A new paper issued by the National Governors Association entitled America Wins: The Struggle for Control of the National Guard highlights the success of the nation’s governors in codifying Dual Status Command. This ensures coordination of state and federal military assets during a response to a disaster. The paper used the lessons of the response to Hurricane Katrina in September 2005 noting that “One of the many areas singled out for criticism: the lack of integration between the National Guard and active duty federal forces sent to the Gulf Coast to assist with the recovery.”

The result was that it “would take years to resolve; years full of haggling, negotiation, and bureaucratic delays. In the end, it took an act of Congress and face-to-face negotiations among the nation’s governors, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security to find a new paradigm for military coordination and emergency response.”