I'm here today representing the 54 Adjutants General of the National Guard of the United States. We strongly endorse the legislation offered by Senator Thune and Congresswoman Herseth which would delay the BRAC process.

We do this as a body to underscore flaws in the recommended decisions fueled by the exclusion of key information pertaining to the Air National Guard.

We also need to set the record straight regarding statements made indicating that we were involved in the Air Force's input which generated the Department of Defense's BRAC recommendation list.

It's vitally important that those affected and those with institutional knowledge be made part of an undertaking as profound as BRAC.

We further feel that Homeland Defense missions, a core competency of our National Guard, was not taken into account in addressing capabilities and military value leaving many of our states vunerable.

Some states have been left with no flying units for the first time in our history and others lost key assets needed to respond to our dual Federal/State missions.

I want to emphasize that selected states gained resources, some remained the same and others lost. But we as a body agree emphatically that in our opinion, the BRAC recommendations are flawed and need a reassessment that reflects what is best for a "nation at war."