[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9546]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           THE NATIONAL GUARD

  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I want to share another idea, 
and this has nothing to do with these weighty matters, but it certainly 
has to do with some weighty matters about whether the National Guard of 
this country has the proper equipment.
  There was a General Accounting Office report from last summer that 
showed that the National Guard is woefully inadequate in its equipment. 
It pointed out in that GAO study that my State of Florida had only 53 
percent of the equipment that it ought to have. It said the State of 
New Mexico National Guard had only 33 percent.
  What is happening is what you would expect: As the National Guard 
units in America are activated to go over to Iraq and Afghanistan, they 
take their equipment with them, and so often it is worn out or it has 
to stay for others to use, and they come back and they do not have the 
equipment; or it is like the 11 helicopters of the National Guard in 
Florida--a year from now, they are planning to take those helicopters 
from the Florida Guard and send them over to the Middle East. Can you 
imagine if that occurs and the Florida National Guard is faced with a 
major hurricane and they do not have any helicopters? Hurricanes are 
indiscriminate in the way they come in and tear up everything over a 
large swath of property, so that in a big one you cannot traverse the 
roads because everything is suddenly on top of them. So often you have 
to have helicopters to get supplies and personnel in to people who are 
hurting.
  That is one example. That is a year from now if they take the 
helicopters from the Florida National Guard because they need them over 
in the Middle East. But let me tell you the condition of it today. The 
Florida National Guard--and I am quoting their own figures--is short 
500 humvees. They are short 600 trucks, and this is either a 5-ton 
truck or a deuce and a half, 2\1/2\-ton truck--600 short. They are 
short 500 long-haul trailers, they are short 20 wreckers, and they are 
short 4,400 night-vision goggles. What do all of those shortages have 
to do with anything? It has to do--if the big one comes and the big one 
is a category 4 or 5 hurricane hitting a densely urbanized part of 
Florida direct from the water, the Florida Guard is going to need every 
bit of equipment it can get to respond to that emergency.
  Let me give you another example. The report 6 months ago was that 
Fidel Castro was going to be dead within 6 months. Looks like that may 
have changed, at least by the more recent reports. But what happens and 
what will be the political condition in Cuba when he does pass away? Is 
the then caretaker government going to be in sufficient control, or is 
chaos going to erupt and suddenly a mass outmigration of thousands and 
thousands of people trying to get to the United States? That is also 
when you need the National Guard.
  Now, I have talked with the Coast Guard and the Navy, and they have a 
plan whereby they have an entire sentry line of ships that they line 
up, which I have questions on and we will talking about on another 
occasion, about that plan, because they have only modeled it if 10,000 
were to flee. What happens if 100,000 flee? They are not prepared for 
that, and everybody in authority with that plan will tell you they are 
not prepared for it. But whatever it is, if it occurs, which we hope 
and pray that it will not, the National Guard is going to be a major 
component of trying to restore order and keep order. Their equipment 
has been depleted.
  Now, if we end up having the typical category 1, 2, and 3 hurricanes, 
which are severe hurricanes, the Florida National Guard tells me they 
have adequate equipment, they certainly have the personnel, and they 
are the best trained in the country, they know how to handle 
hurricanes, and they are the best of the best. But if they do not have 
the equipment--they tell me they do for up to a category 3--but if the 
big one hits, then they are going to have to rely on getting equipment 
from other National Guards around the country. So what is the lag time 
on that? And when they reach out to another Guard--for example, the 
Pennsylvania National Guard with which they have a compact to share 
equipment--is the Pennsylvania Guard going to have sufficient equipment 
that they can lend to Florida in an emergency?
  These are serious questions which need to be answered before the 
hurricane season and before any kind of potential outmigration from the 
island of Cuba so that we have preparations, they are adequately 
equipped to go along with the experts and expertise of the trained 
personnel and all of the emergency responders who would respond to that 
kind of an event.
  I am going to continue to sound the alarm until we get some response. 
I do not believe the Florida Guard has the equipment for a category 5 
hurricane coming right up Tampa Bay or hitting directly from the east 
coast from the Atlantic, in a high urbanized area such as the Dade-
Broward line. So I am going to continue to ask this question, as 
uncomfortable as it will make some people, until somebody will respond.
  I think one potential solution is that there be an agreement which 
would be cut with the Active-Duty--correct that--with the Army Reserves 
located in Florida that have equipment that there will be an immediate 
lending of that equipment and/or personnel to the Florida National 
Guard in the case of a major, catastrophic hurricane hit.
  When a hurricane hits, it is a matter of life and death. As time goes 
on, as expert as our emergency responders are--and they are expert 
because they have been through a lot and they are quite experienced and 
well trained--the ability over time to get those supplies in, even 
supplies that have been prepositioned closer to where the hurricane is 
going to hit, the ability to get that transported in is critical in 
those first days because there is no power.
  You wonder, night-vision goggles--what does that have to do with it, 
that the Florida Guard is 4,400 pairs of night-vision goggles short? It 
is because, in the aftermath of a hurricane, there is no electricity. 
Everything is dark at night. As troops are moving through all of that 
debris, they have to be able to see. That is what those night-vision 
goggles are for.
  So this Senator will continue to sound the alarm. We will get the 
answers. And the good Lord willing, despite the warnings from La Nina 
in the Pacific that this is going to be a terribly active hurricane 
season in the Atlantic, the good Lord willing, we will not have that 
active hit on the mainland of the United States, but we better be 
prepared.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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