GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres reiterated the need for the CNMI to have its own National Guard unit.
After the enlistment of a Saipan resident on Wednesday to the Guam Army National Guard, the governor said given the various disasters the CNMI has faced over the years, it clearly needs to have its own National Guard unit.
The governor said the Guam National Guard and the Indo-Pacific Command Center support the CNMI’s proposal which, however, requires funding.
The CNMI and American Samoa are the only U.S. territories without a National Guard unit.
Since 2001, at least three measures have been proposed in the U.S. Congress to establish a National Guard unit in the CNMI.
None of them made it out of committee.
In 2001, H.R. 3128 was introduced in the 107th U.S. Congress by then-Guam Delegate Robert A. Underwood, proposing the establishment of a National Guard of the NMI. It was referred to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel where the bill “died.”
In 2002, the CNMI Senate proposed Senate Bill 13-11 to establish a militia for the Commonwealth.
The bill was passed by the CNMI Legislature and became Public Law 13-32 after it was signed by then-Gov. Juan N. Babauta. However, the $275 million in required funding was not approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The U.S. House raised concerns about how the CNMI could form a unit given its small island population.
In 2011, U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan introduced H.R. 2773 in the 112th U.S. Congress to establish a National Guard unit in the NMI.
The bill, like H.R. 3128 in 2001, was sent to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
In 2015, the National Guard Bureau conducted a study on the feasibility of a National Guard unit in the NMI, and concluded that two company-sized units were feasible. However, this would still require, among other things, amendments to the federal law that governs the National Guard.
Later that year, U.S. Congressman Sablan introduced H.R. 3649, a reintroduction of H.R. 2773, this time in the 114th U.S. Congress.
It was referred to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness.
