Guard’s federal border mission now faces Northern Command probe
By Davis Winkie
Thursday, Jan 13
Officials from U.S. Northern Command have launched an investigation “into a wide range of alleged issues” among National Guard units deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border under federal control, a NORTHCOM spokesperson told Army Times.
The NORTHCOM inquiry comes a month after Army Times’ investigation of Task Force Phoenix, a brigade-sized cohort of 34 distinct Guard units under the Pentagon’s control that was responsible for assisting Customs and Border Protection with securing the border from October 2020 through October 2021. The federally-controlled mission is distinct from Operation Lone Star, a massive mission to the Texas-Mexico border directed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Three soldiers died during the year-long mission under Task Force Phoenix. The task force also suffered from endemic misconduct, staffing and logistics issues, Army Times found after interviewing seven Guard troops involved in the mission and analyzing hundreds of pages of documents and audio tapes.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2022/01/13/guards-federal-border-mission-now-faces-northern-command-probe/
