The 2005 BRAC drama is nearly done—Congress just has to do nothing—but for many Air National Guard units across the country the “anxiety” they face in aircraft and personnel movements is really sinking in, says Lt. Gen. Daniel James III, ANG director. Speaking at a Capitol Hill seminar Wednesday, James acknowledges the old days when the Air Guard “just changed airplanes” are over.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.