Craig W. Duehring, PDASD Reserve Affairs
Lt. General Russell C. Davis, chief, National Guard Bureau
Vice Admiral John B. Totushek, chief, Naval Reserve
Lt. General Roger C. Schultz, director, Army National Guard
Maj. General Paul A. Weaver Jr., director, Air National Guard
Maj. General Arnold L. Punaro, ADCS for Manpower and Reserve Affairs
Rear Admiral Dennis Sirois, director of Res. and Trn., Coast Guard Reserve
The Pentagon
Arlington, Virginia
September 14, 2001
2:30 P.M. EDT
QUIGLEY: As I think many of you know, the president authorized a Reserve call-up this morning, about 10:30 or 11:00, I believe, this morning. And here to describe for you the details of what that means and the mechanics of the process that will follow is the principal deputy assistant secretary for Reserve Affairs, Mr. Craig Duehring. And as you see, he's got the heads of the Reserve components of each of the services, if there is a particular service- specific question.

We also have copies of the executive order that the president signed earlier this morning, available at the news desk after the brief.

Mr. Duehring?

QUESTION: Could you spell Duehring for --

DUEHRING: Okay, I will.

(Off-mike comments.)

Thank you, Admiral Quigley.

Duehring is D, like David, -U-E-H-R-I-N-G. First name is Craig, with a C.

I have some prepared comments that I'll read first, and then I'll take the questions that you might have after that.

As you know, the president has authorized the partial mobilization of the National Guard and Reserve forces of the United States. It affects the ready Reserve. There are three elements of the ready Reserve, including the selected Reserve, the individual ready Reserve, and the inactive National Guard.

The partial mobilization gives the president access to soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, and Coast Guardsmen for a period of up to two years.

At this time we expect to mobilize up to 35,000 members to perform homeland defense and civil support missions. This is our current estimate of the numbers needed to provide support for the homeland defense and civil support missions.

The kinds of units that might be called up include air defense, airlift, intelligence support, military police, medical, logistics, engineers, search and rescue, civil affairs, chaplains and so forth. The last partial mobilization order occurred on January 18th, 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, when 265,322 National Guard and Reserve members were mobilized.

Let me emphasize that this is an authorization. The process of actually selecting units to mobilize is only beginning. The bottom line is that we are calling up the fewest National Guard and Reserve members needed to perform homeland defense and civil support missions for the shortest possible duration.

Now I'll be happy to take any questions. Yes, sir?

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, when do you expect that the first order will come? And why is the Air Force designated -- has the Air Force been designated to call up more than others?

DUEHRING: Well, what the process is, there's actually two parts to the -- there's two ways that they can be called up. First is for the homeland defense missions. The affected CINC -- that's the commander in chief -- is responsible for establishing the requirement, and he in turn gives that requirement to the services, and then they fill it by going out and actually identifying the units or the individuals that they think are best suited to fill those needs.

Now, if it's for a mission involving support to civil authorities, the lead federal agency will define the requirement to DoD through the executive secretariat and the director of military support. And I think you had a briefing yesterday from Brigadier General Vaughn about that process.

So we have to go through that process yet to determine what it is that we need in both cases. The services themselves will identify the units that would be recalled. Now, as for the Air Force, I'd probably have to defer to them to find out why their numbers might be larger than the others. It might have something to do with the air superiority mission, but it would strictly be a guess on my part.

QUESTION: But we've already been told by senior defense officials -- in fact, by Torie Clarke -- that the initial ones are expected to be within days. Is that not true?

DUEHRING: It's entirely possible. It depends on, you know, how long it will take for them to send their requests in. And obviously some thought has gone into this before now. So I'm sure that some are more prepared than others.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Sir, is this largely the homeland defense missions with the civil support being a smaller portion of this? And what are the homeland defense missions specifically.

DUEHRING: Well, the civil support of course would be -- let me start with that first -- would be the type of mission that you would see, you know, working with communities, you know, working, you know, the clean-up, the MP type actions, the chaplains, the mortuary affairs, whereas the homeland defense missions would be the more military -- traditional military-oriented activities. And again, we'll just have to wait and see what the services ask for. I imagine they're putting their concept of operations together now.

QUESTION: In other words -- in other words which is the larger portion of --

DUEHRING: I do not know which is larger, quite frankly. I just -- I haven't looked at that.

