Investigation Update: National Guard Bureau State Defense Force Uniform FOIA Moves Forward

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Over the last several weeks, the State Guard & Defense Force Council’s Office of Government & Legislative Affairs has been aggressively pursuing an investigation into the policy of The National Guard Bureau’s CNGBI 5500.01A – National Guard Interaction with State Defense Forces, issued on March 7, 2024.

The policy introduced dramatic and shocking uniform changes for State Guards / State Defense Forces, including a Bold Red or bold-colored name tapes, Red Rank Insignia, a Red baseball cap, and a large SDF Red Ddentification patch on the left shoulder.

During 2023 and 2024, the State Guard & Defense Force Council had a positive and developing relationship with the National Guard Bureau. In fact, a high-level contact informed us in the fall of 2023 that the policy was being developed, months before its eventual publication. We repeatedly contacted the National Guard Bureau by phone and email asking why such drastic uniform modifications were being introduced nationwide.

Despite those efforts, we never received an explanation.

Recently, however, the Council received information from a high level source that could potentially explain why these changes were introduced.

We want to be clear: the information provided to us remains an allegation and has not yet been independently established as fact. That is precisely why the Office of Government & Legislative Affairs has filed an extensive Freedom of Information Act request with the National Guard Bureau.

The information provided to us alleges that the participation of State Defense Forces in Operation Lone Star, particularly the Texas State Guard and later the Florida State Guard, had infuriated high level officials at The National Guard Bureau.

The source further alleges that this frustration may have influenced the conspicuous uniform provisions eventually included in CNGBI 5500.01A.

Rather than publish that allegation as established fact, we decided to obtain the government records and determine what actually happened.

What We Are Seeking

Our FOIA request seeks the complete development history of CNGBI 5500.01A, including drafts, redlined versions, staffing packages, legal reviews, comment matrices, emails, electronic communications, meeting records, briefing documents, approval packages, and other records related to the policy.

We are particularly seeking documentation identifying who originally proposed the revised uniform provisions, why they were proposed, what justification was provided, what objections were raised, and who ultimately approved them.

We also want to determine whether Operation Lone Star, the Texas State Guard, or the Florida State Guard was ever discussed during the development of the revised policy.

The National Guard Bureau has confirmed that our FOIA request has been received and is currently being processed and reviewed.

The investigation has also expanded, with experienced legal, policy, and government oversight professionals now assisting us as we pursue the documentary record.

Why the Full Investigation Is Available to Supporters

The full version of this investigation contains considerably more information, including the background behind the allegation, correspondence associated with the investigation, screenshots documenting our communications, details concerning outside assistance, and a more complete explanation of what we are seeking through the FOIA process.

We apologize for placing the complete article behind a supporter wall.

We would prefer to make every investigation we conduct completely open to the public. Unfortunately, large Freedom of Information Act investigations cost money.

Government agencies may charge significant fees for searching, reviewing, and producing records. Once those records arrive, they must also be organized, reviewed, analyzed, compared against existing policies, and examined by staff before we can responsibly report what they contain.

The Office of Government & Legislative Affairs depends heavily on donations and Patreon support to pay for this work.

If you would like to read the full in-depth article and receive the inside details surrounding this investigation, you can support the Office of Government & Legislative Affairs through a donation, or become a Corporal Tier Member of our Patreon for only $5 per month.

Your support directly helps us fund Freedom of Information Act requests, document-production costs, research, staff review, and the other expenses involved in conducting investigations of this scale.

For nearly two years, we have asked one central question about this policy:

Why?

Now we are pursuing the records that can finally provide an answer.

We will follow the evidence wherever it leads.

Stay Tuned As We Plan To Release More Details about The Maryland Defense Force Polo & Khakis Uniform Change, and Major News about State Active Duty Pay For Georgia State Defense Force Troops.

We would like to thank all our donators and Patreon members who make investigations like this possible: