By JOHN MONK

Staff Writer

The state of South Carolina has its own Army National Guard and Air National Guard.

It has a military college - The Citadel.

What South Carolina doesn't have is a navy.

Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, wants to change that.

As one of the state's most powerful officials, McConnell is lead sponsor on a bill that would set up a naval militia to help protect the S.C. coast against terrorists.

The new naval militia would have its own new nine-member state oversight board, the S.C. Maritime Security Commission.

A naval militia wouldn't exactly be a full-fledged navy - it would be a force of different kinds of volunteers with professional sea experience.Members would assist groups like the Coast Guard with port security.

However, nothing in McConnell's bill prevents the naval militia from eventually having boats or full-time staff, and performing all kinds of maritime duties. The bill also authorizes setting up a private foundation to receive and spend money on the naval militia. When on duty, militia members would have all the "honors, courtesies, privileges, benefits, and authority" that members of existing state military organizations have.

McConnell's bill has attracted little public attention. Last week, it sailed quietly through his Judiciary Committee. It won preliminary approval in the Senate.

Supporters say costs would be minimal and benefits great.

"It's a great volunteer umbrella organization to harness volunteers for the war on terrorism," said David Shimp, a retired U.S. Navy captain who lives inMount Pleasant.

"It would be a force multiplier for the Coast Guard," Shimp said. Shimp, who has promoted the idea and won McConnell's support, stresses that volunteers will have professional maritime experience and come from groups like the U.S. Naval Reserve.

"They're not volunteer yachtsmen," Shimp said.

Critics say it is an idea whose time hasn't come.

"We don't think the naval militia has been fully studied," said Lt. Col. Pete Brooks of the state adjutant general's office. His office oversees the state'sAir National Guard and Army National Guard and has about a $206 million budget in mostly federal funds. In the last three years, the state has cut its contribution to the adjutant general's office from $9 million to $6.8 million - down 25 percent.

Brooks said neither the proposed naval militia's cost nor its mission is fully known.

Supporters of the naval militia tried to put it under adjutant general Stan Spears, but he doesn't want it.

One estimate of the naval militia's initial cost, by the state budget office, is $64,399. That estimate says the full cost can't be calculated because "regulations that outline the authority and mission ... have not been promulgated."

McConnell wasn't available to discuss his bill.

As president pro tem of the S.C. Senate and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, McConnell has a big say-so in what bills pass in the Senate.

The last commission McConnell established - the Hunley Commission - went on to handle millions of dollars in state and federal money for raising and restoring a sunken Confederate submarine. It has also created a private foundation, the Friends of the Hunley, and funneled millions of dollars of public money to it.

Shimp said the naval militia's first action would be to solicit volunteers from the 1,200 U.S. Naval Reserve members in South Carolina. These volunteers would allow their names and military specialties to be in a pool so if the Coast Guard needed a volunteerwith that specialty, it could call on the person.

"If we find one person, that's one more person than we would have had," said Shimp.

Shimp didn't know how the naval militia would evolve or how much it would cost.

"At this stage, it is just to provide good professional volunteers to help the Coast Guard," he said.

Coast Guard Comdr. Gary Merrick, captain of the Port of Charleston, said he liked the idea of being able to supplement his staff with U.S. Naval Reserve volunteers, if need be.

Already, Merrick said, he has a kind of "floating neighborhood watch," where about 40-50 nonmilitary boats in Charleston Harbor have agreed to radio the Coast Guard if they see anything suspicious.

Eventually, those boats - called the Volunteer Port Security Force - might be part of the naval militia, Merrick said.

Another naval militia supporter is Sen. John Drummond, D-Greenwood, a senior Senate Democrat.

Drummond, a World War II combat veteran, spoke enthusiastically about the bill, saying its backers are "patriots."

Other senators have reservations.

Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, said, "In this tight budget climate, where 6,000 state teachers are about to lose their jobs, I can't believe we would give this serious consideration."

Jackson said, "I would have a hard time justifying this to a teacher who just lost her job."

Shimp said, "I just don't see a down side."