National Security

Additional Resources Senate Select Committee on Intelligence United States Intelligence Community Centers for Disease Control Department of Defense Department of Homeland Security Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed. - Ready.gov United Nations West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

National Guard and Reserves

Since the attacks of 9/11, the missions of the West Virginia National Guard and Army Reserves have expanded enormously, in both homeland defense and overseas deployments. Whether responding to a natural disaster in West Virginia or combating terrorism half a world away, the West Virginia National Guard and Army Reserves are a significant source of pride for the Mountain State.

Senator Rockefeller works every day to support West Virginia's National Guard, both as it is deployed overseas and in its important role at home. Overseas, nearly 5,000 of the approximately 6,600 members of the West Virginia Army and Air National Guard have been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in recent years. At home, the West Virginia National Guard has a reputation of being ahead of the curve on homeland defense innovations. With the Joint Interagency Training Center at Camp Dawson and the Center for National Response at the Tunnel outside Charleston, the West Virginia Guard has become a national leader in disaster response training for local, state, and federal first responders and emergency management personnel. The Guard is taking on a number of new tasks regarding defense and risk assessment of critical infrastructure for the Department of Defense, Energy, and Homeland Security.

Additionally, Senator Rockefeller has worked to keep the West Virginia Air Guard at the cutting edge of strategic and tactical airlift capability. In 2005, Senator Rockefeller fought along with the rest of the West Virginia delegation to turn back the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission's recommendation to relocating the Charleston-based 130th Airlift Wing to North Carolina. The victory preserved the 130th and kept hundreds of 130th members and their families in the Charleston area. More recently, Senator Rockefeller has worked with National Guard leaders to ensure the successful transition of the 167th Airlift Wing in Martinsburg from a tactical airlift unit using the C-130 aircraft to a strategic intercontinental airlift unit using the C5 aircraft.

Senator Rockefeller is working hard to make sure our men and women of the military have the equipment they need, good health care benefits, and jobs to return to when they come home. Currently, Rockefeller is working to boost health care benefits for the Guard and Reserves. He also is working with the Department of Defense to ensure that every West Virginia citizen soldier has the essential equipment they need while on duty, such as bulletproof vests and armored vehicles. The families of Guard members and Reservists are also concerned about deployment and return dates, and Senator Rockefeller is working with colleagues to establish statutory requirements that guarantee predictable and sustainable deployment schedules. Senator Rockefeller holds regular meetings throughout the state with National Guard and Reserve families, and he is committed to pushing Congress to address the funding and personnel issues that are so critical to the future of the Guard and Reserve Component.

On a longer term basis, Senator Rockefeller believes that the National Guard needs more input in its own operational decisions. To achieve that end, Senator Rockefeller sponsored The National Defense Enhancement and National Guard Empowerment Act, which will make the Chief of the National Guard a four-star general and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Senator Rockefeller strongly supports the men and women of the West Virginia National Guard and Reserves, and he will continue his efforts to make sure that their needs are met, both at home and abroad.