The National Guard, the Montgomery Amendment and Its Implications

Abstract

Abstract : This paper traces the history of overseas deployment training of the Army and Air National Guard and the intervention of a few governors in it beginning in 1985. The furor after Governor Joseph Brennan of Maine canceled a deployment of two of his Army Guard units to Central America in 1986 prompted Congress to enact what has become known as the Montgomery Amendment. The amendment, which was added to the FY87 Department of Defense Authorization Act, withdraws from governors authority to withhold overseas deployments for their National Guard units on account of location, purpose, type or schedule of such training. A lawsuit brought by the governor of Minnesota seeks to have that language ruled unconstitutional as a violation of the Militia Clause to the U.S. Constitution. The governors' actions had a major impact at the Department of Defense. They threatened the resources of the National Guard as it has evolved as a part of the Total Force. There was talk of withdrawing force structure from the Guard. In the end, the chief of the National Guard Bureau moved against the governor of Ohio, threatening to withdraw the Ohio National Guard from Ohio if Governor Richard Celeste didn't consent to the deployment of the 16th Engineer Brigade to Honduras in 1989.