QUESTION: And when you say more military-type, can you be -- do you mean --

DUEHRING: The traditional --

QUESTION: -- sort of homeland --

DUEHRING: -- the traditional, you know, from the definition of, you know, homeland defense.

QUESTION: You mean fighter pilots, things like that?

DUEHRING: Certainly most of the air superiority mission if not all of the air superiority mission now is in the Air National Guard, for example.

QUESTION: Has the secretary -- has the secretary signed the order for the 26 air bases to enhance air superiority mission at the 26 air bases?

DUEHRING: I honestly don't know.

QUESTION: Did the president authorize that, or does he need to do it? Can the secretary do that without authorization?

DUEHRING: I honestly don't know the answer to that, and we might be getting into operational issues here, and I'm just going to steer clear of that today.

QUESTION: If you're still sorting out the missions that need to be performed, how did you arrive at the 35,000 figure?

DUEHRING: These are the estimates that the services gave us, you know, based on their best planning at this point, and we think it's a pretty accurate number for the need now.

QUESTION: So can you exceed that, or would that be the figure?

DUEHRING: Well, what's -- of course, under the authorization, they can go significantly over that, but right now, the guidance is that if we were to exceed it by more than -- if we were to exceed the cap of 50,000, the secretary of Defense will coordinate with the president, with the White House before we actually exceed that limit. So that the point I'm making here is that the White House and the Department of Defense are working very closely together on this. This is a well-thought-out plan, and they're working in concert with each other and certainly have a handle on what is happening.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Do you have an estimated breakout by service?

DUEHRING: I believe that the press release that just came out a little while ago does have that. The Army is estimating 10,000; the Air Force, 13,000; Navy, 3,000; the Marines, 7,500; and the Coast Guard is right now at 2,000.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, do you expect that the president will later -- he is authorized under law to authorize you-all to call-up up to one million members of the Reserve. Do you expect later, in addition to this homeland defense, that the president will in fact authorize you to call up -- or, in fact, will ask for more people to fight the war on terrorism?

DUEHRING: We'll you're correct in saying that he is authorized to call up to 1 million people, but right now our best estimate is that 35,000 people is what we need to do --

QUESTION: For homeland defense. What about --

DUEHRING: That's what we're calling them for now.

QUESTION: What about helping the 1.4 million-member military fight this war on terrorism? If you launch attacks --

DUEHRING: Well, I think it's just a little too early. I can't give you any concrete information on that.

QUESTION: Do you think the folks in uniform can help us with some definition of pilots and airplanes and stuff like that from --

DUEHRING: Perhaps after the briefing --

DAVIS: I don't think we really know at this point. We've been doing much of the missions, we've been using volunteers, and we'll continue to use volunteers as much as we can so that we don't call-up any more people than we have to. When you call people up, you disrupt their families, their jobs, and that kind of thing. And if it's necessary, we certainly will do that, and that's the purpose of having this partial mobilization so that any of the services, if we require their services, we can get them on demand.

But we've been performing much of this under volunteerism and we'll continue to do that as much as we can.

QUESTION: How many volunteers have walked through the door in the last --

DAVIS: Let me get Paul Weaver over here for the Air Guard. That way we can get -- we've been doing a number of tanker missions and a number of fighter missions all over the country. And Major General Weaver is director of the Air National Guard. He has responsibility for the Air National Guard activities.

Paul?

WEAVER: We presently have over 4,500 Air Guard men and women performing not only duties here, but also in the Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) as well, with our active duty counterparts. The exact numbers that we have flying locally, both in the tanker business and the fighter business, is really an operational number that I'd just as soon right now at this time --

QUESTION: Are you saying those 4,500 are volunteers?

WEAVER: They're all volunteers, yes. We are performing all of our work under volunteerism at this time.

QUESTION: General, could you say, out of the 13,000, how many will be pilots?

WEAVER: I couldn't tell you that.

QUESTION: I mean, half or only a few or --

WEAVER: Well, we have approximately 4,800 pilots in the Air National Guard alone, but that takes across the board all weapon systems that we have in the Air National Guard. So it all depends upon what we plan on doing in the future.

QUESTION: Last night on Larry King, the secretary said that at 26 bases around the country aircraft are at 15 minutes' strip alert, I think, is what he called it.

WEAVER: That's correct.

QUESTION: Hair-trigger alert, obviously. Is it fair to assume that many of these 13,000 will be used as logisticians, and your communications people could keep up --

WEAVER: That's correct.

QUESTION: That stands?

WEAVER: Absolutely. Good question.

