“The local leadership has to have a dialogue if they are interested,” Goldhorn said.
He added that there are certain advantages of having a National Guard on Saipan — emergency needs, for example, can be readily responded to.
“Having a National Guard unit here, however requires U.S. congressional action,” Goldhorn said.
He added that the National Guard is only one component of the Reserves.
Goldhorn said on Guam, which has a population of about 171,000, there are over 4,500 Army Reservists — the largest Reserve component force per capita.
Then-Gov. Juan N. Babauta established a task force to determine the viability of a CNMI militia.
The task force was created after the CNMI’s bid to have its own National Guard was rejected by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2003 due to the estimated $275 million cost involved.
The CNMI is one of the last members of the U.S. family that has yet to have its own National Guard unit.
