Mercenaries in Texas
Written by Elizabeth Moon
According to the Washington Post, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and a couple from Tennessee have colluded to privately fund the South Dakota National Guard’s expedition to the Texas border. The foundation of Willis and Reba Johnson has pledged and followed through with payment of $1 million in support for the mission to the U.S.-Mexico border. The South Dakota National Guard, according to another source on Twitter, considers itself “self-deputized” to perform Border guard duties.
South Dakota is a heavily racist state, a state that disenfranchised its Native Americans living on reservations because they don’t have street addresses for mail delivery (never mind there are white people in this state who don’t get home mail delivery, including the town) and thus can’t get the right kind of voter ID.
Chances that South Dakota National Guardsmen will recognize *our* brown people as native Americans, be fluent in Spanish, and understand any of the local customs? NIL. We had both North and South Dakotans as tourists in the Valley when I was a kid and that whole northern tier of winter Texans were….annoying. Chances of South Dakota National Guard troops killing American citizens in this venture: high and the chances of them causing an international incident with Mexico are even higher.
But worse than that: National Guard troops are not supposed to be for hire to any political activist who wants to show off how rich they are. They are part of our national military force, not the Governor’s private militia she can hand off to someone for a payback to the state. Their deployment outside South Dakota is supposed to be approved by the Pentagon. Remember that the governor of Maryland could not send the Maryland National Guard to Washington D.C. on January 6, for a genuine emergency, until they were released for interstate duty through channels–the Acting Secretary of Defense and the Army’s Chief of Staff.
Was this out-of-state deployment approved by the Pentagon? If so, by whom at the Pentagon? Under what existing rules that govern National Guard deployments? The South Dakota National Guard, like all National Guards, is supported and provided with supplies, including vehicles, weapons, uniforms, etc., by the Department of the Army. The equipment belongs to the military–ultimately to the Army, and is not to be used for purposes not approved by the military.
Having a rich person from Tennessee hire a National Guard unit from South Dakota to traverse multiple other states to get to the Texas/Mexico border and involve itself in an international situation is frankly horrifying. It’s against normal procedure. The Guard is being treated like a mercenary company, available for hire by anyone–any private person with enough money–rather than as part of the United States military. Its equipment is being treated as it belonged to South Dakota, rather than the U.S. military, which amounts to theft from the federal government.
As a matter of national security, our military units, including National Guard units, have not been, and should not be, for hire like mercenaries. It’s unethical and I believe illegal under the laws that govern our military. Whatever unholy clandestine agreements that resulted in this mess, we need a swift and thorough investigation of exactly who said what to whom and when. What rules were ignored, which weren’t followed because someone in the central chain of command was willing to break them. Were more Texas politicians than Greg Abbott involved? Do we still have an insurrectionist of rank in the Pentagon? Colluding with civilians to suborn a National Guard? This naked power-grab by a right-wing civilian to “buy” a military unit must not stand.