Air Guard a 'natural' for homeland defense.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Security Beat

Homeland defense "is really a natural for the Guard," said Air Force Lt. Gen. Daniel James III, the new director of the Air National Guard. "We have been doing it since our inception, over 360 years ago, and now we continue to do that," he told reporters at a breakfast meeting.

Initially, James emphasized, the National Guard was intended as a crisis response force. "[They] stepped forward and helped stabilize the situation until the active force could be put into the theater."

However, James said that the Guard should be careful about becoming 100 percent vested in homeland security, because that might typecast the...