How Should the National Guard Be Employed for The Next National Disaster?

Paul Jara discusses the complexity involved in activating DoD, DHS and National Guard resources in a multi-state disaster like COVID. While it has become commonplace to see uniformed personnel serving in every aspect of the COVID response, the original process for military activation took up to 90 days. Jara demonstrates the opaqueness of this process through a mock video where DoD, DHS, and National Guard representatives discuss how they can respond to specific needs as well as large scale events like COVID. Jara proposes that for the next COVID-threat, there must be a way to adjudicate conversation between lead federal agencies, the DoD, and the National Guard in order to better source Guard resources for large-scale, complex disasters.
                 
About the Speaker
Paul Jara is the Director of Staff for the Arkansas Air National Guard. In his previous assignment, he was the Deputy Director of Military Support for the Arkansas National Guard and participated in several national planning exercises to ensure Guardsmen were postured to succeed in local, state, or national disasters.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions of the author are his own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the United States Air Force, the Arkansas Air National Guard, nor the Department of Defense.