The poor readiness of America's Guard and Reserve forces threatens our ability to respond to natural disasters or terrorist attacks at home. We saw this, sadly, after both Hurricane Katrina and the tornadoes in Kansas. Because of the depletion of its resources in Iraq, the National Guard is less ready today than it was on 9/11. Nearly 90 percent of units have serious equipment shortages; many have less than 1/3 of the equipment they require. A particular focus of Obama's plan will be to reverse the trend of cross-leveling," the cannibalizing of soldiers and machines from units back home for missions abroad."
Ensure the Guard and Reserves can meet their homeland security missions
['United_States', 'Kansas', 'Iraq', 'Barack_Obama', 'National_Guard_of_the_United_States', 'Hurricane_Katrina']