News Releases for June 2005
June 8, 2005
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Hoeven Meets With Washington Officials On BRAC, Devils Lake
BISMARCK, N.D. - Gov. John Hoeven Thursday will meet with top Pentagon officials to push for flying missions in Fargo and Grand Forks in addition to the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) missions the Air Force and National Guard announced last week. The Governor will also press to revise a passage of last month’s BRAC report that cites “no air mission backfill” for Fargo.
Hoeven and National Guard Adjutant General Michael Haugen will meet with Lt. Gen. Stephen Wood, Air Force deputy chief of staff for plans and programs; Brig. Gen. Allison Hickey, director of future total force; Lt. Gen. Steve Blum, Chief, National Guard Bureau; Lt. Gen. Danny James, Director Air National Guard; and Maj. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the National Guard.
Under a plan announced last week Fargo Air National Guard will be tasked with a Predator mission, an unmanned aerial vehicle. Grand Forks will host both Predator and Global Hawks, a second, more advanced drone. The two bases will manage new unmanned aerial drone missions in about two years, and more in subsequent years, according to Wood. The new UAV unit will operate missile-firing and reconnaissance enabled Predators. The more advanced Global Hawks - equipped with a long-range aerial reconnaissance system with high-resolution, near real-time imagery - will follow the Predators, Wood said.
“The Predator and Global Hawk missions are the product of solid cooperation between the Air Force and North Dakota’s Air National Guard,” Hoeven said. “While the quality of our people, our proximity to the border, and our uncongested, open air space all make the mission a good fit for our state, at the same time, we continue to press for flying missions in both Fargo and Grand Forks.”
Hoeven said operation of C27 transports in Fargo and retaining air tankers in Grand Forks could round out the Guard’s missions at both locations.
In a separate meeting, Hoeven met with Pat O’Brien, director of the office of economic adjustment for the Department of Defense, to arrange for transition planning funds to help the bases make necessary adjustments during realignment.
Hoeven Wednesday met with James Connaughton, Chairman of the Council of Environmental Quality at the White House to ensure the White House has all the necessary scientific data necessary to maintain the administration’s support for the Devils Lake Outlet project.
“When the science and data are looked at closely, it becomes very clear that we have gone about the building of the outlet in the right way,” Hoeven said. “We want to make sure that the President and Secretary of State have all the information they need to make to allow the project to continue to completion.”
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