page_title: State defense force
section_title: Contemporary
hierarchical_section_title: State defense force / History / Contemporary
caption_attribution_description: English: HEPHZIBAH, Ga, October 4, 2015 - A Georgia State Defense Force Volunteer passes a sandbag to a Georgia Army National Guard Soldier during a flood preparation mission near Augusta. More than 200 members of the Ga Department of Defense, including 125 Guardsmen, 40 State Defense Force personnel, and 30 cadets from the Fort Gordon Youth Challenge Academy labored for eight hours to fill 8,000 sandbags. The sandbags will be used to protect citizens of Georgia and South Carolina from rising flood waters following rains from Hurricane Joaquin. Georgia State Defense Force photo by Chief Warrant Officer 2 W. Kevin Ward / released
context_page_description: State defense forces; also known as state military, state military force, state guards, state militias, or state military reserves in the United States are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government. State defense forces are authorized by state and federal law and are under the command of the governor of each state.
  State defense forces are distinct from their state's National Guard in that they cannot become federal entities. All state National Guard personnel can be federalized under the National Defense Act Amendments of 1933 with the creation of the National Guard of the United States. This provides the basis for integrating units and personnel of the Army National Guard into the U.S. Army and, since 1947, units and personnel of the Air National Guard into the U.S. Air Force.
  The federal government recognizes state defense forces, as per the Compact Clause of the U.S. Constitution, under 32 U.S.C. § 109 which provides that state defense forces as a whole may not be called, ordered, or drafted into the armed forces of the United States, thus preserving their separation from the National Guard.
context_section_description: With the end of the Cold War came a general decrease of interest in state defense forces. The attacks of September 11, 2001, however, generated additional attention and, with it, greater scrutiny from some in the United States military who questioned the training and equipment of the units and whether they provided an outlet for "warrior wannabes" who would not otherwise qualify for service in the armed forces. In 2008, Alaska disarmed its state defense force after an investigation concluded the lack of training intensity or standardization was a potential legal liability to the state. By 2010 the status of the force had been downgraded even further, with the Adjutant-General of the Alaska National Guard informing volunteers that they would only be called upon as a "reserve of last resort to be used only in the most extreme emergencies." The ASDF remained deliberately hamstrung for over half a decade, until Governor Bill Walker overruled the Adjutant-General in 2016 when he announced his intention to reform the Alaska State Defense Force by expanding it further into rural Alaska and improving training standards.
  Further controversy was stoked by a New York Times report which found many senior officers in the New York Guard had little or no formal military training despite holding, in some cases, general officer ranks. The former commander of the force, Pierre David Lax, noted that, "if you are friendly with the governor and you always wanted to be a general, you ask the governor to make you a general, and poof, you are a brigadier general." Another former commander asserted he regularly awarded titles to members of the New York legislature in exchange for their support of budgetary allocations to the force. The report also noted that a majority of the unit's rare deployments involved providing ceremonial support, such as bands and color guards, to the state government.
  An April 2014 Department of Defense report by the Inspector General's office reported confusion and inconsistency among state adjutant generals as to the use and status of state defense forces.  The Inspector General's office reported an under-utilization of state defense force capabilities due to a lack of clarity in the US Code regarding the use of SDFs, fueling fear that using funds and assets acquired through the federal government for state defense forces could run afoul of regulations.  (While the National Guard is operated by the states, most of their equipment and funding comes from the federal government.)  This fear of violating regulations also inhibited their use and integration with their National Guard counterparts, preventing them from conducting joint operations alongside one another, and also from volunteering in support of federal missions.  Other problems cited by the Inspector General's office were a lack of standardization in training and physical fitness, raising questions as to the ability of SDFs to work alongside their National Guard counterparts, and a lack of coordination with and support from the Department of Defense.  During a survey conducted by the Inspector General of SDF commanders and adjutant generals, 18 of 19 considered their SDFs to be part of the organized militia and subject to the Code of Military Justice, 14 of 18 considered the members of SDFs to be "soldiers", 14 of 18 considered SDF personnel to be "lawful belligerents" under the rules of war, and only 4 of 19 authorized their personnel to conduct firearms training.  Almost all of the missions reported to the IG's office were non-military in nature, including small-scale search and rescue, disaster management, and other unarmed, homeland security related-tasks.
  Due to public fears over the Jade Helm 15 exercises held throughout a number of southwestern states, on April 28, 2015, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas ordered a call-up of the Texas State Guard to monitor the exercises and facilitate communication between US special operations forces conducting training and the governor's office.
  In early 2020, a number of state defense forces were activated to combat the COV
caption: A Georgia State Defense Force Volunteer passes a sandbag to a Georgia Army National Guard Soldier during a flood preparation mission.
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