Florida's Governor is griping about a proposal that could transfer the 114th Electronic Warfare Squadron of the Florida Air National Guard to the jurisdiction of the Space Force, with his office calling it "federal overreach, a violation of the federalist design of the National Guard," and a hindrance to "Florida's ability to appropriately prepare for and respond to domestic emergencies."
While the squadron was already redesignated as one to give support to the Space Force, Gov. Ron DeSantis believes that the proposed move is a bridge too far.
DeSantis writes Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committee that the proposal would "flout more than a century of precedent" and "undermine federal law" giving the states control of National Guard units.
He also describes Florida as a "low-lying, flood prone state ... uniquely vulnerable to hurricanes and flooding," deviating from previous rhetoric about tropical weather systems, such as his advice to Floridians to "knock on wood" during the 2023 storm season. He believes the National Guard is underresourced by Washington, and contends the Electronic Warfare Squadron could somehow help with storm response.
DeSantis reactivated the Florida State Guard recently, and that has been used (along with National Guard troops) for deployments to the Mexican border, a concern that is far removed from hurricane weather. He has also complained about how vaccine mandates affected readiness for the National Guard.
"The U.S. military has been kicking out great service members over the Biden administration's unacceptable COVID vaccine mandate, and they are even targeting members of the National Guard," said DeSantis in 2022. "The bureaucrats in D.C. who control our National Guard have also refused to increase the number of guardsmen despite our increasing population, leaving Florida with the second worst National Guardsman to resident ratio."
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