Who is the commander in chief of a state's National Guard?

Answer 1

In theory and usual practice, the Governor of the State. He or She ( some states have had female governors- like New Jersey under Whitman) can call out the National Guard to control civil emergencies such as riots, etc. However, as the President of the United States has CINCUS ( Commander In Chief- US) he can and does have the authority to federalize NG units which are technically a part of the US Army and dispatch them on various missions- one peacetime example was the Federalization of guardsmen to contain racial problems in Little Rock, Arkansas during the Desegregation battles. This is the best known action of the type- unlike deployment of Guard units to foreign wars- for example stop-loss assignments in Iraq.