Gov. Jan Brewer tells a panel of three U.S. senators that she’s disappointed the Defense Department “effectively denied” her request to send more National Guard troops to the border. The Arizona guard’s adjutant general, Gen. Hugo Salazar, looks on during a Phoenix field hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on April 20.

A request for 250 additional National Guard troops to assist with border enforcement has been "effectively denied," according to Gov. Jan Brewer.

In testimony before a field hearing of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee in Phoenix on April 20, Brewer said she was extremely disappointed by the refusal, and emphasized the need to secure the county's border with Mexico to help combat the rising tide of drug cartel-related violence in the region. The Governor's Office said she would make another request for more National Guard troops.

"I was very surprised. The reaction from the Obama administration appeared to be very negative, and I believe that was very irresponsible," Brewer told the committee.

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said the letter she received last week from the Department of Defense did not unequivocally refuse Brewer's request, but it did not approve the 250 troops either and was being interpreted as a denial. Sens. Joe Lieberman, John McCain and Jon Kyl, who attended the hearing as a special member of the committee, appeared to view the letter as a denial by the federal government.

The governor submitted her request to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on March 24, asking for 250 additional personnel to join the 150 National Guard troops who are already taking part in the Joint Counter-Narcoterrorism Task Force, which assists law enforcement agencies on the border. Task force members free up law enforcement officers for enforcement duties by taking over non-enforcement jobs such as vehicle maintenance, computer work and surveillance. Task force members do not actually patrol the border or apprehend suspects.

Brewer pointed out that the federal government felt that putting more National Guard troops on the border was prudent in 2006 when then-Gov. Janet Napolitano – now Homeland Security secretary – requested troops as part of Operation Jump Start, and lamented Washington's apparent unwillingness to contribute more troops now.

 "The past governor saw the need, and now we're not seeing the help that we need," Brewer said.