One day after the White House announced that National Guard troops would be heading to the U.S. Mexico border “immediately” to bolster security, the Pentagon was at a loss to answer even the most basic question about the hastily ordered deployment.
How many troops? When will they arrive? What will they do? Will they be armed? How long will they stay? Will they go on patrols, or keep to the rear? What will it all cost? Who pays?
No matter the question, the answer was some version of “we’ll have to get back to you.”
“Those are good questions, we just don’t have those answers now. But those are the questions we’re working to resolve right now,” said Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie at Thursday’s regular Pentagon briefing.
Normally when the U.S. military deploys troops, it has a plan, known in Pentagon parlance as a “CONOP” or Concept of Operations.
But hit with a surprise request it had no idea was coming, the Pentagon is scrambling to fulfill President Trump’s mandate for an expanded, enhanced version of what the military already does to support the civilian Border Patrol.
So the Pentagon did what it does best, it set up a round-the-clock cell staffed with civilian and military planners to come up with a plan.
“This is not business as usual. The cell will last for the foreseeable future, to ensure we surge our capacity to meet the president’s enhanced border security goals,” said Dana White, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson.
Because the National Guard troops are being activated under state authority and remain under the control of the governors of four border states, the Pentagon has to wait for the requests to come through the Department of Homeland Security before acting on them.
“I don’t have any specific details of what support we could provide,” McKenzie said, “except to tell you that it will be guided by the requirements are identified the governors in consultation with DHS.”
“Once we know the requirement, we’ll move very quickly. This department will move very quickly to answer those requirements, once they’re known in scope,” McKenzie said.
The Pentagon did clear up one mystery, namely which military installation borders Mexico and could get an upgrade of its border fencing.
Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the Trump administration was looking into options for the military “to build wall” on military installations along the border.
Thursday the Pentagon said one installation under consideration is the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range, near Yuma Arizona.
Being a bombing range, the area is already fenced off, but White said fence might be reinforced.