QUESTION: Will the 13,000 be new people, or will the 4,500 volunteers be counted in that total?

WEAVER: A combination of both. I mean, we still have worldwide requirements that we're participating in the AEF. But many of the ones that we'll be utilizing within the CONUS at this time will be new and separate from that number.

QUESTION: So the difference between the volunteers and a Selective Service call-up is, the volunteers -- folks are just walking through the door and saying, "I'll do this for however long," but the call-up is a requirement for them to come to duty.

WEAVER: That's correct. But we'll -- what we'll try to maintain is volunteerism up to the point that we cannot withstand the requirements under volunteerism. That means we've run dry. And then we'll proceed and --

QUESTION: Have all those volunteers walked in the door since Tuesday?

WEAVER: Absolutely.

QUESTION: General, you're already beefing up your NORAD radar force. Are the Canadians participating in this in any way --

WEAVER: Yes, they are.

QUESTION: -- helping watch for any approaching airliners or --

WEAVER: Yes, they are.

QUESTION: How about their fighter jet forces, the F-18s?

WEAVER: I couldn't comment on that.

QUESTION: But they are participating in the --

WEAVER: Yes, they are.

QUESTION: -- in the additional NORAD watch?

WEAVER: That's correct.

QUESTION: Just to clarify, all the volunteers you mentioned, the 4,600, have come in since Tuesday, they've gone to work since Tuesday?

WEAVER: No, these have all been volunteers. I'm sorry if I --

QUESTION: (Off mike.)

WEAVER: I'm sorry.

QUESTION: Well, could you tell us how many people have volunteered that you haven't been able to even put to work yet? I mean, we hear about the people lining up in recruiting stations to volunteer for active duty. How about the Reserves?

WEAVER: Well, we -- again, they're lined up and asking to come in -- we have to have the requirement first to be able to put them to work. And what we have thus far -- we've been able to meet all of our requirements, through volunteerism, of all of our people. That number I -- I couldn't give you the exact number on that at this time.

QUESTION: General, would you --

WEAVER: That includes all the weapons systems that we've been required to have.

QUESTION: Would you envision using C-17s almost in an air bridge concept, from around the country, to move supplies into New York as needed?

WEAVER: We have been doing that as well.

QUESTION: Could we ask the same kind of --

(Cross talk.)

QUESTION: Let's see. Navy, Air Force --

DUEHRING: Admiral Totushek from the Naval Reserve.

TOTUSHEK: I'll spell that for you. John Totushek. T-O-T-U-S-H-E-K. I'm Naval Reserve chief.

QUESTION: And what are you looking for, in particular, in terms of specialties?

TOTUSHEK: We're pretty much going to be doing support role. That's why our numbers are fairly small. We've been having a dialogue with Navy. We don't expect any kind of numbers that are going exceed what people would volunteer for.

To answer the question about volunteerism, we've had people that retired volunteer to come back. We've had a tremendous number show up at our recruiting stations as well. So we are getting a tremendous response from around the country.

QUESTION: Recruiting stations, like first time, "I want to join" for the first time?

TOTUSHEK: Coming to the Reserves for the first time, yes. Or they may have been veterans that are coming back.

QUESTION: When you say support, are you talking about Seabees units, logisticians -

TOTUSHEK: Those kinds of things, yes. Medical, Seabees, chaplains.

QUESTION: Any port security units?

TOTUSHEK: We will be doing that as well, I'm sure, in conjunction with the Coast Guard.

QHow about the Army?

MAJ. GEN. ROGER SCHULTZ (director, Army National Guard): Roger Schultz, S-C-H-U-L-T-Z. I'm the director of the Army National Guard.

Today we have 5,012 soldiers on duty in nine states.

QUESTION: Say it again?

GEN. SCHULTZ: Five thousand twelve. They're in a volunteer status, but we do place them on orders, of course, for the military status. And as I talk with you about those soldiers across the Guard that are serving our communities today, I just need to explain a couple things. One is, we respond across the country to emergencies. We support local agencies. They have the lead. And it's very important. So in New York today we'll have members, Army and Air Guard alike, but members in New York City that are in a purely state status, then we have some in a federal status; but we're all supporting the governor and the local emergency responders there for recovery.

QUESTION: Of the 5,000, how many are connected to Tuesday's events, and how many were volunteers before --

GEN. SCHULTZ: We have 4,600 in New York alone primarily working these missions -- in security, transportation; obviously, security includes the military police. So support of local law enforcement agencies would be part of our task list. And then we're responding, of course, with medical coverage, medical assistance on the scene at the recovery site, and we have engineers, as well, on the scene.

