I’m sure most of you start your day by checking for press releases from either the National Governors Association or from our very own Gov. Jared Polis. Not so much? Well, happily, I’m on the Polis press office mailing list, and I can bring you up to date on a recent action by the NGA, of which Polis is currently the chair. That’s a pretty big deal, by the way, and it points to Polis’ growing national reputation. I’m not entirely sure it is too early to start printing up “Polis for President” in 2028, but I digress…

As you may recall from your civics classes, we have a system of federalism, wherein each level of government — national, state and local — has areas of responsibility the other levels cannot override. Though lots of systems of government (such as unitary, where the national controls all, as in France) have these layers, the key to federalism is that in each layer, that governing body can make decisions that are final, and not subject to review by another “layer” of government. Traditional examples are education being run mostly at the state level, firefighting at the local level and national defense policy at, well, the national level.

Our system is not common. There are 195 countries in the world, which (for trivia buffs) includes two that are non-member observer states: Vatican City and the State of Palestine. But let’s call it 195, and there are only 25 or 26 (depending on how you judge federalism) truly using a federalist system and of course, we are the most prominent of that subset. And federalism has worked pretty well for the past 236 years or so.

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One of the traditional elements of state-level power has long been a state-controlled-and-commanded national guard (even though the word “national” is in the title, and most military folks like me refer to such organizations as “the Guard” to reduce confusion). Guard units trace their history way back to the first guard unit founding in, get this, 1636, in Massachusetts, when the colonial legislature merged existing militia companies into a single guard unit.

Guard units are, therefore, state-based, and are commanded by the governors of the states, though there is a provision in federal law for guard units, in times of national emergency or need, to be federalized and placed into the “regular” national military command structure.

For most of the modern history of the guard, the uniformed members were most often called out, by their respective governors, in times of emergencies, from floods to blizzards to earthquakes.

For most of my life, being in the guard was seen as being separate from the federal military and very unlikely to be nationalized into service. You may recall one of the criticisms of President George W. Bush was he spent the Vietnam War in the guard as a pilot, technically military service but very unlikely to be called to war.

That all changed with our seemingly endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Multiple guard units were called to combat service. The various state guards contributed 300,000 deployments to Iraq alone, and were also called to service in Bosnia, Kosovo and other locations.

I mention all this because of the aforementioned press release from the National Governors Association. In this statement, the governors of all 50 states and five territories, every one of them, Dems and GOPers, urge the United States Congress to reject a legislative proposal (LP 480) to reassign specific Air National Guard units from their respective governor’s control to the direct command of the U.S. Space Force.

As noted by the NGA, “The Armed Services Committee’s failure to preserve Governors’ lawful authority over their National Guards in the NDAA is deeply concerning and breaks with more than a century of important precedent surrounding state’s rights — as well as a violation of federal law. It is crystal clear that National Guard units may not be moved without consultation and approval from Governors. Titles 10, Section 18238 and 32, Section 104 are critical aspects of the federal system and ensure that Governors have a say over the makeup of the forces they command. Using the power of Congress to override the authority of Governors, rather than directing the Department of Defense to work with Governors in good faith not only creates uncertain circumstances for the service members in affected states but also opens the door for future legislation overriding state’s rights.” 

This is a big deal, folks. Giving the federal government, in this case in the form of Space Force, direct control of guard units is a very dangerous precedent. This is particularly true given the character (or lack thereof) of the incoming administration this Jan. 20, and you can perhaps see the true danger here.

President-elect Donald Trump, as part of his draconian crackdown on those he deems illegals (and, stunningly, some U.S. citizens, as he recently declared), has often suggested using the U.S. military in part to conduct some of the mass sweeps for those deemed undesirable. If control of state guard units is transferred to the federal government, specifically the DOD and therein the president, Trump will have a much easier time ordering military personnel to set aside their military missions to become the enforcers of national purity, as judged by Trump. He would find it much easier to order Colorado guard units to, say, conduct a sweep in Aurora than to have active-duty soldiers from Fort Carson convoy up to do the job. Currently, Trump lacks the authority to order such guard movements, but if LP 480 is codified into law, and the GOP congress after Jan. 3 boosts that authority more widely, well, there are scary times ahead.

We know, and have long known, Trump has no respect for tradition nor, frankly, for the military. But his ability to weaponize the guard units in states across the nation as a tool of his particular world view and desire for vengeance would be a dramatic and terrifying escalation in presidential power.

Will Congress, especially after the Republicans fully take over, cede this potentially freedom-chilling power to a president bent on revenge and deportations?

Stay tuned.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.