A portion of federal law could keep some Missouri National Guard units from ending up on the Pentagon’s chopping block, but Governor Blunt’s military commission seems to be hesitant to invoke that law. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is invoking a section of federal law that does not allow the Pentagon to move or to remove a National Guard without that governor’s permission. The chairman of Missouri’s Military Preparedness and Enhancement Commission, Dalton Wright, says he’d rather look at working through the base closure and realignment process first. Wright believes there could be flaws in the federal provision, and a court could rule against Missouri if a legal challenge is based on the federal provision. Still, Wright does say the state should keep that legal option as an ace up its sleeve, just in case. He denies that Governor Blunt, as a Republican, does not want to be seen as bucking the Republican president’s Defense Secretary.
