How Should the National Guard be Employed for the next National Disaster?

In the years following Hurricane Katrina, military leaders have pointed out that in large national scale disasters, the lack of communication between the National Guard and federal and state governments has resulted in gaps of responsibilities, as a report from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Center for Homeland Defense and Security observes. One of the questions that has emerged is how does a force primary directed to provide support to state level problems be employed when the disaster becomes national? COVID-19 has put this dilemma front and center, as National Guard units across the country struggle to receive and maintain federal funding so that they are able to provide support. And with an unclear overarching authority, the mission of the National Guard become blurred when the disaster level exceeds local state governance. The report argues the most important is proper communication between the lead federal agencies, the Department of Defense, and the National Guard itself. Read the report at the NPS Center for Homeland Defense and Security.