“Ultimately, his role is to facilitate the unity of state and federal forces in achieving dominance of justice in disaster response.”-Major General Giselle Wilz, National Guard Bureau, a comment apparently made in 2018 during discussions concerning hurricane disaster response
12 November 2021 (19:02-UTC-07 Tango 06) 21 Aban 1400/06 Rabi ‘ath-Thani 1443/08 Ji-Hai (10th month) 4719
It is called Dual Status Commander (DSC), it is a relatively new position that gives a commanding officer control of both federal military forces and state National Guard! At the ‘official’ beginning of the Pandemic in the United States, March 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) had already appointed (Officially ‘at the request of state governors’.) multiple DSCs with several states. The most recent DSC appointment was in Idaho.
31MAR2020, U.S. Military Academy (West Point): THE MILITARY AND THE PANDEMIC: AN EXPLAINER OF THE NATIONAL GUARD’S ROLE IN THE COVID-19 RESPONSE
The DSC position combines Title 32 and Title 10 operations under one commander (What is Title 32 and Title 10?). DSCs are Brigadier Generals or Colonels, and in most cases hold the office of a National Guard adjutant general.
The DoD has been toying with the idea of a DSC for more than a couple of decades. I know from my own experience that the federales have been slowly reigning in state controlled National Guard since the 1990s.
In 2003, the retiring Judge Advocate for the Idaho Army National Guard gave his last yearly legal briefing by explaining how state governors had been ‘bribed’ with “briefcases full of money” to sign over their right of control of their National Guard to the office of the President of the United States. He stated that this ‘bribery’ began under the presidency of William Clinton. The rationalization was that the DoD planners were expecting significant events (aka “no-notice events”) to occur which would require rapid mobilization of Guard units, and the old system of having the President go through each state governor was too slow. In exchange for pre-authorizing federal mobilization of Guard personnel, the DoD would give a compliant state the latest and greatest military gear plus extra federal funding! So called ‘red conservative’ Idaho was one of the first states to sign-on.
Title 32 itself allows for a ‘cross over’ of state National Guard commanders and federal officers, with the consent of both the President and the relative state’s Governor. Until 2011 this was only for what was called National Special Security Events. The 2011 National Defense Authorization Act expanded the use of DSC to natural disasters.
In 2004, the first ever DSC was appointed in the state of Georgia, not because of a natural disaster but for the 30th G-8 Economic Summit at Sea Island, Georgia! Correct, the first use of a DSC was to protect a bunch of rich yahoos while they decided how to get more money out of captive consumers. The New Georgia Encyclopedia says “Security concerns were handled in a quiet manner, the Sea Island region received an economic boost, and Georgia was able to showcase one of its most attractive tourist destinations.” Just remember, you happy taxpayers paid for that National Special Security Event.
In February 2011, National Guard leaders from 13 states discussed the use of DSCs in response to “domestic incidents”.
December 2015, an Air National Guard Special Operations Colonel becomes the first DSC for Pennsylvania.
During the 2017 Hurricane season, 25 DSCs were appointed, but only three employed Title 10 (federally activated) units. The military think tank Rand Corporation studied the use of DSCs during the response to Hurricane Maria. Essentially you can determine the true mission orientation of a military response by who has been made DSC, and by the size and configuration of the Headquarters unit. The Achilles Heel of DSC controlled operations was revealed in the form of massive reliance on liaisons between all units involved in the disaster response. It turned out that during the response to Hurricane Maria that “demand for liaisons…exceeded the deployed capacity of the DCO/E [Defense Coordinating Officer and Element] and JFLCC [Joint Force Land Component Commander]“. Another failing of the Hurricane Maria response is that the DSC was not given control of Title 10 units, essentially because it was believed that the DSC would not be able to adequately exercise C2 (Command and Control) over Title 10 units.
Rand Corporation pointed out that a major problem with using the DSC option during natural disasters was Command and Control (aka C2) of both Title 32 and Title 10 units. The review also discovered “potential gaps” in Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) training, contributing to “obvious gaps in providing the right information to individuals” creating a “knowledge erosion” during the Hurricane Maria response. The recommendations included increased use of smartphones for fast dissemination of information, and to make the DSCA beast larger through increased staffing and additional training events.
