---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 10501"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "10501"
heading: "National Guard Bureau"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/10501"
units:
  - "Subtitle E — Reserve Components"
  - "Part I — Organization and Administration"
  - "Chapter 1011 — National Guard Bureau"
---

# §10501. National Guard Bureau

- (a) **National Guard Bureau.—** There is in the [Department](/usc/10/12521.md?p=5) of Defense the [National Guard](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-1) Bureau, which is a joint activity of the [Department](/usc/10/12521.md?p=5) of Defense.
- (b) **Purposes.—** The [National Guard](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-1) Bureau is the channel of communications on all matters pertaining to the [National Guard](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-1), the [Army National Guard of the United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-3), and the [Air National Guard of the United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=c-5) between (1) the [Department](/usc/10/12521.md?p=5) of the Army and [Department](/usc/10/12521.md?p=5) of the Air Force, and (2) the several [States](/usc/10/18232.md?p=1).

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 103–337, div. A, title IX, § 904(a), Oct. 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 2824; amended Pub. L. 110–181, div. A, title XVIII, § 1812(a), Jan. 28, 2008, 122 Stat. 497.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 3040(a) of this title, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 103–337, § 904(b)(1).

### Amendments

2008—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 110–181 substituted “joint activity of the Department of Defense” for “joint bureau of the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Pub. L. 103–337, div. A, title IX, § 904(d), Oct. 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 2827, as amended by Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title XV, § 1504(a)(6), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 513, provided that: “The provisions of chapter 1011 of title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall become effective, and the repeal made by subsection (b) [repealing section 3040 of this title] and the amendment made by subsection (c) [amending section 108 of Title 32, National Guard] shall take effect, at the end of the 90-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 5, 1994].”