Guard's impact at border

It is doable for several reasons, experts say.

First, the Guard's role in Iraq has diminished significantly since last year, when many Army units were not ready to deploy. At one point in 2005, the Guard made up nearly half of US forces in Iraq; today it makes up less than 20 percent. So more members of the Guard are available.

Moreover, though the federal government will pay for the border mission, the four border states - California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas - will actually call up the Guard. As a result, state National Guard commanders will decide who to deploy - not the Pentagon. This gives them greater flexibility in using their resources.

Many soldiers will come from the border states. But those states also could call on other states through interstate soldier-sharing agreements called Emergency Management Assistance Compacts.

In some cases, soldiers' tours along the border will only last two weeks - fulfilling their annual requirement for two weeks of training. These will probably be soldiers deployed only to complete a single task - such as building a fence.

Others, however, are expected to deploy to the border for one to three months. National Guard commanders will look to avoid calling up those who have recently returned from Iraq or who could be needed for potential disaster-relief operations.

"This flexibility gives us the ability to reach in a little deeper without compromising the safety of American citizens," says General Lempke.

Numbers in California, for instance, give some idea of the wiggle room. Some 2,200 of the California National Guard's 20,000 troops are deployed on federal missions. Another few thousand are unavailable for various reasons - some because they recently returned from deployment abroad.

That leaves about 15,000. California planners generally like to have 10,000 troops on hand as a hedge against any emergency, leaving the rest available for prudent deployment.

The Pentagon isn't worried about losing capability. "There will be no degradation to National Guard support to the Department of Defense overseas mission," said Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman,

Some governors and lawmakers remain skeptical. In a statement released Monday, Rep. Ike Skelton (D) of Missouri cautioned: "For years, I have said that our forces are being stretched thin by current operations. This mission along the Mexico border will add unnecessarily to their mission requirements."

Analysts who don't see significant manpower problems raise other questions. "If it's such an urgent security need, why are we just realizing it now?" says Ms. Wormuth. "The immigration debate is a challenging political issue, and the administration is looking for a way to address it - the National Guard is a tool in the toolkit."

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