Image: Wikimedia Commons (Russian strategic bomber-rocket carrier)<\/p>\n
By no fault of their own, the months ahead could reveal the Alaska Air National Guard\u2019s inability to defend the West Coast from Russian adversary.<\/p>\n
The Gateway Pundit spoke to Brigadier General Blaine \u201cBlaino\u201d Holt (USAF-Ret.) who was initially shocked by The Gateway Pundit\u2019s public report<\/a> on the restructuring of the Alaska Air National Guard that could hamper the nation\u2019s security.<\/p>\n The former deputy U.S. military representative to NATO and co-founder of the nonprofit Restore Liberty<\/a> said, \u201cThe talk about strength for structure and operational execution should have been kept behind closed doors.\u201d<\/p>\n In Monday\u2019s article<\/a>, it was revealed that \u201ca 40 percent degradation in air defense and a 60 percent degradation in combat search and rescue capabilities are expected [in Alaska by June].\u201d A 40 percent reduction in air refueling capability and a 50 percent degradation in the Air National Guard\u2019s space warning mission is also possible by October.<\/p>\n \u201cConsidering all this,\u201d Holt said, \u201cif they\u2019re looking for some oversight from an unhealthy [Biden] administration and an unhealthy Department of Defense (DOD), and they\u2019re not getting it, maybe it was the right decision to go public with the information.\u201d<\/p>\n Holt questions whether the National Guard Bureau made this \u201cwilly-nilly\u201d decision on their own. \u201cWhat does cross-leveling actually mean to those of us sitting at home?\u201d he asked. \u201cIn this example, it sure looks like they\u2019re going to move some Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) positions around without any regard to strategy or defense of the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt best,\u201d he said, \u201cit\u2019s going to call on the Air Force active side to cover where they are short.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Americans pay, when combined with the Department of Homeland Security, is well over a\u00a0trillion dollars a year for their security,\u201d Holt shared. \u201cAnd this is what we get: instead of 24\/7 air defense coverage, you\u2019re going to get 24\/4 coverage?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no smaller amounts of money going to the Guard or the Air Force,\u201d he added. \u201cIf they\u2019re on fat budgets and still can\u2019t meet muster with operations, and their programs are so overblown that they can\u2019t afford to defend the country right now, that\u2019s an issue Congress has to take a look at.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat the heck happens if a bomber shows up on a Wednesday, as opposed to a Tuesday, when no one looking at the sky above?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy would it be in this nation\u2019s best interest to watch the [Air National] Guard fair-share its AGR assets, spread like peanut butter across the nation, where the security needs of each state are remarkably different?\u201d he argued. \u201cIt\u2019s not to take away from Kansas\u2019s security, for example, but they probably don\u2019t need as many assets in their state as Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Russians have repeatedly conducted incursions into our airspace and checked our response times, and continue to do so at a time when we are supporting a country (Ukraine) in its war with Russia,\u201d Holt pointed out. \u201cCould you think of anything more inappropriate than to actually start to drop our defenses or lessen our defenses on such a critical border?\u201d For him, \u201cthis is not a time to take the flank we have on the Russian border and drop it.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Holt, Americans want to know: \u201cWill responsible Congressmen and Senators, in this season of posture, take the DOD and the [National] Guard Bureau to task and ask them about the wisdom of these decisions?\u201d<\/p>\n In agreement<\/a> with Alan Brown, Director of Communications and Public Affairs for the Alaska National Guard and Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Holt said, \u201cthey need to hit the pause button and think about the strategy behind this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Biden administration and the DOD needs to get in a room together and get this problem solved,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>A minimum two-year pause to the conversion of AGR positions to allow for thorough operational, personnel, and legal analysis of the National Guard Bureau\u2019s decision \u201ccross-level\u201d has been proposed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Alaska Needs Responsible Congressmen and Senators to Address a Major National Security Problem<\/a> appeared first on The Gateway Pundit<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Image: Wikimedia Commons (Russian strategic bomber-rocket carrier) By no fault of their own, the months ahead could reveal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n