Securing America

My number one priority is securing our homeland.  Whether it is getting National Guardsmen to the border or supporting the vital air sovereignty mission, I have worked side by side with the Department of Defense since coming to Congress in 2007 to protect the homeland and the freedoms every Arizonan enjoys.

On September 11, 2001 only 14 aircraft were sitting alert in North America, down from 5,800 aircraft in 1958 when round-the-clock alert operations began.  Today, the threat is different, but the importance of protecting our homeland has not changed.

Since 9/11, the Air Force and the Air National Guard have fully manned an effort called Operation Noble Eagle that keeps fighter aircraft on stand-by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to emergencies and react to potential threats.  Operation Noble Eagle is part of the homeland defense mission carried out by our National Guard every day. 

The 162nd Fighter Wing at Tucson International Airport maintains one of only 18 alert locations in the United States responsible for securing U.S. airspace from a wide range of potential enemy threats that include the hijacker-type attacks of 9/11, stolen aircraft, cruise missile defense, dirty bomb attacks, and foreign aircraft, all in the frequently congested commercial airspace. 

Since coming to Congress, I have led efforts to ensure that the Guard, which maintains 16 of the 18 Air Sovereignty Alert (ASA) sites, has the sufficient aircraft and funding to meet any threat to our nation’s airspace.  In 2007, I founded the Fighter Gap Task Force with Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) to support that effort.

Today, the 162nd’s alert aircraft, located at the ASA compound on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, are part of the Air Guard’s force of 3,000 fighter pilots, aircraft maintainers, communications specialists, controllers, life support personnel, intelligence officers and security forces that support the ASA mission. 

Since 9/11, America’s Guardsmen have flown more than 55,000 sorties and scrambled aircraft in response to more than 2,350 potential threats.  That means units fly more than 500 missions a month and scramble, on average, about once a day.

For more information on the Air Sovereignty Alert Mission and my work on this, please read these articles:

POLITICO, OpEd on Fighter Gap
AvWeek, Questions on U.S. Air Sovereignty Mission
AF Times, Guard Seeks Remedy for Fighter Shortfall
Tampa Tribune, Post-9/11 Air Defense Gaps Leave Cities on Fringes of Response Time