United States National Guard Bureau

The National Guard Bureau is the federal instrument responsible for the administration of the United States National Guard established by the United States Congress as a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. It was created by the Militia Act of 1903. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, elevated the National Guard to a joint function of the Department of Defense. This act also elevated the Chief of the National Guard Bureau from Lieutenant General (Three Stars) to General (Four Stars) with the appointment of General Craig R. McKinley, U.S. Air Force. The National Guard Bureau holds a unique status as both a staff and operation agency.

United States Secretary of War Elihu Root militated for reform of the national guard, in annual reports of 1901 of 1903 and in public letters. He argued that state militias should be more like the Army in discipline, uniforms, equipment, and training, to mitigate problems that arose in the U.S. Civil War and the recent Spanish–American War of 1898. The Militia Act of 1792 was obsolete. The resulting Militia Act of 1903 (or Dick Act) became law. It gave federal status to the militia and required the organized militia of the States to conform to Regular Army organization and standards. It dramatically increased federal funding of the militia: between 1903 and 1916, the federal government spent $53 million on the Guard, more than the total of the previous hundred years.

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