Guard eyes changes in military liaison program.

• Author: Pappalardo, Joe
• Position: Homeland Defense Briefs - Brief Article

The National Guard's effort to create joint forces headquarters may include permanently assigned military liaison officers from each service, according to National Guard officials.

The emergency preparedness liaison officers would be assigned to the guard's headquarters to help spotlight and coordinate military assets and capabilities during national crises, and be organized in a single, horizontally-integrated unit within the proposed headquarter, said Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, adjutant general for the State of Washington and the homeland security chair at the Adjutant General Association, during congressional testimony in late April.

"The liaison officers should work together as an integrated joint unit ... and report to and operate under the overall direction of NORTHCOM," he said.

The change, part of the wider reorganization of the National Guard's regional command structure, would replace a weaker version of the program that often brought reservists close to retirement into National Guard offices on a temporary...