Air Force operates is, they see where the capability is and they go to that. And sometimes it is in one of the components or another one, but then they work together on it. So we may have a Guardsman or Reservists working side by side as part of an active deployed organization. When you go to PSAB you can't tell the difference [between] who is active, Guard and Reserve. Same thing I would suggest to you if you are in Kuwait or anywhere else, in Saudi Arabia or throughout the AO, as the Secretary said when he went around. You can't tell the difference. We all say, "United States Air Force."

Q. The president's FY 2003 budget suggests that our Noble Eagle missions will continue for years to come. The Air Guard is filling most of this requirement. Has any consideration been given to increasing the permanent, full-time manning levels of these units, operators and support?

General Davis: I think as we go down this road and we determine what the level of effort will be to support that mission and it is active, Guard and Reserve-so it truly is a total force in the Air Force. And the Reserve in the Navy is getting involved. And the Marine Corps, I think, is going to get involved. The Marine Corps Reserve is going to get involved again. Because, that mission is truly a national mission and it is joint. General Eberhart has all of those resources available to him so it will be active, Guard and Reserve, Navy, Marine Corps and certainly we in the Air Force will be a key part of that. We will look at that as that mission develops. We've got some other requirements right now for full-time manning. Because homeland security has been designated as our number one priority, we'll adjust accordingly.

We'll work with the active Air Force and with the Congress and we'll come up with whatever the right mix is. If we don't have it right now, and we've just entered into this, we are in the fifth month, we'll adjust it. But we are doing an awful lot of adjusting to the way we do business. We got a little bit away from some of the things we were doing with the EAFs in the Guard and Reserve. They are a very interwoven, integrated part of that. But we've gotten away from that a little bit because we needed more people for some of the new locations we were going into and we moved active component folks. We backfilled them with Guardsmen and Reservists, trying to adhere as closely as we can and that is our desire in the Air Force, to try to preserve the structure and the focus of how we do business in terms of predictability and that is the Expeditionary Air Forces.

So we are trying to preserve that and we are moving and adjusting accordingly. We'll work our way through that. It is going to be a challenging exercise because it is so different from anything we've done.

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