At Home and Abroad: The Evolving Role of the U.S. National Guard
The National Guard is increasingly in the news as it is called upon to fill roles traditionally handled by active-duty military or civilian agencies. What is the evolving role of the National Guard in U.S. domestic and foreign policy, given its unique status as both a state-controlled and federally deployable force? What are the key legal and policy questions, including the limits of federal authority, the implications of recent moves toward greater federalization, and how the Guard differs from the regular armed forces in mission, command structure, and legal oversight?
A joint panel between the Quincy Institute’s Veterans in Foreign Policy Initiative and the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for the Study of the National Guard traced the Guard’s historical roots, its increasing use in overseas operations, its deployment during domestic emergencies, protests, and unrest, and assess the consequences for civil-military relations and national security strategy.
The panel featured Dr. Andrew Wiest of the University of Southern Mississippi, Brig. Gen. John Conley of the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, and Brig. Gen. J. Roy Robinson (Ret.) who served three decades in the Mississippi Army National Guard. Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East Program and director of the Veterans in Foreign Policy Initiative at the Quincy Institute, moderated the conversation.
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Panelists
Andrew Wiest
Dr. Andrew Wiest is a distinguished professor of History and founding director of the Dale Center for the Study of War & Society and the Center for the Study of the National Guard at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Wiest has taught at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the U.S. Air Force Air War College. His books include "Vietnam’s Forgotten Army" (NYU), winner of the Society for Military History’s Distinguished Book Award, "Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land", and "The Boys of '67", which inspired the Emmy-nominated National Geographic documentary Brothers in War. His most recent work has centered on the history of the National Guard resulting in his new book "Dogwood: A National Guard Unit’s War in Iraq".
John Conley
Brigadier General John Conley is director of Administrative Services at the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs (DEMA), where he oversees personnel, finance, and mission support for the Arizona National Guard. A member of the TAG Council’s State Strategic Engagement Working Group, he helps shape national policy affecting the Guard. Commissioned through Army ROTC in 1992, he served as a Judge Advocate on active duty in South Korea and Germany before transitioning to the Army Reserve and later the Arizona Air National Guard. He has served as senior legal advisor to Arizona’s Air Component Commander and The Adjutant General, directing legal operations across multiple domains. In his civilian career, he is a shareholder-attorney specializing in commercial and employment litigation in the healthcare industry.
J. Roy Robinson
Brigadier General J. Roy Robinson (Ret.) served as president of the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS) from 2017 to 2024. Before that, he was executive director of the National Guard Association of Mississippi, the nation’s largest state Guard association, and served on the NGAUS board as vice chair-Army. Over a 33-year career in the Mississippi Army National Guard, he served in every Guard duty status—traditional, state employee, federal technician, and active Guard and Reserve—while also working in private-sector sales and marketing. He began his service in 1983 as an enlisted soldier and was commissioned in 1985 through ROTC at the University of Southern Mississippi, retiring in 2016 as assistant adjutant general of Mississippi-Army. In civilian life, he held a series of full-time sales and marketing roles in the private sector alongside his military service.
Adam Weinstein
Adam Weinstein is deputy director of the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute, whose current research focuses on security and rule of law in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. He is also a non-resident fellow at Tadblab, a think tank and advisory firm based in Islamabad, and regularly travels throughout Pakistan. Adam’s analysis has been featured in the Washington Post, Guardian, Foreign Policy, War on the Rocks, Lawfare, and The National Interest. He served as a US Marine and deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 as part of a detachment to the 2nd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company where he served in Uruzgan Province in support of Australia’s 2nd Commando Regiment.