When State Governors Tried To Take Back Control Of The National Guard

A West Virginia state lawmaker plans to re-introduce a bill next session that would require Congress declare war or call forth the state militia before the West Virginia National Guard could be released from state control and sent into combat.Currently, as The Intelligencer (of Wheeling) puts it: "the authority to activate the Guard rests with West Virginia’s governor."

But this doesn't quite describe the reality. State governors are expected to send state National Guard troops wherever and whenever the Pentagon orders.

So, in recent decades, whenever states or governors have attempted to have some say over what the Pentagon does with state troops, the Department of Defense has responded with threats.

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