So when we talk about what's going to happen with the Guard, there may be a point where a certain kind of unit, a certain kind of capability would not be available in the Guard, and that's when we need to reach outside of the state control or the governor's control in New York, for example, and tap federal resources. And so this new call-up authority gives us kind of a streamlined process for certain unit kinds of functions, and so that's one of the features.

QUESTION: QBut no immediate need for that?

GEN. SCHULTZ: Not at this point. When we send federal resources into New York City, it's when the mayor or the governor says, we need you. That's how the process works.

QUESTION: Can you give us a little insight into the grim but necessary mortuary services you're going to be providing?

GEN. SCHULTZ: Yes. Number one, you understand the difficulty of that task. And it's highly emotional. And we don't prepare all of our members for that kind of duty in their normal functions. And so this particular duty requires special orientation assistance recovery when they come off the job site, so there's a critical incident stress kind of resource that we have to have available for them, including all the local volunteer responders as well, so this is not unique to the Guard.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, can I ask you, if air traffic controllers are called up, for example, they would be called up to handle military traffic to thwart any threat, and not to handle civilian air traffic. Is that not right? I mean, is that the whole idea?

DUEHRING: Well, you're reaching back into my experience in the Air Force, which is probably 10 years old, but as I recall, the FAA here handles all air traffic control for both civil and military, unless you get into special-use air space. I don't see any changes in the current system.

QUESTION: How about MPs? If MPs are called up, would they do civilian police work, or would it be like to protect bases which are on a high state of alert around the country?

DUEHRING: The answer is they would do both. So, beyond the missions that we're currently performing, we're thinking about other developments in this particular mission, so we're anticipating what you're talking about. And that will vary by particular site and the nature of the site that we might secure.

QUESTION: General, what intelligence augmentation will the Army be providing? I think you mentioned this -- along the task of intelligence augmentation.

GEN. SCHULTZ: We have intelligence units, but in terms of what specific units, I wouldn't have an answer to that right now.

QUESTION: Sir, how would you -- what kind of information would you provide and help feed into the FBI, or --

GEN. SCHULTZ: We have individuals in our units that have intelligence-related skills. The primary lead for intelligence work, of course, will come through local law enforcement, Department of Justice, and FBI, primarily.

QUESTION: General, can you tell us about what the 10,000 to be called up are needed for?

GEN. SCHULTZ: Yes. It could be an extension of the duties we're already performing, for example, in New York City. That's where the most significant effort is.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, --

GEN. SCHULTZ: We could be asked to provide security to other sites, other than just the nine states that we're currently operating from.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, would it be your plan to call up personnel for shorter than the two-year period, or to rotate men through to reduce the impact on their civilian jobs? Or do you expect that those that actually have to activate you're going to bring them in for the duration?

DUEHRING: Well, of course we're still in the planning stages. We're still trying to identify exactly what the requirements are, but we're extremely sensitive to the employers who make up a very big part of our family, of the Guard and Reserve family. These are the people that sign our paychecks that allow our families to eat. So we realize that they are making a great sacrifice when they allow these people to come on active duty. So what we will do is certainly take that into consideration.

You know, we have a program here within the Reserve Affairs organization called the employer support for the Guard and Reserve. It consists in this headquarters of about two dozen people who are constantly working just to resolve problems that might come up in the working place for events like this or for normal rotational duties, normal training. We also are very proactive in many ways trying to inform employers about who we are and what we do, because, you know, the Guard and the Reserve -- now think about it, these are people who's heritage goes all the way back to Bunker Hill. These are -- when you think of these folks, you think of the tall, straight fellow with the three-pointed hat and the musket in his hands, you know, with his family behind him going off to serve his country, and that's exactly the same concept that we use today. But these people have jobs. They are part of their community. They're a living, breathing part of their community. And so we take whatever actions that we can to try to smooth that transition, and this involves actively working with the employers.

We have 4,500 members of this organization, the -- we call it technically the National Committee for the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve -- who are spread out across the United States and work in a volunteer status to try to resolve these problems. If they can't, they can call us at a 1-800 number, and we will try to get an expert there to help them out. And I think that since we've started this program, that our difficulties have gone down, because usually it's a misunderstanding. And we're able to resolve these problems. And we are very confident we'll be able to do that again.

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