The Rand report also reviewed news media coverage of the Hurricane Maria response. They took reporting data from two rival national level news sources; CNN and Fox News. While CNN issued more reports than Fox, the trend lines were complimentary, both rising days before the expected Hurricane strike, peaking during landfall and a few days afterwards, but then drastically declining from then on. Rand also concluded that the best ‘bang for their buck’ that the military got for its Hurricane Maria response was with local Puerto Rican news media. I can attest to this having been a TV News Producer from 1993 to 2001, working in television markets that had large pro-military audiences, and because I was a member of the California Army National Guard and then later the Idaho Army National Guard. My 6pm and 10pm news casts, at all three stations I worked at in my short career, became number one rated precisely because I understood the military and ‘the locals’ (believe it or not that was one major reason why I got into TV news producing), and could present news regarding the military in a way the locals/taxpayers could understand (My career ended due to political differences between me and the new owner of the TV station I worked at, after Al Gore conceded the election to George W. Bush. I told the new owner that “All politicians are suspect, it doesn’t mater which political party they belong to.” It turns out he didn’t like that philosophy.). Anyway, the Rand study also pointed out that more than half of national respondents to surveys stated the government wasn’t doing enough, I noticed this coincides with the decreased reporting of the national level news broadcasters (In the minds of national level TV viewers decreased news reports of a national ongoing event means nothing is being done.). I was covering the Hurricane Maria response on BlindBatNews and it was a massive effort (You can review the reports starting with Maria: ARMY RESERVE RESPONDE AL LLAMADO DE AYUDA EN PUERTO RICO!). It was also one of the first involving the use of a DSC. The Rand review implied that the military needs to be more involved with getting, and controlling, the national level news media during DSCA events.
Think about what the Rand report concluded and how the military is now using DSCs in a nationwide response to the so called Pandemic.
In March 2020, the states of California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Washington, accepted DSCs to oversee their Pandemic response.
April 2020, Connecticut’s DSC discusses Pandemic mandates with the Uruguayan Ministry of Public Health.
21APR2020, Colorado Air National Guard medics exit a decontamination tent after testing Adams County nursing home residents for CoViD-19. Colorado Air National Guard photo by Senior Master Sergeant John Rohrer.
May 2020, New York National Guard’s DSC Non-Commissioned Officer Command Sergeant Major Arnold Reyes.
August 2020, Texas appoints Pandemic DSC.
From August through September 2021, a DSC was used to oversee federal troops fighting the Dixie Fire in California.
05FEB2021: Audit of Dual‑Status Commanders [DSC] For Use in Defense Support of Civil Authorities [DSCA] Missions In Support of the Coronavirus Disease–2019 [CoViD-19] Pandemic (This audit states that by May 2020, nine states/territories had DSCs “employed”, with 74 primary and successor DSCs appointed in anticipation of coordinating COVID‑19 response efforts.)
February 2021, Ohio gets first ever DSC.
24MAR2021, Indiana’s gov’na Eric Holcomb granted consent for Brigadier General Patrick C. Thibodeau to become DSC.
April 2021, Maryland DSC says he will enforce national and local leaders’ Pandemic mandates: “We are the instruments of national power….”-Brigadier General Adam Flasch
01APR2021, Tennessee Air National Guard’s Colonel Jason Glass became DSC.
On 22APR2021, Louisiana ’employed’ its first DSC, Brigadier General Cindy Haygood.
July 2021, after a very short stint as Guam’s first DSC, Brigadier General Johnny Lizama retires.
“To best work with our civilian partners, we established Oregon’s first dual status commander that puts all military resources under one command, working jointly with our federal friends and county leaders”-Brigadier General Mark Crosby, Oregon Air National Guard, DSC in charge of Oregon’s Pandemic response (Date of DSC appointment not given, first public appearance as DSC reported on 08JUL2021, attended DSC training in 2013)
August 2021, DESPITE HIGH VAX RATES, OREGON DEPLOYS MILITIA INTO Pandemic “SIT-COM”!
September 2021, Wisconsin National Guard employs a DSC to deal with Afghan refugees as part of Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome.
September 2021, SOUTH CAROLINA MILITIA RE-DEPLOYS FOR NEW VACCINE MISSION!
U.S. Army photo by Specialist James Alegria.
October 2021, a Wyoming Army National Guard general, who attended the 2013 DSC course, is now accused of sex discrimination.
Idaho Army National Guard photo by Crystal Farris.
On 05OCT2021, Idaho’s gov’na Brad Little ’employed’ The Gem State’s first DSC, Major General Russ Johnson. Major General Johnson is not The Gem State’s adjutant general, but was recommended by the state’s adjutant general.
02NOV2021, U.S. DoD issued a warning to its civilian employees, get the mandated vaccine or else!
Pandēmus Totalitarian, 10NOV2021: YES VIRGINIA, THE I-R-S WILL BE NOTIFIED OF EVERY $600 TRANSACTION, STARTING JANUARY 2022, BLAME ARPA!
February 2021: BIDEN ORDERS FEMA MASS-VAX SITES! NAVY BUILDING FEMA COVID CAMPS!